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Joyful news has been continually reaching Zion these days. The gospel is now spreading much faster; every month many souls are led into life both nationwide and worldwide. The glory of the New Jerusalem our Mother is shining brighter and brighter, and we the people of Zion are receiving praise and honor, just as God has promised.
All this is the grace of God who quickly fulfills the prophecies, and it is a result of the obedience of brothers and sisters to God’s word. Our brothers and sisters obey Mother’s teaching and meet each other always with a smile, and God gives us more joy.
Christ’s gospel causes joy to spring forth from deep within us. Rejoicing always, we shall follow God’s will and lead all people in this world to happiness.
“Be joyful always … this is God’s will for you”
We know that it is the will of God to obey His commands. But we often forget that this is God’s will: to rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in everything.
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.1 Th 5:16-18
Rejoicing is a part of God’s will. We are to fully obey God’s will, for Jesus says that not everyone who says to Him, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of God (Mt 7:21).
We smile when we are happy, and we become happy when we smile.
There may not be always things that make us smile, for we are sinners living in the spiritual city of refuge. But we should try to make it a habit to rejoice in any situation. And we need to train ourselves to be godly (1 Ti 4:7). If we constantly rejoice even in small things, it becomes a habit and the habit hardens into character. We are to have a pleasing personality, so that we may always rejoice and willingly obey God’s will.
From the prophetical point of view, we are expected to be always smiling.
We, God’s children, like Isaac, are the children of promise (Gal 4:28). Isaac means “laughter.” The name Isaac, meaning laughter, was given to the only true heir of Abraham who represents our Heavenly Father, and Sarah, who represents our Heavenly Mother. This reminds us that God wants us, children of heaven, to rejoice always.
Laughter and health
Laughter is a remedy for all ailments. It is common knowledge in medical science that laughter slows down the rate of aging and cures many health problems. Modern people suffer from various diseases, for they are stressed and get angry easily, finding no pleasure in their lives. Laughter has the ability to prevent any disease.
There was a patient suffering from rheumatism in the United States. He had severe arthritic pain; his entire body was swollen. Though he had been in the hospital for years, he didn’t get better; the pain gradually grew worse.
He refused to wither away in the gloomy hospital room but rather chose to spend his last days in happiness. Then he decided to leave the hospital and took up his lodgings at a hotel.
From that time he began to watch comic movies. He had been continuously suffering from pain, but mysteriously he felt no pain for almost two hours after he laughed out loud for about ten minutes while watching the videos. He laughed aloud, watching two or three videos a day, then he was relieved of the pain almost all day and he gradually felt better. Fortunately he recovered completely from his illness, and later he wrote a book about his experience.
There is also a case of a person being cured of his cancer through laughter.
In 1982, a seven-year-old boy named Shawn was dying of brain cancer in the United States. His parents could do nothing but watch their son relying entirely on a respirator to maintain his feeble breathing. They thought that putting him on the respirator would only prolong his suffering, and decided to take him off the respirator.
The night before they removed their child from the respirator, Shawn’s father decided to give his dying son the best present which he would be most pleased with. Shawn was an ardent fan of Stapleton who was a home run hitter of the Boston Red Sox Baseball Team. That night, Shawn’s father visited the athletes village and entreated Stapleton to meet his son after explaining his desperate situation.
The next day, Stapleton visited Shawn, who was struggling to breathe after being removed from the respirator. Stapleton approached him and held his hand, saying, “Shawn, I am Stapleton.”
Then the child opened his eyes. He became aware that the home run hitter, whom he had so eagerly wanted to meet, was holding his hand. His eyes began to overflow with emotion. Stapleton promised him that he would hit a home run in tomorrow’s game and told him to watch the game on TV. And he gave the child an autographed baseball.
Amazingly, even after being taken off the respiratory support equipment, Shawn was still alive to watch the live baseball game on TV the next day.
Stapleton hit a home run as he had promised. Shawn believed that the home run was for him, and he looked so happy.
This gave new hope to the dying child. Five months later, Shawn was still alive; he was breathing without a respirator and showed remarkable recovery.
He received a thorough examination again at the hospital. Surprisingly, his brain was completely clean; there was no cancer at all.
Joy and laughter are a remedy for the health of our spirits, too. Caring about the safety of our souls, God told us to rejoice always.
Many of our brothers and sisters in Zion, including me, have experienced recovery from an illness after receiving the truth. Perhaps it has been possible because we’ve always rejoiced in God. When we live a joyful life, we become strong both physically and spiritually, and we are able to make not only ourselves but also others happy.
