Daily Devotional

Synced Daily Devotionals Week 2

Joy - Week 2

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Monday

Luke 10:17-21

17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

 

Every year, around May and June, the celebrations of school graduations take place. For some these are an event that brings relief, but for all these events bring joy! You can see it on the faces of the graduates as they relish in the culmination of all their work and achievements. But the greatest joy is in the audience with family and especially with parents.

The apostle John wrote, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” Talk to any parent and they will tell you that is absolutely true! Jesus nurtured the disciples, instructing them and modeling for them the way the way that God designed for humans to live. But eventually everyone must begin to do that work themselves, they must leave the classroom or the home and put into practice what they have been taught.

Obedience and faithfulness have very real results in our lives, and one of the greatest aspects of the fruit that God’s Spirit produces in our lives is JOY. The 72 disciples did what Jesus told them to do and they returned with JOY. Jesus had poured his life and ministry into these disciples, like a parent into a child or a teacher into a student. Parenting and teaching are acts of faith because the outcomes cannot be guaranteed. But when a child or a student goes out and puts their learning to the test and it works, the result is JOY for everyone!

The Holy Spirit brings us JOY when we are faithful and obedient. The Holy Spirit brings JOY to others when we are faithful and obedient. But even more amazing is the fact that our faithfulness and obedience brings JOY to Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Spread some JOY to others today by being faithful in what God has appointed you to do today.

~John Secrest

 

Tuesday

Luke 15:3-7

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

 

This is a passage that is a cause for celebration. When even one person comes to know and accepts Christ into their life, heaven rejoices! (See Luke 15:10). This is evidence of the importance of every human being in God’s sight. We are his children, and our Father God wants us to know and follow Him.

Another cause for celebration occurs when a believer who strays is brought back to fellowship with the Good Shepherd. Has God ever had to go after you after a bad decision or action was taken? I can think of many examples in my life when I took the wrong road and made decisions that took me farther from God. I was lost, and for a time didn’t even realize how far off course I was. In fact, there were times when was so exhausted with trying to live life without Christ guiding me that it almost disabled me; I felt helpless and weak from being apart from Him.

In this passage of scripture we find a wonderful part of the parable that is found in verse 5: “And when he (the shepherd) has found it (the lost sheep), he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. “ In other words, the sheep can no longer walk, and cannot return to the home base on its’ own. He’s too weak.

Isn’t this what sin does to us? It weakens us so that we’re distracted, discouraged, and off base in every way. If not for Christ picking us up and bringing us back to Him, we would remain estranged from Him, unable to survive alone.

Read this passage in several translations and thank God that He has come after you when you’ve gone astray, and that He will continue to do so if we only ask. Read John 10:11. It is a great promise to us from Christ, our Shepherd.

~Duane Funderburk

 

Wednesday

John 15.9-11

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

 

What Jesus says here is remarkable. Did you catch it? He says that as we keep his commands (namely, to love God, love others, and make disciples), we will bring him joy and we’ll be brought joy too.

That’s just plain amazing!

This idea reminds me of what it is like to be a good friend. Think back to a time when one of your friends really went out of their way to make you feel special. What did they do? Well, it’s likely that they did something that you liked because it made you feel good!

So if it was your birthday, they got you a personalized gift that demonstrated they thought of you. If you were having a hard time in some area of your life, they probably knew just how to listen and how to cheer you up. Or if had some great news, they knew precisely how to celebrate with you.

Here’s the point: as your friend did what they knew you would like, you felt joy. And then, in turn, they felt joy too, since there’s not much better in life than helping bring someone contentment.

This is what it’s like in our relationship with Jesus. We’re the friend who does what Jesus desires, namely to obey his commands. As we do so, we bring great joy to Jesus, which can and should bring us joy too.

So our joy is based less on our human relationships, our jobs, and our circumstances and much more on our connection to Jesus through the Spirit. So the bald truth is that if we want to experience joy, then we need to submit to the Spirit as he leads us to obey Jesus’ commands.

In what areas of your life do you have a hard time giving the reins over to the Spirt? How’s that working out for you? Are you finding joy in those areas?

And in what areas of your life are you submitting to the Spirit more and more? My guess is that you’re finding deep contentment there, even if from a worldly perspective it might be hard to see.

That’s the beauty of joy – it’s based on Jesus...not you, others, or your circumstances! Thank goodness!

