Extraordinary: not ordinary, instead remarkable, amazing, basically over and above what would be perceived as normal.
Exceptional: not typical, stands out among others or is seen as outstanding
Enjoyable: being delighted, bringing pleasure, to experience with joy
Heb 12:2-3 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. NIV
We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God! TPT
Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. AMP
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. NLT
Keep your eyes on Jesus, our leader and instructor. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterwards; TLB
Everyday we get to experience God’s love for us. His love was not a one time event that took place when He saved you, but is an ongoing, perpetual, never ending, and an always encompassing attribute of His we get to enjoy every morning when we wake up. His love is always there and always will be there. From when our eyelids first pop open till we close them to go to sleep we get to enjoy our Lord. This of course then repeats itself once again day after day. We get up and get to enjoy Him all over again. However I know that occasionally I must remind myself how enjoyable God truly is. I think it is easy to let this slip and take for granted the knowledge of His love for us and the fact we get to do this.
When we ask people about God it’s a given they know God loves them. I mean I know that I know this truth. It is part of my ongoing relationship with Him. However, something that helps me in this truth is knowing joy is a two way street.
God’s Two Way Street
God’s joy is something which we possess based on the work He did in saving us. However, it is also something He possesses based on His relationship with us. I put Heb.12:2 at the beginning of this article and highlighted a portion of the scripture from various translations to emphasize this point. While we get to experience and enjoy Jesus, He gets to experience and enjoy us.
His sacrifice to purchase and save us provides an endless life of joy for us with Him, but He also sacrificed so that He could have an endless experience of joy with us. We get to enjoy the Lord and He is very enjoyable, but He also gets to enjoy us. We bring joy to His heart.
He draws pleasure, and joy when thinking of you. You bring joy to His heart. When we think of Jesus it’s usually joy we find or draw from in the fact He accepted us and saved us. However, because of the sacrifice of His on the cross and from nothing we did, He now finds joy in you as well. His sacrifice for us, which now brings us joy, now brings him joy as well. His selfless sacrifice for us also brought Him joy in us being with Him.
Think of it like this. I have some friends when we get together, maybe a few times a year, we sit and share with each other our true selves. We talk about His Kingdom, our problems, and struggles, or the latest things we were involved with which makes us happy. We encourage and edify each other and after a couple of hours hug each other say, “love you friend”, and after departing and going home I always feel full. I will even send a text sometimes stating how enjoyable being with them was. When I get home my wife will even ask me, “How was that?”, to which I reply, “It was good. It was a great time together”.
Being with Jesus should be the same. We should enjoy spending time with Jesus and in our understanding know so does He enjoy spending time with you. Part of salvation is He gets to be with you and enjoy you. So next time you are with the Jesus, think how much He enjoys being with you. What an amazing, extraordinary, exceptional, and enjoyable Lord.
