Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 ESV)
The above Scripture is one of those verses that I read over many times in my life, but it never hit me like it did the last time I read it. Jesus had just endured the anguish of Gethsemane where He literally had blood sweat out of His body and now He had the horrors of the cross before Him. But Scripture says that He endured it all because of the joy that was set before Him. Wow!
Observing how Jesus handled suffering had a life changing, absolute profound effect upon the Apostles and how they handled persecution:
And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. (Acts 5:40-42 ESV)
It didn’t stop with the Twelve, but it continued with Paul and his fellow laborers:
Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:2-5 ESV)
Nor is this joy that passes all human reasoning stop with them. Paul makes it clear that we are to grab a hold of the same exact joy that Jesus had and is available to us through the power of the Holy Spirit:
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7 NKJV)
Annointing 