~Matt Barnes

 

Thursday

John 17.11-13

11 “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”

 

Jesus’ prayer for his disciples is a tender one, but also an urgent one. He knew that he would very soon no longer be with them personally and would be going to be with his heavenly father. They would be left “alone” without his presence, the source of their protection, provision, guidance, and ministry enablement. And, so His concern and focus in his prayer is to pray for their protection from the “evil one” and his deception and treachery and that they find and experience oneness (mutual support and encouragement) in their relationships and ministry, resulting in “the fullness of JOY.” This prayer for them was critical in light of Judas’ upcoming betrayal, which could potentially destroy their bond and trust with each other and discourage them from fulfilling Jesus’ mission for them to proclaim the Gospel “...in Jerusalem, Samaria, Judea and the uttermost parts of the world” (Acts 1.8).

Jesus is praying that the disciples would keep their focus on him, his promises, and his authority so as to not be shaken in their faith and trust because of difficult or devastating circumstances, aka works of the “evil one.” Jesus knew that their ability to be effective witnesses would be in direct proportion to the “inner joy” they experienced through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit living in them. That “joy” would make them contagious as they shared the Gospel in Jesus’ absence.

Where am I? Where are you when it comes to experiencing the “joy of the Lord?” Is there a “secret” to finding that joy? Am I contagious with that joy?

I am a grandparent and have seen a form of “pure joy” in our grandson, especially when his mother comes back into the room where he is after having been gone for a while. He puts on this absolutely beaming Cheshire-like smile that could melt the toughest heart! Why the joy? Because Mom is back and she is right there with him again. Mom is the one who loves him, protects him, cares for him, plays with him, and makes his life enjoyable and safe.

As believers, Jesus wants us to know and experience “a full measure of his joy”, too, the kind of joy he prayed for his disciples. It is a joy which is possible because of his presence in our lives through the Holy Spirit living in us. Jesus is never “gone for a while” and never “leaves us alone.” He has said that, “...he would never leave us or forsake us...” (Hebrews 13.5) and that we can always count on his love, care, protection, and guidance in our lives. The key, or “secret”, to having that joy, I believe, is “to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12.2) and not allow ourselves to be distracted or impacted by the “evil one’s” attempts to discourage or destroy us through some challenge or difficulty.

Joy is part of the “fruit of the Spirit.” Let’s claim it moment by moment in our daily walk with Jesus.

~Roger Bosch

 

Friday

Matthew 5.11-12

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

 

I was in China at the time. It was a typically busy day filled with errands and meetings. Late in the day there was a chance to join a small home fellowship for prayer and worship.

The host of the meeting was an older man sitting on an old squeaky twin bed at one end of the single-room house. He motioned for my friend and me to sit next to him. We wound our way through what was a house packed with Believers. Every bit of floor space was occupied, as were the few of pieces of furniture he owned. The group sang and prayed and we joined in as best we could.

Our host asked if he could tell us his story of walking with Jesus and a story unwound not to dissimilar to what Jesus’ first disciples experienced.

Pastor Allan met Jesus. He heard his words and embraced them and his following of Jesus ultimately led to his arrest as a leader of an illegal and underground movement of churches in China. He told us of two long stints in hard labor camps and separation from his children for almost all of their formative years. He talked about physical torture and mental anguish. He had lived Jesus’ words that many of his followers would suffer for their commitment to him. But here is the most shocking thing I experienced that day... his JOY.

Pastor Allan told these stories with a deep, satisfied smile on his otherwise tired face. His eyes danced as he recounted God’s faithfulness throughout. He had entered into a place where God met him uniquely and where he had understood and expected to suffer for the sake of Christ, but instead of bitterness, it produced joy. The use of the term indicates a ‘delight’ in something. Pastor Allan delighted in the deep places he had been with God. It cultivated a way of being beyond happiness, with its attributes of coming and going, but a rooted delight in obeying the Lord and encountering him in deep ways...in a word, joy.

I have often thought of our brother and that afternoon almost twenty years ago now. The work of the Spirit in this man brought forth a very rare vintage of the fruit of the spirit labeled “joy;” joy in the face of suffering, joy on the other side of suffering, joy in telling a stranger his story of suffering.

As you reflect on difficult things that are a consequence of your faith in Christ, how has it given you opportunity to seek out this kind of joy? Were you able to embrace it? Can you identify growth in this aspect of the fruit of the Spirit? Today ask God to give you eyes to see where you have grown in this area and also courage to face where growth is still needed.

