Joy and Obedience

 1 Peter 1:6-9 (NKJV)
⁶  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
⁷  that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
⁸  whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
⁹  receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls. 

I saw the following posted on FB by my FB friend and fellow supporter of Freedom in Christ Ministries, Joanne Tilbury.  To my fellow Americans, forgive the anglicized spellings as Joanne hails from Sydney, Australia, lol.:  

"In my daily walk with God, I’ve learnt that my joy energises obedience to Him.

So many people say they have no joy because they are not obedient to God. I’ve learnt you can’t put the horse behind the cart, joy comes before obedience rather than after.

My joy is not in my obedience, my joy is in my knowledge of God. If you believe that everything God says about Himself and about you as His child then you will have joy, then joy is what energised obedience.

When your joy is based on performance it’s going to be up and down like the wind, up and down like the raging sea double minded and constantly changing.

Joy is not the result of obedience, joy is the result of what God has done. Now your joy is fixed on a fixed stable source."

- Joanne Tilbury