90 - The Secret of Joy

If you want to know how you’re doing spiritually, all you have to do is answer one simple question: “Do I have joy?” If I’m full of fear, there is no joy. If I harbor bitterness toward someone, there is no joy. If I grieve the Holy Spirit by saying or doing something harmful to another, there is no joy. If I allow an addiction to control me, or follow after the passions of my flesh, there is no joy. But when my faith is strong, when I’m at peace with others, when my spirit is in control of my flesh and my thoughts, the whole world looks different to me. I can laugh again. I want to be with people. I make plans for the future. I dream about great possibilities. I’m glad to be alive. So it’s not hard to understand why the Bible says, “…the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Ne 8:10), because when I’m joyful I feel energized. I want to do something, heal something, change something. But when my joy is gone, life becomes hard.

Having just warned His disciples that they were going to be severely persecuted, and within moments of telling them that they would fail miserably to stand with Him when He was arrested (vs31, 32), Jesus talked to them about joy. What a strange topic to place in the middle of all this sorrow; or is it? First, He said they would feel grief as they watched Him suffer, but that their grief wouldn’t last. They would soon feel joy. He compared what they were about to go through to the emotions a mother may experience in childbirth. She endures pain during labor, but then joy after the child is born. He said that joy can be so strong it causes her to forget the suffering. Then He told them that it would be that way with them too. Even if they did not understand what was happening as they went through the turmoil that lay ahead, they were about to witness the most remarkable event in all of human history. A brutally-executed man would come back to life in a glorious, immortal body. After that all doubts about life after death or whether or not Jesus was truly God’s Son would be gone. They would receive a gift of joy that would be with them for the rest of their life.

But Jesus didn’t stop there. He went on to tell them that they would be given another source of joy, one which would fill up whatever was lacking in their hearts. He said they would see amazing answers to prayer. Whenever they asked the Father for what He told them to ask for, the Father would gladly give it to them. And watching God miraculously answer those prayers would lift anyone’s mood.

So regardless of the difficulties they were about to face, their lives would be marked by joy. Now, that’s a promise you and I need to learn how to receive, because Jesus didn’t promise us an easy life. What He said was, we would never be alone, and He would give us such authority in prayer that we could walk through whatever lies ahead full of joy. We need that, so let’s try to understand what He was saying.