~Scott White

 

Saturday

Matthew 28.5-10

5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

 

Can you imagine what it must have been like for these women? They had loved and followed Jesus for quite some time. Then he was arrested, falsely accused, unjustly convicted, given a traitor’s sentence, and crucified.

They must have been crushed.

But their love for Jesus remained. They came to the place where they thought his body would be to care for him, which is the way an ancient person paid respect to a loved one who died.

But when they arrived at Jesus’ tomb, he was gone! An angel tells them what has happened and that they should go and tell the others.

Then the passage says that these women were “afraid yet filled with joy.” I mean, can you blame them!

Being in the presence of angelic beings must always instill fear in people because angels in the Bible almost always tell people not to afraid. Besides, they were expecting to find the lifeless body of Jesus, not an angel with a message just for them!

And they were filled with joy thanks to the message of this angel. They were told that Jesus was alive and that they were to go and tell others! How awesome! Their beloved Jesus wasn’t dead and they were being entrusted with an important, public task, which would have been extremely rare for women in the ancient world.

Sometimes when God moves in our lives it’s like this too – there’s fear and joy intermingled. Fear because when God moves it generally means that the status quo is being changed. And lots and lots of us really fear change. And there’s joy as well because it is fulfilling to be used by God for whatever he sees fit.

And let’s be just like these women – let’s not let our fear get in the way of experiencing the joy that God has for us!

~Matt Barnes

Study Notes

{tab-ex=English|active}

Synced: A Joy-filled Journey

John 16:16-24

     We’re going to be thinking today about the Bible’s declaration that one aspect of the fruit of God’s Spirit is joy. Few human beings would ever think that a life of joy is a bad thing. We all want to be happy, don’t we? But, one of the main things that I want you to take home today is that what the Bible means by joy is quite different from what the world means by joy.

     There is probably nothing that makes this point clearer than Jesus using the illustration of a woman going through labor pain as an example of a Christian’s joy. I am fully aware that a huge percentage of us in church today (including me) will never experience giving birth to a child personally. However, I think we can all understand it and gain from it. Jesus was dealing with his disciples’ sorrow after he told them that he would soon leave them by dying in order to prepare a place for all who believe in him in heaven. Jesus said that joy is like this: “A woman giving birth to a baby has pain. That’s because her hour to give birth has come. But when her baby is born, she forgets the pain. She forgets because she is so happy that a baby has been born into the world. That’s the way it is with you… (Jn 16:21-22a).”

     I have never given birth to a child but I have been present at the birth of each of my children. When Chris was in labor with Heather, we had attended all the Lamaze classes and I thought I had learned a lot. But, when Chris went into labor, I discovered there is a big difference between classroom learning and the real experience. We were talking together about this last week and both of us thought of the time when a really big labor pain came and out of empathy I got down close to Chris’ face – too close! She put her arm around my neck and got me in a headlock. As her pain grew, her arm-pressure grew. Dealing with the pain seemed to have given her enormous strength. I thought about what our Lamaze teacher had said, “Say, ‘Breathe! Take a deep breath.’” But at that time, I couldn’t breathe. I could only gasp, “Help! I can’t breathe myself!”

     A little while later another powerful labor pain came – just after the nurse and doctor had left the room. Chris shouted, “Everybody’s gone. Everybody’s left me!” I said, “No, I’m here.” And she yelled, “But you don’t know anything!”

     Jesus said that Christian joy is like that. If so, I for one need to figure out what he meant. So, let’s start.

 

#1: What Joy Is

     Joy is not something that you pursue for its own sake. You don’t usually say, “I want to experience some joy today. I’ll just try to smile and be happy!” Joy doesn’t work that way. You do want to experience joy, of course. But, joy comes when we discover or experience something else that we’ve been looking for or hoping for. So, joy is always connected to something else that you and I long for or something wonderful that we experience. With that in mind, let me propose this definition of joy: Joy is the intense and spontaneous emotional response of great gladness and delight when you have received or achieved something that you have deeply desired or have experienced something wonderful.

   In the Bible, joy flows out of a wide range of human experiences—from experiencing sexual love (Solomon’s Song 1:4), to entering into marriage after waiting a long time for it (Pr 5:18), to the birth of a child when a couple has longed for it (Ps 113:9), to soldiers securing a military victory (Isa 9:3), and even to drinking a great wine (Ps 104:15 and the marriage at Cana in John 2).

