“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
- John 17:3
The Biblical book of Philippians teaches us so much about joy. Paul even
exhorts us to rejoice in our tribulation; however, how can any human be
expected to express happiness over negative events in our life? It is contrary
to our nature. It is much more natural to complain. Well, I have come to
understand one principle about this subject, which I believe Paul learned as
well. The circumstances will be there whether we rejoice or not. Therefore, a
spoonful of joy makes the medicine go down so much easier!
There are many joy-robbers in our lives. Legalism is one of them. Legalism
is the practice of substituting rules and regulations for our relationship to
Christ. It switches our focus from God’s work in us to our work for God. In
Philippians 3, Paul rebuked the Judaizers. These people practiced legalism and
tried to steal the joy from Believers by keeping their focus on external
holiness rather than internal holiness. God wants us to worship Him in spirit
and in truth (John 4:23-24), not by striving to please him by man-made standards.
The Bible is our standard for faith and practice.
We also lose our joy if we do not keep our priorities in
perspective. We allow issues that really
do not matter to take our focus off the things that mean the most. We let the
good things become the enemy of the best things in life. We make mountains out
of molehills. The number one reason people lose their joy is that they get too
involved in activities that are really not that important. They confuse their
priorities. Then the stress in their life robs them of physical, emotional,
mental and spiritual health.
Shame from Satan over the sin in our life is another feature that
derails the train of our life. He gets us bound up in condemnation over our thoughts,
words and actions. The cure for this murderer of our joy is to confess our sins
to God and to repentant of the behavior that caused them. Repent means to stop
sinning by surrendering our will to God’s will. Repentance gives us a clear
conscience, which helps to restore our joy. The battle against the flesh is
very intense at times, but God is sanctifying our soul and the desires of our
flesh daily as we submit to Him.
Worry is another major thief of our joy. If Satan can bind us with
worry, he keeps us from trusting in the Lord. The remedy for this sin is to cast
all our cares upon God, because He truly cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Once worry is gone, faith restores our joy. The
Serenity Prayer is a wonderful guide to get rid of worry. If you can do
something about the situation, do it. If you cannot change it, allow God to
change your focus and attitude about it to one of acceptance with joy (James 1:12). Acceptance allows us to move forward with our life
and to trust God to work everything out for our good (Romans 8:28).
Frustration and discouragement come from a lack of proper focus on life
and they quickly quench our joy. We humans take life too seriously. There is
only one thing necessary for us each day: to seek God’s will, which will give
us an eternal mindset rather than a worldly, temporal outlook. If you keep the Kingdom of God
Lasting joy comes from increasingly knowing Christ better (Philippians 3:10). All relationships are built on trust. God wants us
to learn to trust Him. He will allow many types of problems in our life, in
order to teach us that He is reliable all of the time. We lose our joy the
moment we stop growing and trusting. Once we start living in continual
obedience to His commandments, we have confidence that we truly know God (1 John 2:3).
In the Old Testament, “Yada” is a Hebrew word meaning "to know intimately by experience", as in
the relationship between a husband and wife (Genesis 4:1, 17, 25). This concept is equally as true in the New Testament.
The Greek word “gnosis”
is the linguistic counterpart of the Hebrew word “Yada”. We only feel true and lasting joy as we intimately
and experientially know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He sent (John 17:3). When God
answers our prayers, our joy is complete (John 16:24). Never
stop trusting God, growing spiritually and developing your relationship with
Christ, so that your joy will remain full (John 15:11).
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, spending time with You in prayer, reading
Your Word and worshipping and fellowshipping with other Christians helps us to
get to know You better. However, we have to spend time alone with You to attain the intimacy You desire with us.
Remind us to take time to not only talk, but also to listen to You as You speak
to us. Through our intimate relationship with You, You remove all the negative
thoughts and emotions from our lives. As we keep our focus on Your proper
perspective, our joy is full of Your glory, and it actually defies description (1 Peter 1:8).
Thought for the Day:
When we attempt to live life
in our own power, rather than by relying on God, we immediately lose our joy.Thank you, David Bowman, for the use of your picture.
