How to Win in the Search For Joy

This morning as I was spending my time in study with God’s Word, the idea of joy was brought to light. I went to bed with feelings of heaviness and depression seeking to overwhelm me. Many of you can relate. For me, it wasn’t as if there was some terrible event lurking at my door, it was just a result of being tired and triggered by a small irritant, too minor to even mention. But life wears on a person. I know that the day to day life of work, kids, and keeping up the house, is for so many, harder than it would seem. So, the battle for the Christian to have and maintain joy, is real and difficult. And we have an enemy, the devil, always lurking around casting little grenades of tensions that will blow up our joy, if we are not careful.

The Christian life is a life of warfare. We are in a battle every day. This is why we are instructed in Ephesians 6:11 to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” One of his schemes, is to be sure we do not live with joy.

But the devil isn’t just running loose and wreaking havoc upon us unfettered. I don’t have time to fully develop the doctrine of God’s sovereignty here, every Christian needs to search and study the scriptures to gain a better grasp on this doctrine and how it applies to suffering. For me personally, it was the Book of Job that illuminated this area in my life. Understanding the doctrines of sovereignty and suffering is the key to our being able to live in joy. Since we know that without faith it is impossible to please God, Hebrews 11:6, faith is an imperative to the Christian walk. And since joy is different than happiness, which depends on circumstance, joy requires faith. It means that in spite of suffering and pain, we trust in God so much, that we do not turn from Him with anger and bitterness when He allows things to happen that we do not like.

When we look at the life and the death of Jesus, we find something going on that doesn’t fit with our concepts of joy. Listen to author of Hebrews as he shows us an amazing aspect of the death of Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2
 …keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.

Jesus endured the cross for the joy that lay before Him. What could possibly lay before Him in the slow and painful death He would face on the cross that would bring joy? The answer is that the result of His death, would be His glorification, as He knew that He would die, be resurrected, and ascend back to the glory He left to sit down at the right hand of God’s throne.

My friends, we have the same hope for our Christian lives. As we live out this life, we will have troubles. Sorrow will come our way. Suffering of one form or another is inevitable. But as we face this life and its end, death will come. But Jesus has overcome death and just like Jesus, we will ascend to be with God. We shall dwell in the presence of the glory of Almighty God. This means we have reason to endure for the joy set before us. It means every day, whatever we face, we have reason to have joy.

Yet, here we are, struggling day to day to have joy. What must we do? The answer is in His Word.

Psalm 119:111
Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

Jeremiah 15:16
Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.

Step one is to read His Word. Feast on it. Devour it. It is filled with the hope of our salvation.

John 16:24
Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Step two is to pray. Ask God in the name of Jesus to make your joy full. We are told to pray without ceasing, so pray without ceasing. Ask God to give you joy, even in the midst of pain and suffering.

Psalm 100:1-2

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!  Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Step three is to serve God and do it with singing. Your church has plenty of opportunities to serve in and the world is filled with needs. Nothing makes you forget your own troubles more than helping someone with theirs.

Philippians 2:17-18
Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.  Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Ephesians 5:18-19
 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.

Step four is fellowship. Go to church. Hang out with fellow Christians. Encourage and be encouraged with other believers. We need each other.

James 1:2-4
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Step five may be the hardest step. But it can be accomplished if we walk in the Spirit and we follow the other steps. Count it joy, all joy, even in the trials of life. Even in our worst pain and our darkest night, we can call it joy because we can know it is a test of our faith. God would not test our faith if we had none. Remember that you are a child of God. That is enough to make it all worth bearing.

The Bible has much more to say on joy. Seek it out by seeking out Jesus.

I leave you with one more scripture. It is our prayer for each other.

Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

God Bless!

How to Have Complete Assurance That You Are Saved

If you are anything like me, there are still times in your life that you struggle with your own assurance of salvation. Certainly, to doubt the work of Christ on the cross would be wrong and even sinful. The Bible is clear that Jesus came into the world to save sinners and His death and resurrection were effective. But it is impossible to read the entire counsel of scripture and fail to see that there are many in the world who have deceived themselves in believing that they are truly saved. It was Jesus who made this clear by saying, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” - Matthew 7:21-23  

Paul instructed us in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

It is possible to fail the test. The people Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7 called Jesus, Lord. They prophesized, cast out demons, and did mighty works, all in His name. Yet, He called them “workers of lawlessness” and said he never knew them. These people will not enter into His eternal rest, He told them to depart from His presence. They failed the test.

