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The Joy of the Spirit: Understanding It from the Heart · Relish: a Christian podcast

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  Relish pleasing or zestful flavor a quantity just sufficient to flavor to be
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  pleased or gratified by enjoy we are hoping that what we bring to your table
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  today might add some spice to your life,
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  ladies and gentlemen welcome back to another episode of relish i'm roe miller
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  and this is don patterson don how are you doing this morning i'm doing well
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  i'm doing well staying ahead of things just barely but staying ahead of things
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  yeah i'm getting used to these seats too i yeah,
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  that's nice i could get used to these too so yeah makes a moving target for the camera.
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  Today we are doing the joy episode of the fruits of the spirit which i've come
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  to enjoy just from the loved one yeah hopefully you guys do too and and it's
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  working our way through all the fruits of the Spirit.
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  And this was Ron's idea. I think it's a great idea.
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  A lot of our episodes have to do with questions that he brings that I answer,
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  and don't give me the time to prep ahead of time.
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  Yeah. He doesn't know what questions are, when they're coming, any of that.
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  And some of them blow me away, and we have had some good ones come up in the
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  not so recent past, I mean, that blew us away. And that's good.
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  This is a little different in the fact that I know we're
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  doing the fruits of the spirit and you tell me which one ahead of time we're
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  going in order so I can do it ahead and I've
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  done some prep but I'm not going to use a lot of notes I want
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  to speak from my heart on this subject yeah so this subject's joy yeah hopefully
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  you guys are okay with him knowing it's coming because figured if we're asking
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  him for 15 20 minutes or something he he should be able to prepare so and we
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  sort of lose the comic relief of stumping Don, you know?
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  And that's, yeah, we can lose that one episode or two or three or four and see
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  it a little deeper. You get much more out of it, yeah.
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  So in the progression of those fruits of the Spirit, we had love,
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  and then we talked about the differences in our language piece,
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  and we've got a little bit of that with joy as well.
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  Because, I mean, I think it's best illustrated in Isaiah 2.
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  22, 13, where you've got joy and gladness in the same sentence.
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  Behold the joy and gladness slaying oxen and killing sheep. Yeah,
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  I don't usually find joy and gladness in that activity.
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  But anyway, this is the way scripture reads. And the two words that are used,
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  interestingly enough, at least in
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  the King James that I had before with my concordance, the joy, the shimka.
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  Is actually translated here, gladness.
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  And the other word is shoshone, and that is another word that could be used for gladness and joy.
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  But the one that I followed through the Old Testament is the one that's translated here as gladness.
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  So you've got some of those translation things going on. So what is this gladness?
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  And we go back to Nehemiah 8, 10, and the joy of the Lord is our strength.
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  Well, we need to take that back to its context in Nehemiah 8,
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  because Ezra has found the book of the law and they've realized they haven't
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  been keeping the law all this time.
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  And they didn't have anything to measure how well they were doing.
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  Now they've rebuilt the wall, they've rebuilt many of their houses,
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  and now they're cleaning out and rebuilding the temple.
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  And they get to this spot and they find the law and they realize,
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  oh my, we read the law and we're not keeping the law. And everybody's sad.
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  Everybody's sad that they hadn't kept the law.
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  And then he says unto them, go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet and
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  send portions of them to those who have nothing prepared.
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  For this day is holy unto the Lord, neither be sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
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  And so basically it was a word of encouragement that Ezra Nehemiah was given
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  to the people after this, oh my, here we are.
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  We aren't keeping the Lord's law and same thing that happened before is gonna
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  happen again, that kind of thing.
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  And he's given this word, the joy of the Lord is our strength.
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  So just exactly what kind of joy is it that gives us strength?
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  Because that's the word that we take into the New Testament.
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  Then, and talk about, okay, love, joy, peace, long-suffering.
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  These are elements of the fruits of the Spirit.
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  What's interesting is I've been involved with Deeper Walk in the last year or so, and realizing the,
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  The immense worth, the immense value of having joy in our life and not just
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  having giddy, giddy, giddy joy.
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  It's the kind of joy that comes from your heart.
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  You play basketball and baseball and golf.
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  And so it's the kind of joy I can only imagine you have, okay,
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  because I have not done this.
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  I can only imagine the kind of joy you have when you're on a par four and you hit a hole in one.
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  I haven't done that either. Yeah. Par three.
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  I don't have any hole in one. No holes. Okay. He's a great golfer.
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  I really am surprised. But can you imagine the immense joy it would bring you to have a hole in one?
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  Wow. I just sort of comes up from the gut and it's something you can't get around.
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  This is what the Word is talking about.
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  It's the kind of joy that comes from the gut that is from the Lord.
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  It's sort of like the joy of our salvation, the joy of knowing that God loves
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  us enough to send His Son, the kind of joy that comes from knowing that God cares.
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  So what does it look like? It's not a giddy run down the aisle and laughing
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  kind of joy, because the interesting piece is, my favorite verse is James 1, verses 2 through 4.
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  And in there, James says, consider it pure, not just defiled joy,
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  pure joy, my brothers, when you endure trials of many kinds,
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  because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
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  And perseverance, when it's finished its work, leaves you mature and complete, not lacking anything.
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  And I know when a trial comes my way, I am not giddy about it.
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  I am not giddy about it. That is not something you're, yeah.
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  But this joy actually comes from a change of perspective.
