A long long time ago: When I first learned about the oil of joy I knew I wanted it; I knew it was precisely what I needed in my life but I had no one to show me where I could get my hands on it, or what shop I could buy it from. It was a very difficult time for me, I was very young and was going through a lot of childhood insecurities and not doing well at school either. I remember thinking I just had to find some of this oil. When I look back now I still feel sad to think I had no way of knowing just what the oil of joy was and how to get it.

Mum had a bible and I would often pick it up and look inside it but it was all too mysterious for me. The text seemed so small and so much that I could not bring myself to look at it for more than a few minutes. It may as well have been written in a foreign language for all the sense it made to me.

I thank God for my Great Aunt Mel who began taking me to church not long after that time. It was thanks to her that I found a great love for God within me and I learned that God actually loved me too. Amazing!

Psalm 45.7 says because we love righteousness and hate wickedness God has set us above our companions by anointing us with the oil of joy. That is very true and very comforting as long as we can manage to stay focused on this and keep our eyes on Him, we will be anointed with the oil of joy.

However we humans can, if we are not careful, fall victim to our everyday, busy lives. We often fall pray to the enemy who is all obliging in helping us forget who we are in Christ and that we are actually at war with him – the enemy. So he makes sure that our days are jammed pack full with busyness. Often times with superficial happiness so that we won’t have time to be still and know God. Warning: DON’T FALL FOR IT!

Renewing our mind to be more like Christ is a daily exercise. Paul tells us openly and honestly in Romans 12: 9-21 what we need to do to live an awesome Christian life. It’s all right there for us and it is spelt out for us, so there can be no mistaking what it all means. Follow that plan and you will experience God’s wonderful gift of the oil of joy!

Read Romans 12:9-21

PP