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Be joyful always; pray continually;
give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ
Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:16
Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it
again: Rejoice! Phillipians 4:4
Stumbling Blocks to having Joy in Our Lives
 | Sin - How important is it for a Christian to have joy in his life? Let's look
at David's (the king of Israel) state of being as recorded in Psalm 51:12 - Restore
to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
David's condition sounds pretty desperate doesn't it. What caused this
mighty king of Israel to fall into such deep despair? Psalm 51 was written
after the prophet Nathan had confronted David concerning the fact that David had
committed adultery with Bathsheba. Let's look at the verses
concerning this event in 2 Samuel 12:1 thru 10 - The
LORD sent Nathan to
David. When he
came to him, he said, "There were
two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a
very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one
little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and
his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his
arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich
man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to
prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the
ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come
to him." David burned
with anger against the man and said to Nathan,
"As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had
no pity." Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man!
This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I anointed
you king of
Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the
house
of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have
given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing
what is evil in his eyes. You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword
and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the
Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and
took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your
own." Sin is a terrible thing and it robs us of our
joy. Sin also affects our Christian walk and can even damage our
testimony. Let's look at David's response and Nathan's final words
relative to this episode in 2 Samuel 12:13 & 14 - Then
David said to Nathan, "I have sinned
against the LORD." Nathan
replied, "The LORD has taken away your
sin. You are not going to
die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show
utter contempt, the son born to you will die." These
verses clearly state that God forgave David's sin, but there where consequences
as a direct result of the sin that David committed. David's testimony had
been damaged and the son conceived as a result of this act of adultery was going
to die. Sin had robbed David of his joy in the Lord. Sin is the
first stumbling block to having real joy in our lives. |
| Misplaced Confidence - Now let's look at another area that can
rob us of our joy in the Lord,
"misplaced
confidence". When we put confidence in the flesh we find ourselves
anxious, tense, struggling, tired and disappointed. We need to be
contented, we must realize that God is in total control of our lives including our jobs, our families, our finances, etc. Jeremiah 29:11 - For
I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper
you and not
to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
In order to be
content and have joy, our confidence must be in Christ alone. |
| Wrong Attitude towards God's Discipline - The third area where we can choke off joy is our attitude towards the
chastening and discipline that God often administers to his children.
Hebrews 12:11 - No discipline seems pleasant at
the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of
righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. If
we are only thinking about how painful the discipline is, we will get discouraged and resentful which will rob us of our joy. We
must set our
sights on the intended result, the harvest of righteousness and peace. The
secret to joy during times of discipline is found in Hebrews 12:6 - "My
son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he
rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes
everyone he accepts as a son." |
| Growing Weary during Trials of Faith - The fourth area where
we can suppress the joy of the Lord in our lives
sometimes occurs
when we experience "trials of faith". The purpose of trials is
to exercise our faith so that we can grow spiritually and become strong.
Trials are not the same as discipline. Discipline deals with sin in our
lives. God allows trials to come into our lives for this purpose, to
strengthen our faith and build character so that we can be used of God.
Many times we are like Job when a "trial of faith" comes into our
lives, we start out strong. Let's look at what Job said in Job 1:21 when
he found out that he had lost all of his earthly possessions as well as his
children - "Naked I came from my mother's
womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD
gave and the
LORD has taken away,
may the name of the LORD be
praised." Job's response
after having lost all of his earthly possessions as well as his children
is commendable, we could all hope that our faith would be as strong if a similar
thing where to happen to us. However, as the time of the trial wore on and
false accusations were levied by his friends and the nagging of his spouse,
Job's faith and patience gave out until he finally was reduced to saying in Job
34:9 - "It profits a man nothing when
he
tries to please God." But even though Job gave up and
seemingly lost faith and hope, God remained faithful and stayed with Job until
Job learned of God's sovereignty. Then God blessed Job with with twice as
much as he had lost. Job 42:10 - After
Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous
again and gave him
twice as much as he had before. |
Stepping Stones to Joy
Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow
with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Know where the joy
comes from, it comes from God. We must be responsible to exhibit joy in
our lives and to depend on the Holy Spirit for the power to exhibit the joy that
God has given to us.
|
Confess sin - In order to have joy in our lives,
we should be willing to obey God and resist the temptation of sin. However,
when we fail and sin we must confess the sin as David did in order to
have the joy restored. Let's look at David's confession in Psalm 32:5 - Then
I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said,
"I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"
- and you forgave the
guilt of my sin. After David confessed the sin we notice in
Psalm 32:7 & 11 a peace and joy in David's life - You
are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs
of deliverance." Selah Rejoice in the LORD
and be glad, you
righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart! |
|
Trust God - Look again at Romans 15:13 - May
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you
may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now
look at Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all
things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose. Now think about the Book of
Job, God never explained to Job the reason for his trial. God worked
in Job's life to bring him to a point where Job trusted in Him without any explanation. Look at the last recorded words of Job in Job 42:1
thru 6 - Then
Job replied to the LORD:
"I know that you can do all things; no plan
of yours can be thwarted. You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel
without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things
too wonderful for me to know. You said, 'Listen now, and I will
speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' My ears had heard of
you but my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in
dust and ashes." God brought Job to a point where he
totally trusted God without having to understand everything that God was
allowing to happen in his life. God wants to bring each of us to this
point in our lives, a total trust and dependence on God's will for our lives
whether we understand what God is doing or not. |
| Grasp Hold of a Long Range View - The long range
view is our eternal inheritance that awaits us in Jesus and the final revelation
of His Glory. I Peter 1:3 thru 9 - Praise
be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he
has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish,
spoil or
fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power
until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last
time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may
have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that
your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by
fire - may be proved genuine and may
result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though
you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you
believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you
are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Now
look at
II Corinthians 4:18 - So we fix our eyes
not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary,
but what is unseen is eternal. Hebrews 12:2 explains the long
range view of Jesus as He looked to the cross - Let
us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy
set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God. |
|
Give Thanks - Give thanks in all
circumstances. This does not mean that you have to give thanks for the
difficult circumstances but it does mean that you should raise a voice of
thanksgiving to God for what He is going to do in your life as a result of the difficult circumstances that He has allowed to come into your
life. Let's
look at Hebrews 8:37 & 38 - No, in all things
we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced
that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor
the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. |
Summary
Stumbling Blocks to having Joy in Our Lives
| Sin |
| Misplaced Confidence |
| Wrong Attitude towards God's Discipline |
| Growing Weary during Trials of Faith |
Stepping Stones to Joy
| Confess Sin |
| Trust God |
| Grasp Hold of a Long Range View |
| Give Thanks |
Conclusion: We must be responsible to exhibit joy in
our lives and to depend on the Holy Spirit for the power to exhibit the joy that
God has given to us. People around us notice when we exhibit true joy and
the Spirit of God can work through us in the lives of other people that need to see the love of Jesus.
Bible verses referenced in this
presentation
are from the following translation:
New International Version
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