And if joy is a glad response to experiencing something you have long desired, you might expect joy to fill the Christmas story when the long-awaited Messiah is born. And it does!! The birth of John the Baptist as the forerunner of the Messiah brings joy to his old father (Lk 1:14). The angel's greeting to Mary is a call to rejoice (Lk 1:28). Later, shepherds are told that Jesus will bring great joy for all people (Lk 2:10). The Magi, upon finding the infant Jesus, are "overjoyed” (Mt 2:10).

     So, when you experience joy or happiness, it not that you have gone out and looked for it. Joy is the glad satisfaction that we feel when we find what we’ve longed for – when we experience something wonderful.

#2: What Is Different About the Joy of the Spirit

     With that understanding of joy, I’m sure you see that all people can experience joy. It’s not only Christians who feel joy when we receive or achieve something or someone we have longed for. But, there is still a difference in the way Jesus talked about joy in Jn 16 from the way the world does. Usually, the joy or happiness the world points toward doesn’t seem to last very long. In particular, the joy our culture talks about doesn’t often survive the pain and suffering of this world.

     A few years ago, author Amy Bloom wrote about this in an insightful article entitled The Rap on Happiness. Some schools of psychology don’t like what Bloom wrote because her main point is that happiness is “transient”. In her observations, Bloom had made note of what I said in my first point, i.e., that happiness is built on us having our longings fulfilled and 1) those things once attained do not seem to satisfy fully and 2) even if they provide some satisfaction, they don’t last. They grow old, boring or out of fashion. Bloom said, “Anything you get joy from in this world cannot last.”

     I should have learned this many years ago when, in the summer of 1964, I found I could pick up St. Louis radio station KMOX on my radio in West Virginia and I became a St. Louis Cardinals’ fan. No one else in my school was a Cards’ fan and they mocked me. But, I was able to buy a Cards’ hat and I wore it to school everyday. A few of you may know that in 1964, the Cards won the World Series. I was filled euphoric. I was so happy. Every day I wore my baseball cap to school. I used every penny I made mowing lawns buying baseball cards of the St. Louis players and I knew they would win the next year too.

   But they didn’t. In fact, the Cardinals fell apart. They had a losing season. In 1965, the World Series was won by… the Dodgers!! When that happened, everyone made fun of me with my St. Louis hat. I was so frustrated and I thought, “Never again. Never again will I give my heart to a baseball team!”

     My question to you is this: What do you give your heart to? To winning at fantasy football? To your child getting into law school? What is it that you long for the most? I’m afraid that many people say that Jesus is the Lord of their lives but, in reality, it is success or pleasure or…

     As far as I can determine it, the main difference between the world’s joy and Christian joy is the object of our joy, i.e., what it is that we most long for. If our ultimate desire is something that is temporary or based on a circumstance, when that thing is gone or that circumstance deteriorates, then the joy goes away with it.

     What Jesus talks about in John 16 is the kind of joy that nothing in this can ever take away -- even suffering and loss. This is a truth that C.S. Lewis wrote about this perhaps more than anyone. In his autobiography, Surprised By Joy, Lewis wrote about how he as a young boy experienced a deep joy inside when he read an Icelandic saga. It’s the kind of unexpected joy many of us have experienced when we hear some music that we love or see a great piece of art or eat a great meal or observe something as magnificent as a lunar eclipse! When we do, we want more and more of that thing that brings us joy.

     Lewis began reading every Icelandic story he could find – and eventually even began to read them in their original language. But, he became aware of the fact that his joy in them seemed to diminish. So, he switched his interest to other things that he thought might bring him joy – like a good friendship. He chose a friend and wanted to spend every moment of every day with that friends – until the friend had to say, “Let’s take a break from one another once in a while.”

     It was JRR Tolkien who heard Lewis talking about this and said to him that the things that bring us joy may not be the ultimate things in this world meant to bring us lasting joy. Tolkien said something like this: What if those things you enjoy so much are signposts pointing to their Maker, i.e., to the one who created them and gave them to you out of love. Lewis, he said, lasting joy is not to be found in the gift but in knowing and loving the Giver of the gift. Lewis spoke of this in The Weight of Glory:

The things in this world that we think bring joy “will betray us if we trust in them. But it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things… are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”

     This is why a Christian and non-Christian alike can find joy in the good things in this world. James 1 tells us that every good gift comes from our Heavenly Father. However, the good things are not the ultimate things. The gifts God gives only point to how good God is. If we live for those things he gives out of his love, they will let us down every time. But, if we know God and that he loves us with an everlasting love, then we know that what he is after in our lives is a lasting joy. So, as Paul put it in Phil 4, when we abound with things, we rejoice for we know God is blessing us. But, when we lack things, we rejoice because we know God is doing something for our good – even when don’t understand what he’s doing at the time.

