No JOY = No _______!

I was listening yesterday afternoon to a well-known minister of the Gospel whose ministry Piper and I have supported since the mid-1980’s.  He was sharing from Mark 4:14-15 where Jesus was teaching the parable of the Sower and declared,

“The farmer sows the Word as seed, and what falls on the beaten path represents those who hear the Word, but immediately Satan appears and snatches it from their hearts.”        The Passion Translation 

The minister’s emphasis on Satan coming IMMEDIATELY to steal the Word that is in your heart, quickly rang a loud bell of familiarity, as Piper and I experienced that truth as soon as we returned home after attending Bible School in Oklahoma.  We were full of the Word, had what we believed was a plan given to us by God concerning the steps we were to take as we began to focus on Piper’s physical needs and… IMMEDIATELY… were met with a strong front of resistance.

And the similarities of experience did not end there.  The minister went on to talk about the importance of having and keeping your JOY when, as Jesus was also referring to Satan said, the “thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy.  But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow!” (TPT)

The preacher explained that in order to maintain your expectancy of the Lord’s abundance and a life lived in His fullness, we have to be and stay full of Jesus’ JOY… and we do this by continually filling up with His Word!  He shared how JOY comes to us in the same manner that faith does.  Just as Paul told us in Romans 10:17 that, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (EMTV), Jesus taught many years prior that, “If you keep My commandments (ie; My Word), you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and I abide in His love.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may abide in you, and (or SO) that your joy may be full.” (EMTC)

It would seem that the strength of our FAITH and the level of our JOY are intimately related!  An absence or lack of either force in our lives points directly to a lack God’s Word stored in our hearts!  Piper and I witnessed that phenomenon throughout our multi-year battle with the sickness that attacked her body… in every geographical location we lived in during that time!  I firmly believe that was one of the main reasons that the Lord had told me to saturate us in the Word on a daily basis beginning in 2009… and it is a practice that I continue with today.

When Jesus was talking about having His JOY “abide” in us, He was teaching us of the importance “to stay in a given place or state of expectancy” in the power of His JOY. (Strong’s)  Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary tells us that His JOY is to be “a settled and permanent position” and one that shows us “to be in a close and settled union with Him.”

The revelation of NO JOY = NO WORD, or a distinct lack of the Word prevailing in our hearts, really opens my eyes… WHAT DO YOU THINK? 

I also realized this morning that my personal JOY not only gives me spiritual, physical, mental and emotional STRENGTH as Nehemiah 8:10 declares, but it also helps me to be more CONFIDENT and CREATIVE, and less CRITICAL and JUDGEMENTAL of myself as well as with others!

PLUS… I like the feeling that a JOYUL heart gives me!  HOW ABOUT YOU?

I pray that you are having a JOYUL week and that you are continuing to EXPECT God’s best for your life!