Laughter brings blessing
Our brothers and sisters in Zion always ask for God’s blessing, praying for one another. The more we practice smiling and laughing, the more blessing we will receive. There is a proverb which says, “If you laugh, blessings will come your way.” Laughter brings us not only physical blessings but also spiritual blessings as well.
Following the words of Mother, our brothers and sisters in Zion try to rejoice and give thanks to God always.
If we bring joy to our family and our Church members as well, it spreads throughout our neighborhood and entire community and the whole world will be filled with joy. This is the world which God wants people to live in, isn’t it?
If we have a habit of smiling, we come to recognize that what we were so sorrowful about is really not worth being sorry about. ‘We are sinners that deserve to be hurt,’ ‘We have the hope for heaven,’ ‘We’ve achieved greater things instead of losing small, insignificant things.’ Thus we become considerate about everything and gentle with others, so that we may resemble God in full. Start smiling right now, and you will gradually feel a change in your heart.
We are God’s children; we must resemble our Heavenly Father and Mother in Their love. Being gradually changed to resemble God is really a great blessing through laughter.
Since our brothers and sisters put into practice the words of God, “Be joyful always,” lots of good news has been continually reaching us: Our brothers and sisters throughout the world earnestly ask Mother to quickly send them missionaries, and many people are willingly coming to Zion to hear the gospel.
Gospel is good news
The gospel gives us joy and hope. It must be preached to the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, because most people in the world live in pain rather than in joy. We are to preach the good news to them so that they may have hope. This is the will of God.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.Mt 4:23
Thus, the gospel is good news and glad tidings. The greatest and most joyful news to hopeless souls in this sinful world is that Christ has come in the flesh, isn’t it? So, the gospel is a message of joy for people.
About 2,000 years ago, Jesus came to this earth and gave courage, hope and joy to people, and many dying souls miraculously came to life.
Stapleton, who was a home run hitter, gave joy and hope to the dying child. Likewise, Christ gave everlasting joy and eternal life to us the mortal beings.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”Jn 15:11
Christ wanted those who accepted the gospel to be always filled with joy. He only desired that His joy might be in us and that our joy might be complete. With this earnest hope, He came down from heaven to this sinful world; He neither took care of Himself nor sought after His own pleasure.
Even when we turned away from Him, He took pity on us and bore the burden of the cross to take away our sins.
If we follow such an example of Christ, we shall gladly preach the gospel, thinking how we can bring joy to others. We need to make not only ourselves but also others happy and laugh.
Zion full of joy and gladness
God wants the hearts of the people in Zion to be filled with joy and gladness.
“The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their hearts. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”Isa 51:11
Thus, Zion is a place of everlasting joy; we shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. What we should bring to Jerusalem is good news, glad tidings (Isa 40:9; 52:7). As watchmen, let’s bring lots of good news to Jerusalem, and our home and Church will be continuously filled with laughter and there will be much more joyful news than before we believed in God.
At the end of every year, we examine the fruit of the gospel that each Church has produced during the year. Then we find out that the Churches following the teachings of Father and Mother continuously have produced more abundant fruit.
Some Churches produce more fruit than they have expected. Brothers and sisters in those Churches are always smiling at one another. Sometimes they may feel hurt or offended by someone or something, but when they come to Zion, they try to smile, thinking, ‘This is a place of grace where our Father and Mother dwell.’
They felt awkward at first. But they repeatedly expressed their joy and thanks in everything. And now they have a habit of smiling and laughing.
I’ve also heard that some received the truth, being surprised when they first visited our Church, saying, “Life in this world is so hard and painful. How can the people here always smile so brightly? I want to catch their smile and laughter.”
Bear the fruit of joy
Thus, if we live a joyful life according to God’s will, we will all bear the beautiful fruit of the Spirit. Let’s continually smile, keeping in mind the words of Christ: “I have told this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, form the Spirit will reap eternal life.Gal 6:7-8
The Bible says that a man reaps what he sows. If we sow anger, we reap anger: If we plant joy, we reap joy. God has promised abundant fruit for those who always rejoice, so that their joy may be complete.
We all want to be greeted with a smile and hear heartfelt words. Then, we must plant what we want. God says that if we sow joy, we will reap the fruit of joy. Let’s continue to be joyful until we enter the everlasting kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.Gal 5:22-23
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If we smile at every person we meet, we will bear the fruit of the Spirit abundantly.
Did you smile and laugh today? If not, create an opportunity to laugh and smile. You may feel somewhat awkward about smiling right now. But that is the will of God. We must obey God’s will out of gratitude.
Brothers and sisters in Zion! Let’s always rejoice in the truth, sharing the joy with people all around the world. Remembering God’s will―“Be joyful always,” let’s continually be joyful, so we will all enter the kingdom of heaven.