Joy Killers

 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.

 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!

^{Revelation 2:2-4}

The Shawshank Redemption^^

Ask yourself, what is joy?

We all have personal definitions of what joy is, here's a few from some friends.

RL- fruit of the spirit. So without Gods spirit you and people around you would only experience happiness. Happiness is momentary. Joy is something you carry with you in any situation. Joy is found in faith. Faith is strengthened thru trial.

M- peace with Gods perfect will.

HJ (recently lost her great grandmother)- A lot of people think it means happy but for me it means so much more than that. Joy keeps you going when times are rough, it has a sense of hope to it. Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" my favorite bible verse

CM- God is great and He knows what He is doing. Gods will is meant for good but happiness is temporary. There was no room for happiness when Jesus was carrying that cross. BUT his joy was complete because it was His Fathers will and He had the bigger picture in mind. salvation for humanity.

SO first, before reading, ask yourself this: what kills my joy?

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James 1:2

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

So, How many of you remember how you felt when you first truly fell in love with Jesus? 

(think about it)

     As a deer pants for flowing streams,
          so pants my soul for you, O God.
(Psalm 42:1 ESV)

You felt like psalm 42:1 right?
Like a deer, or any other animal, you were thirsty for real, satisfying water, the most important substance to a living being.
And there He was when you turned around.

Our redeemer. 

The savior of the world. 

Our hero.

Who killed the lights?We were all ON FIRE! However, after a year, a month, or even a day later, do we live as if we need Jesus like He is the most important substance to man?

In most cases, we don't! But that doesn't mean that He isn't important.

So joy is eternal, happiness is temporary. True facts.

Paul's attitude was as long as I have the joy of Christ I can die satisfied

"To live is Christ, to die is gain"

Why is dying gain? Because we still have our joy. Where is our joy? Jesus. Who is alive.

 Even death could not hold Him down.

Are we joyful this week? Yesterday? Today? And why not?

Is it because God isn't as powerful or as beautiful or as close as He was yesterday?
And if it is a matter of His closeness, Where is the separation coming from? Sin?

First off, read Romans 8:31-39.

 (read)

(read)

(read!)

Nothing can separate us from God's love.

 

However, SIN is powerful enough to make you feel like you are separated from God's perfect love.

Romans 5:12

As humans, our nature is to sin. You don't have to teach a baby how to hit or steal. Look around, we are sinful.
We are born of Adam. Thanks be to God that we can accept Christ as our King and be born again.

Here is David, and this is a piece of a Psalm from him after the whole Bathsheba deal..

    Let me hear joy and gladness;
        let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
    Hide your face from my sins,
        and blot out all my iniquities.
    Create in me a clean heart, O God,
        and renew a right spirit within me.
    Cast me not away from your presence,
        and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
    Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
        and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Psalm 51:8-12

All sin roots from the absence of this joy David speaks of in psalm 51.

Things that we idolize in our lives turn our eyes away from our Father, who loved us first.

Things that we love more than Him will eventually steal the joy that comes with complete comfort from the Lord.

This is why the text says,

RESTORE TO ME THE JOY OF YOUR SALVATION

Because, when salvation of the Lord is on our minds, we do not get distracted by supermodels or guys that look like they could be on The Bachelor. Our eyes are on the real prize (Philippians 3:13-14). At the end, if we continue to chase these dry consolation prizes, we will end up realizing how much we wasted our lives chasing creations instead of the creator, who offers us eternity. 

Because, what do we do when we are not satisfied by water? We find any other substance that has more taste. What do we do when we are not satisfied by Jesus? We find other things that look good to the naked eye, or better yet, the uncircumcised heart(Romans 2:29). We don't notice that water is important until we get kidney failure. And then you would be wishing that you had listened to your parents sooner about the affects that soda and no water can give you.

Sometimes, we don't notice how important Jesus is to us until we are in a crazy situation; like David found himself in Psalm 51. And only then will we be wishing that we had listened to our Heavenly Father sooner.

And what did David cry out after he screwed up? LORD, KING, SAVIOR, RESTORE to me the joy of your salvation! What do we want in our hearts after we screw up? That feeling that we had when we first realized what God has done for us. The feeling of the HUGE burden lifted off of your shoulders. The feeling when you finally realized who exactly loved you first.

Because his joy was never absent. His first love (us) was on His mind the whole time. What's blocking our vision of Him? Let's remember His love, His obedience, His sacrifice, and His life! 

And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.

Romans 6:8

He has offered us life. It's up to us to look towards the prize.

We are the joy killers