     This is what Jesus is getting at in Jn 16. He was going to die and the disciples couldn’t make any sense out of it. It was painful for them. But, he asked them to trust him because he was doing something more wonderful than they could imagine – and it would take this kind of suffering to bring it about. This is the reason why true followers of Jesus can have joy in the midst of pain and loss – because we find our joy ultimately in God and we trust him. Do you know him? Do you know Jesus died and bore the punishment for your sin on the cross? Do you also know that Jesus personally found joy in the midst of this great agony because he knew where his suffering would lead? Let me show you two verses now that I show you often:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Heb 12:2-3).

     Let me ask you: Who is it that brought such delight to Jesus that, even when he went through unimaginable pain, he found joy in it. Who brought him the joy? What brought joy to Jesus was what His Father was going to do in you because of Jesus’ death. Jesus finds our redemption and remaking so beautiful that he finds joy – in in the midst of suffering. The world’s joy is nothing like that.

 

How Joy Grows in Us

     Let me remind you that this series is about the “Fruit of God’s Spirit.” Each message we will hear will be a reminder that the life God will produce in us is beautiful but that he must do the work in us. Getting a set of rules telling us that we must do this or that – or refrain from doing this or that – will not produce the fruit of the Spirit. And our own human initiative won’t do it either. Therefore, hear this: Christian Joy Is Not an Act of Will-Power.You can decide to do things that may bring you joy — spend a day at the beach, visit a friend, read a great book — but the lasting fruit of joy doesn’t come that way.

     And, hear this too: Christian Joy Is Not Natural but Spiritual. This distinguishes Christian joy from all other joys. Pride is natural to us. Envy is natural to us. And so it is with jealousy and anger and strife and self-pity and selfishness. These all come from the inner spirit of us as flawed people. Paul calls them the works of the flesh. It takes no special, supernatural work of the Holy Spirit are needed to produce them. We produce these things by our own nature.

     The fruit of joy is the work of God’s Spirit. John Piper tells us how we experience this as believers:

First, there is the love of God, which chooses us and calls us and makes us right with God and guarantees for us a share in the glory of God. Then, there is the work of the Holy Spirit who pours the love of God into our hearts so that we recognize it and cherish it. Then, out of this deep experience of the love of God grows an unshakable hope even in the midst of suffering. And, in this hope we find joy – unquenchable joy.”

     But, we can open our hearts to the Spirit’s work. For that, I’ll suggest a few things that might help you be the kind of fertile soil in which the seed of God’s joy will grow without restraint:

1. Let joy begin with your weekly worship. Here, I’m speaking about you coming to church each week to be with your church family and together with our Heavenly Father. Prepare to come each week by praying before you come to church, “Lord, I want to join my voice in praise to you with young and old, with rich and poor. Lord, my deepest joy is not just in music that I’m drawn to but in you. So, help me to be ready to exalt you, to listen to your Word, and to rejoice with my church family.” Get here on time – even early. I recommend reading a Psalm like Ps 63:

Oh God, you are my God. I seek you. My soul thirsts for you today…

I look upon you in this sanctuary as I contemplate your power and glory.

Your steadfast love is better than life so my lips will praise you.

I will bless you a long as I live so I now lift my hands and call upon your name….

You have been my help. In the shadow of your wings I sing for joy!

1. Make a list of the things that bring you the most joy in this world. Thank God for them if he is providing them now. But then ask whether those things have become idols. Have they become so important to you that you simply cannot have joy without them? Ask God to work in your heart through his Spirit that you will find joy each day in him – whether you have or experience those things or not.
2. Change the way you start each day. Start tomorrow. If you begin each day with a focus on God’s presence and reflecting on his love, it will change everything. Spend some quiet and undisturbed time at the very beginning of each day thanking God for the pleasure and gifts he gives you – both great and small. Then surrender the challenges to him too and acknowledge he is wise and is greater than those things. Tell him you trust him. Find your joy in him.

And all this brings us to the joy we have today in dedicating the Maple Street facility…

{tab-ex=Chinese Translation}

Synced: A Joy-filled Journey - Chinese Translation