Joy!

When I was a little girl I went to church every Sunday. Sitting in our Sunday school room complete with little wooden chairs, flannel graph story boards, and the air smelling like cookies and juice; we would sing a catchy song that went like this; " I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart...and if the devil doesn't like it he can sit on a tack...." I know if you read those words and you remember that song, you just dated yourself like I did!  As a grown woman the theology of this catchy ditty has just not been able to see me through the days of raising children, transition, hardships, and the out-right yuck, that we all experience in real life. So I have sought more...

Joy, the dictionary defines joy as great delight caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; to have pleasure; to have delight in something or someone greatly valued or appreciated.

This morning I was pondering this thing called joy.  Truthfully it has been at times illusive and something that I have sought.  I have observed it in lives and faces countless times walking on foreign soil. With people who have little to nothing in possessions. I have experienced joy in it’s purest form as I have worshiped with Asian believers in a church that was a tarp stretched over bamboo poles.  I have tasted it as I ate the finest meal I have ever eaten in a home in Burma, with believers, on a dirt floor. These experiences have begged the question of me, “what is this kind of joy?”

This kind of joy is not earthbound; it is of a higher plane.  I have become convinced that what my joy is tied to is what I am abiding in.  If there is a circumstance or person that can rob my joy, then my joy is earthbound.  David, in the Psalms, tells us that in the Lord’s presence is fullness of joy and that He makes us joyful with gladness in His presence. Joy is fruit that is produced in us as we live in and walk with the Spirit of God.

I would change the definition above only slightly to read;

Joy: Great delight caused by Someone fully good and fully satisfying; having pleasure in Someone who is greatly valued and worshiped above all.

My joy is to be tied to His presence and is a gift from Him that I must fight for. As we walk through our dailies authentic joy is constantly threatened.   

I found the following Fifteen Tactics For Joy written by John Piper.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

How shall we fight for joy?

1.                             Realize that authentic joy in God is a gift.

2.                             Realize that joy must be fought for relentlessly.

3.                             Resolve to attack all known sin in your life.

4.                             Learn the secret of gutsy guilt — how to fight like a justified sinner.

5.                             Realize that the battle is primarily a fight to see God for who he is.

6.                             Meditate on the Word of God day and night.

7.                             Pray earnestly and continually for open heart-eyes and an inclination for God.

8.                             Learn to preach to yourself rather than listen to yourself.

9.                             Spend time with God-saturated people who help you see God and fight the fight.

1.                         Be patient in the night of God’s seeming absence.

1.                         Get the rest, exercise, and proper diet that your body was designed by God to have.

1.                         Make a proper use of God’s revelation in nature.

1.                         Read great books about God and biographies of great saints.

1.                         Do the hard and loving thing for the sake of others (witness and mercy).

1.                         Get a global vision for the cause of Christ and pour yourself out for the unreached.

Great words for walking this thing out called life and great words to learn how to fight for this non-earthbound thing called JOY!

Still learning,

Kim

Psalm 16:11, Psalm 21:6, Galatians 5:22-23

Sifted, Stripped, and Pruned

They had just had dinner together.  All of them must had been sensing the heaviness, Jesus saying he was going to suffer and not eat or drink this meal again until the kingdom of God comes.  He then declares that the one who would betray him was seated at the table.  All eyes must have darted around the table. Discussion ensued about whom the betrayer was and then a dispute about which one would be regarded as the greatest.  We often do that as humans, in an effort to not confront what lurks below our surface, we run through the list in our heads of why we are pretty “good”.  In the middle of this exchange Jesus turns to Peter and says, “Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.”  I don’t know about you, but at this point if I was Peter I would be looking at Jesus, the one who calmed the sea, healed diseases, and cast out demons to back that statement up with, but don’t worry….I stopped him!  Or…I won’t let that happen!  But, that is not what was spoken. Jesus said, “but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”  The sifting happened, the violent shaking to cause what was to remain to remain, and what was not fruit to be sifted, stripped, and pruned out of Peter’s life. 

When I am getting ready to bake a cake, I gather all my ingredients, read the recipe another time, and begin the process.  When I read in the instructions to sift my flour I question it, every time!  I think, “Do I really need to do that?”  The sifter I use is one of those old fashion ones that is metal with a wire mesh at the bottom and a crank handle on the side.  I pour the flour in and begin to crank and the flour that comes out the bottom of the sifter is finer, lighter and fluffier than when it went in.  The reason I want to skip this part is because it takes more time.  It’s an added step and requires dirtying another bowl and the sifter.  But the desired result is worth it.  Sifted flour always makes the cake fluffier and lighter. Sifting does require more time.  In fact I believe we go through seasons of sifting in our lives, as like Peter our Intercessor Jesus stands and prays for us.  That our faith won’t fail.  The result of sifting is a stronger faith, one that we can strengthen others with.

It has been almost two years since we believed God invited us to come to the plains and let Him speak to us.  This has been a season of sifting for us.  I have leaned on the words spoken to Peter and Jesus’ words in John 15 and they have spoken life to me in this sifting season.  It has been painful as the sifting has identified lumps in me that were pride and idols that he wanted to remove. I have grieved and cried as God the perfect gardener prunes and strips those things off of me that are not of him, until the only attachment that is left is the one…me and Him…abiding.

We are a couple weeks away from the wheat harvest here on the Oklahoma plains.  As the big combines roll through the fields doing their work, they will cut, strip, and thrash the wheat until the golden brown kernels of wheat fall almost in submission to be used. And yet have no say in what manner they will be used. With the sifting and with the pruning there comes the promise of faith, fruit, and further usefulness.  Submitting to the process has had a high price but learning what it means that he is my portion and my cup, is priceless.

Still Learning…

With much love,

Kim

Luke 22:31-32, John 15:1-11, Hebrews 12:27, Hebrews 7:25, Psalm 16:5