God never said that!

Joy doesn't deny a difficult life exists. It learns to coexist with it, but with Christ present in your life. It doesn't deny it. This is where faith becomes deeply practical. Trusting God through every season means choosing obedience. Choosing his joy even when it's hard. It means believing God is at work even when you keep tripping over the potholes. It means trusting that the story God is writing is bigger than the moment that you're currently living in. It's having an eternal mindset for momentary temporal adjustment. And the resulting expression of those realizations is an everlasting joy, an eternal joy. [00:35:38] (78 seconds)  #JoyAmidTrials

So Jesus says in John fifteen eleven, he says, I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. That isn't a joy that comes from avoiding hardship. It is a joy that comes from committing yourself to Jesus, to living a life that honors and glorifies and is in obedience to Jesus. I've said it a couple times today. So many have gotten Christianity so very wrong because they bought into this prosperity gospel. [00:32:17] (39 seconds)  #CompleteJoyInChrist

So that his joy can fill that empty hole in your life or replace that happiness that you're so busy chasing after. You don't find your fulfillment in a career. You find your fulfillment in Christ. You don't find your fulfillment in a spouse. You find your fulfillment in Christ. You don't find your meaning in your kids. You find your meaning in Christ. And until we come to realize that, then your life is going to be miserable. [00:33:26] (55 seconds)  #FulfillmentInChrist

But biblical joy, on the other hand, biblical joy is something far deeper and richer than that because it's not dependent on you. Biblical joy is not dependent on your circumstance. Biblical joy is not determined by how you feel in any given moment or any day. It isn't rooted in what's happening around you. It's not rooted in what's even happening to you, but it's in who God is and what you know that God is doing or what God can do in and through you. [00:08:25] (38 seconds)  #BiblicalJoyRooted

This is why scripture never promises that following Jesus will make life pleasant. It never says that. In fact, Jesus says that the world will persecute you because of me. This is what it promises. This is what it promises, that even when the situation doesn't feel like it's in my favor, God is present and God is working. Paul reminds us in Philippians one six. He says, he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion in the day of Jesus Christ. [00:16:36] (44 seconds)  #GodAtWorkAlways

So the apostle Paul says that God is actually working in and around and through you and during this circumstance or during this situation. It means that God is present in the middle of the sorrow, that God is present in the fear, that God is with you during this journey, that God is with you during your worry. Joy, according to scripture then, is relational. It is determined on your relationship with God in Christ. [00:17:19] (35 seconds)  #RelationalJoyInGod

According to the translation there, the word may is used, which tells me that there may be times when Christ's joy may not be present in my life. And I have to ask myself then, when would that be? And he says, if you obey my commands, you will remain in my love. When we put ourselves within the boundary that he has defined for us, the realization then is an eternal joy that trumps any amount of temporal happiness we may be currently pursuing. [00:18:01] (44 seconds)  #ObedienceBreedsJoy

So happiness asks, is this making me feel good right now? But joy asks, how has God revealed himself or is revealing himself in the here and now? Joy comes from something that only God can do or that God is doing in our life or us resting in or relying on God in our life. But happiness re is a result of how is this affecting me? This is why scripture never promises that following Jesus will make life pleasant. It never says that. [00:16:05] (38 seconds)  #JoyRevealsGod