Fifteen Tactics for Joy

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

In this life of sin and pain, joy is embattled. Just like faith. And Paul says to Timothy, “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). So it is with joy. We must work for it and fight for it. Paul said to the Corinthians, “We work with you for your joy” (2 Corinthians 1:24).

How then shall we fight for joy? Here are 15 pointers.

Realize that authentic joy in God is a gift.

Realize that joy must be fought for relentlessly. And don’t be put off by the paradox of these first two pointers!

Resolve to attack all known sin in your life, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Learn the secret of gutsy guilt — how to fight like a justified sinner.

Realize that the battle is primarily a fight to see — to see God for who he is.

Meditate on the word of God day and night.

Pray earnestly and continually for open heart-eyes and an inclination for God.

Learn to preach to yourself rather than listen to yourself.

Spend time with God-saturated people who help you see God and fight the fight.

Be patient in the night of God’s seeming absence.

Get the rest, exercise, and proper diet that your body was designed by God to have.

Make a proper use of God’s revelation in nature — take a walk in the woods.

Read great books about God and biographies of great saints.

Do the hard and loving thing for the sake of others (your verbal witness and deeds of mercy).

Get a global vision for the cause of Christ, and pour yourself out for the unreached.

Every one of those has Bible verses to support it. If you want to see them, they are in the book When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy.

John Piper 

Who are you when no one’s looking?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2:12 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

“While I’m gone, I want you to be on your best behavior.” Has anyone ever said that to you? This is what Paul means when he gives us the directive to “work out our salvation” even when he is not around.

A pastor is successful when he trains his flock to love the Lord, share their faith, and minister to others when no one else is looking. It’s the true test of a person’s walk with God.

So, how are you doing? How much do you leave for a tip when there is no one around to impress? How fast do you drive when the speed limit says 35 and you’re running late? What happens when you’re alone on a business trip, and there are free movies in your hotel room?

ACTION POINT:

When was the last time you did something nice for someone who could never pay you back and no one would ever know about it? Do you just talk the talk? Or do you walk the walk?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Day Is at Hand

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. (Romans 13:12)

This is a word of hope to suffering Christians. It’s a word of hope to Christians who hate their own sin and long to be done with sinning. It’s a word of hope to Christians who long for the last enemy Death to be overcome and thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14).

How is it a word of hope for all these?

“The night” stands for this age of darkness and all its sin and misery and death. And what does Paul say about it? “The night is far gone.” The age of sin and misery and death is almost spent. The day of righteousness and peace and total joy is dawning.

You might say, “2,000 years seems like a long dawn.” From one standpoint it is. And we cry, How long, O Lord, how long will you let it go on? But the biblical way to think goes beyond this lament of “How long!” It looks at world history differently.

The key difference is that the “day” — the new age of the Messiah — has really dawned in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the end of this fallen age. That is, the end of this fallen age has, as it were, broken in to this world. Jesus defeated sin and pain and death and Satan when he died and rose again. The decisive battle of the ages is over. The kingdom has come. Eternal life has come.

And when dawn happens — as it did in the coming of Jesus — no one should doubt the coming of day. Not even if the dawn draws out 2,000 years. As Peter says in 2 Peter 3:8, “Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” The dawn has come. The day has arrived. Nothing can stop the rising of the sun to full day.

John Piper 

Joy or Sadness—You Get to choose

BIBLE MEDITATION:

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 1 John 4:9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

In his book You Can Have Joy! Arnold Prater told of an Englishman named John Deckard who had an award-winning passion for roses.

One year, John grew a “rose among roses” to enter in the annual Garden Show. But before he could cut the rose, his little son rushed in and exclaimed, “Daddy, look what I have for you!” His small hand clutched the prize rose. Visitors to the Garden Show were astonished when they saw John’s entry. For in the flowerpot was a photo of his son with the rose in his hands, along with an honorary blue ribbon. 

Sometimes your plans go awry. Your dreams may be crushed. But in their place, God sends His own Son, Jesus. And when that happens, nothing else matters but the love of His Son.