So, this brings up the question, and it is of the utmost importance we find the answer, how do I know I am saved?

Sometimes the Bible just doesn’t quite seem to make it easy to understand some of the things of life. But the answer to this question is clear. The Apostle John has posed the question and given the clear answer in 1 John 2:3-6. Read what he says.

“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.  Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:  whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

How does he say we come to know Him? By keeping His commandments and by keeping His words. The blessed life of the true Christian is lived by being “In Christ”, and John tells us that we are “In Christ” because we walk “in the same way in which He [Jesus] walked.”

This is clear writing and easily understood. We can only have assurance of salvation by living a life committed to walking as Christ did, in complete obedience to God and His Word. Jesus, the Son, always did the will of the Father. It is through a committed life to the commandments of scripture, in which we will experience the fullness of joy, because in this, we know we are in Christ.

Does this mean our lives will be lived in perfection? No, it doesn’t. Obviously, John saw that presumption coming and squelched it in the verses just before he told us how to be sure we are in Christ.

1 John 2:1-2
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

We aren’t saved by our ability to follow His commandments. Praise God or I would be doomed, for I still struggle mightily. If you were honest, you would say the same. You see the standard by which we must judge ourselves, (Take a look at 1 Corinthians 11 for a study on this principle), is not each other, but Jesus. He is the gold standard. He is the goal. It is His walk and His walk alone, that we must seek.

I believe in the doctrine called the Perseverance of the Saints. I do not believe you can “lose” your salvation. But let’s not get hung up on that argument. We are called to persevere in our faith.

Hebrews 10:35-36
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.  You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

We must persevere. It is the will of God that we must persevere in. This is our part in the salvation experience. We persevere by living a life that is committed to walking the same holy path Christ does.

Saved by grace, no question. But joy will come to us through a life committed to following Jesus. Faith without works is dead – James 2:14

God answered a prayer for me last week. He brought me to a place where I could see His grace. But He did it through pain. I leave you with a lengthy, but very important scripture. Take ahold of this principle and it will change your life.

Hebrews 12:5-17
 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.  Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.  For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,  and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.  Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;  that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.  For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Unlike Esau, you still have the chance to repent. Take that opportunity today.

Being a Bird Feeder For God

One of my favorite things to do is feed the birds and then sit in my kitchen and watch them as they fly in and out taking advantage of the various seeds at our feeders. Lately whenever I go out to refill the feeders, I am reminded of the words of Jesus spoken to us in Matthew 6:25-26:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

Jesus gave us these words so that we would understand that as His children, God provides everything we need. Not only does God take of His children and the animals of the world, He even takes care of those who reject and scorn Him. In Matthew 5:45 Jesus tells us that God "gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike."

But the beauty of how God operates, is through His people. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

It is important to understand that even as Jesus was telling us we need not be anxious for anything in this life, He was also commanding us to go into the world and be the means by which He would provide for both the just and the unjust. Listen to Jesus on this.

Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The truth is that the evidence of our salvation is found in how we love others. Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 25:34-40

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

God’s people are God’s hands and feet. We are the means He uses to provide for those in need. Sometimes this means we give a sandwich to a homeless man in the streets. Sometimes it means we simply take time to say a kind and encouraging word to a stranger who we observe sitting alone in a hospital waiting room. Sometimes it means we pray for the needs we read about on our Facebook page. Sometimes it means we buy some birdseed at Rural King and put up a bird feeder in our backyard.

Open your Bible on a regular basis to Luke 10:27 and read how Jesus answers the lawyer’s question. “Sir, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” No, Jesus isn’t suggesting salvation is by works, Jesus is explaining how the one who receives Him by faith will be forever changed in how he views others.

May mercy, grace, and above all else, love, become the characteristics that define us.