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  When we begin to see the things of God, that they play out in circumstances
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  that are not always pleasant, but he brings a blessing to it.
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  He brings a transformation from it.
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  God's in it, and the details at the other end are good.
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  Then we begin to see that the bigger plan is God's plan, and this trial,
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  this temptation, this thing I'm going through is part of God getting me where he wants me to be.
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  That being said, what's interesting then in Hebrews chapter two, chapter 12, excuse me.
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  I'm using this because it's supposed to be faster than my Bible.
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  Maybe it isn't. 12,
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  And it says, looking to Jesus, the founder and completer of our faith,
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  who for the joy set before him endured the cross. Excuse me.
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  For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame and
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  sat down at the right hand of God.
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  For to consider him who has endured such hostility from sinners against himself
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  so that you may not become tired and give up.
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  Now, that's a joy I have never thought about before.
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  And when I read the passage in light of what we were studying about joy,
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  I realized Christ had joy at the cross in the midst of the agony and pain,
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  knowing that that act, that movement of him was going to break the bondage of
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  sin for all of us who accept him as our Lord and Savior.
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  It breaks the bondage. It's not something we have to carry any longer.
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  So he could endure that knowing that he was going to break our bonds and set us free.
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  So not every joy, the fruit of the spirit joy,
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  I hate to say it's an investment, but it's the point at which we can see God's
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  bigger picture and embrace it for ourselves and move into the future.
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  And it is from that aspect then we share our faith.
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  We share what God's doing in our lives. We praise him. We worship him.
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  That is the joy of the Lord. That's that gut stuff, like if you were hitting the hole in one.
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  And our experience with God should be like hitting that hole-in-one.
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  Yeah. And that is joy. So the joy in the fruits of the Spirit is a different
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  type of joy than we would get from, say, you or I eating a bowl of ice cream or something like that.
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  That is joy. I agree. That's joy.
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  But it's a different joy because it goes deeper in the gut.
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  Can it go deeper in the gut than ice cream? But, yeah, I mean,
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  it comes from the source of our being.
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  It comes from our soul. Okay.
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  A sort of wisdom to see in what...
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  It's beyond the current. Right. Yeah. Right.
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  And it's our beginning to realize that we're not the end game.
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  We're part of the story.
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  So my helping someone come to Christ through maybe my hardship is helping them.
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  That joy, that should be my joy.
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  The joy of the Lord is our strength. The joy in times of suffering, that's part of it.
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  Because really, think about it. When James says, consider it pure joy,
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  my brothers, when you endure trials of many kinds, how often does somebody come
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  to the Lord because we're just such great people?
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  I've never heard of that. Never heard that one before. But if they look at how
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  we go through trials, then we have a message to share.
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  It's like we get credentials from the trials we've been through.
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  What the Lord has done through those.
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  So the joy of the Lord is our strength.
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  Yeah. It's cool stuff. I would nudge all of us as Christians in this day and
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  age to make sure we're spending enough time with God in our day that we can express joy.
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  We feel his presence. We're listening for him.
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  We're we're consoled if you will by his voice we're driven by his call and we're
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  doing what he's asked us to do each and every morning each and every day we're part of the plan,
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  so in our daily our daily lives how like how are we going to experience that
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  sort of joy with like some suffering with a result at the end or something like that,
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  It is taking time. I mean, I hate to say it's time sensitive, but in a way it is.
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  Taking time to back away from the here and now to spend time with the Lord in
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  the midst of what's going on.
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  Okay. Okay. So every once in a while we'll be in a situation where there's an
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  active conversation going on and maybe there's disagreement and we can't quite
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  come to a place to land it.
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  And I've been given more than once the word, let's pray. Let's just stop and pray.
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  Just right here, right now, stop and pray.
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  And I'm amazed at how many times God will come through and clear the air in those situations.
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  In our daily lives, taking time maybe in the morning, maybe in the evening.
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  But take time to say, okay, Lord, all this is going on. I'm not sure where it's
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  headed, but I do know you know where it's headed.
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  And so I give you permission, Lord, to give me wisdom, educate me,
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  Lord, on where I'm supposed to be at in this process or in this question.
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  And I found he shows up. And that gives me joy because then I'm not just having
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  friends like you or the other folks I'm friends with, but I've also got a relationship.
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  I.e. relationship with God.
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  I find that very valuable. It's very comforting to know, especially when you
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  go through a trial, that God is with you, that you didn't do something bad,
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  and all of a sudden you're in this situation because you did something bad.
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  He does discipline us once in a while, and that's all right. I give him permission.
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  Lord, you have permission to discipline me as you see fit.
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  But I also praise you, Lord, for walking with me through the those hard times. That gives me joy.
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  I hope everybody has that kind of joy.
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  Thank you a lot for that, Don. Learned a bunch of new stuff about joy.
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  Hopefully you guys did too. It's very valuable.
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  We as Christians need to have joy. Yeah. Well, let us know if you have any questions
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  about joy, that short, very short sermon there.
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  Because he's heard my longer ones.
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  Just as good if not better,
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  alright well thank you guys for listening in and we'll see you next week Lord willing,
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  thank you for joining us for this podcast feel free to become part of this ministry
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  by sharing it with others our goal is to help each other grow deeper in our
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  understanding of who God is and is calling to us in our daily lives thank you
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  again for joining us and may God bless your day.