ACTION POINT:

What disappointment have you experienced this week? Did you choose joy or sadness? What can you learn from today’s devotional thought to apply to your life the next time disappointment comes?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Rise Up

We are all under construction!

Rise above the attacks of Satan.

Worry

Top Things We Worry About in 2019

5. Personal health

4. Families health

3. Being late

2. Money

1. Death

What is Worry?

A feeling of uneasiness, dread or something that might happen

There is a difference between concern and worry.

Concern is helpful but worry is detrimental.

Make sure you know the Lord as savior!

Causes of worry

1. Fear

But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear. - Matthew 14:26

Fearful finances 

Not enough money at the end of the month

Disease 

As you age, your health declines!

Every pain makes you think the worst!

2. Storms of life

Difficulties 

Trials

They happen at the worst of times!

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." - Matthew 14:30

My God is for me!

Worry doesn't work.

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.

Corrie Ten Boom

3. Death

Lord save me!

We are vulnerable.

Our body is corrupted. 

You see a loved one die or you get a diagnosis that could end in death.

Cures for worry

1. Do not be afraid.

26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear.

27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid." - Matthew 14:26-27

When you are with Jesus in the storm, you are going to be ok.

He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

2. Do not doubt.

30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me."

31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" - Matthew 14:30-31

But Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." - Matthew 19:26

God is omnipotent!

All inclusive! All powerful!

He spoke the world into existence!

Look at your worries and know our God is able.

3. Do not do life alone.

32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." - Matthew 14:32-33

Jesus got into the boat with Peter and the other disciples.

They shared life together.

Worship God together.

Make disciples together.

So

Share Jesus together.

Find you a church home!

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.

10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7

Thank you Pastor Kevin!!

The Great Exchange

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed. (Romans 1:16–17)

We need righteousness to be acceptable to God. But we don’t have it. What we have is sin.

So, God has what we need and don’t deserve — righteousness; and we have what God hates and rejects — sin. What is God’s answer to this situation?

His answer is Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died in our place and bore our condemnation. “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he [God] condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). Whose flesh bore the condemnation? His. Whose sins were being condemned? Ours. This is the great exchange. Here it is again in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

God lays our sins on Christ and punishes them in him. And in Christ’s obedient death, God fulfills and vindicates his righteousness and imputes (credits) it to us. Our sin on Christ; his righteousness on us.

We can hardly stress too much that Christ is God’s answer to our greatest problem. It is all owing to Christ.

You can’t love Christ too much. You can’t think about him too much, or thank him too much, or depend upon him too much. All our forgiveness, all our justification, all our righteousness is in Christ.

This is the gospel — the good news that our sins are laid on Christ and his righteousness is laid on us, and that this great exchange becomes ours not by works but by faith alone. “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Here is the good news that lifts burdens and gives joy and makes strong.

John Piper 

Are You Ignoring Buried Treasure?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 1 Peter 4:12-13

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Andrew Murray said, “Every child of God must at one time or another enter the school of trial.” The Bible teaches we’re to count it a joy when God takes us into this school.

That’s hard.

But if you don’t find the blessing and wisdom from going through a trial, it will all be for nothing. You want to come out the other side the better for it.

Think of fertile soil softened by rain or broken up by a plow. A seed must be cast into it so something fruitful and nourishing can grow out of it.

Let your heart be softened to listen for your Father’s voice and see what He has in view. You’ll take away an abiding blessing.

Are you in the middle of a trial? Believe that the Lord will bring you through because you trusted Him with all your heart.

ACTION POINT:

Paul has some encouraging words for you in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18. J.B. Phillips translates it this way:

We wish you could see how all this is working out for your benefit, and how the more grace God gives, the more thanksgiving will redound to his glory. This is the reason why we never collapse. The outward man does indeed suffer wear and tear, but every day the inward man receives fresh strength. These little troubles (which are really so transitory) are winning for us a permanent, glorious and solid reward out of all proportion to our pain. For we are looking all the time not at the visible things but at the invisible. The visible things are transitory: it is the invisible things that are really permanent.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers