"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." John 15:9-11
There is incredible joy in being right with God. I don't know how to describe it; it is not like any other kind of happiness and pleasure. It is just a deep contentment and satisfaction and peace that comes when we are right with Him and when we have experienced Him. I'm sure we have all felt at one time or another that we just couldn't feel the love and joy of God; the promise of God seemed empty and distant and we were all caught up and frustrated at the problems that we were facing. But when God broke through, we felt a joy that we could not describe. I think this is one of the greatest testimonies that our God indeed does exist and that life with Him really is joyful.
One of my friends shared that she has not been feeling good and that her spiritual life has been down. That got me thinking- how are our spiritual life and "life", so to speak, related? It is easy to get drawn into thinking and feeling that when we face problems in our lives, our spiritual lives will also take a turn for the worse. But the opposite is true. Life problems do not cause our spiritual lives to be down, rather it is vice versa. More often than not problems lead people back to God and strengthen their faith when they learn to depend on Him. But when our spiritual lives are down, that will lead to more problems in our lives, and make existing problems even worse. When we are far away from God, we have no clue of what to do and how to react to situations, and we are missing His joy in our life. We feel confused, helpless and frustrated. And one of the worse things that can happen is that we turn to our own devices to find relief. Instead of going back to Him we run further away, thinking that we can find happiness. Often we turn to sin, lust and so on. And it just makes things worse; it is a vicious cycle.
This has many implications. One of the most effective ways to fight sin is not to fight it in the flesh, as Paul warns, but to focus rather on a spiritual life lived with God. When we have experienced the joy of living with Him and in His life, sin totally loses its appeal. It's just not worth it anymore. And also, when our spiritual lives are right, we will find that we are more than equipped to deal with any problems that come our way, because the joy of the Lord is in our heart. It's an awesome thing really, that joy; I am sure many will testify to that! Come back to Him always, seek to be right with Him and to know His will, even if your flesh screams out to do its own thing. That is the solution to all our problems, and the path to a joyous life.
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." John 15:9-11
There is incredible joy in being right with God. I don't know how to describe it; it is not like any other kind of happiness and pleasure. It is just a deep contentment and satisfaction and peace that comes when we are right with Him and when we have experienced Him. I'm sure we have all felt at one time or another that we just couldn't feel the love and joy of God; the promise of God seemed empty and distant and we were all caught up and frustrated at the problems that we were facing. But when God broke through, we felt a joy that we could not describe. I think this is one of the greatest testimonies that our God indeed does exist and that life with Him really is joyful.
One of my friends shared that she has not been feeling good and that her spiritual life has been down. That got me thinking- how are our spiritual life and "life", so to speak, related? It is easy to get drawn into thinking and feeling that when we face problems in our lives, our spiritual lives will also take a turn for the worse. But the opposite is true. Life problems do not cause our spiritual lives to be down, rather it is vice versa. More often than not problems lead people back to God and strengthen their faith when they learn to depend on Him. But when our spiritual lives are down, that will lead to more problems in our lives, and make existing problems even worse. When we are far away from God, we have no clue of what to do and how to react to situations, and we are missing His joy in our life. We feel confused, helpless and frustrated. And one of the worse things that can happen is that we turn to our own devices to find relief. Instead of going back to Him we run further away, thinking that we can find happiness. Often we turn to sin, lust and so on. And it just makes things worse; it is a vicious cycle.
This has many implications. One of the most effective ways to fight sin is not to fight it in the flesh, as Paul warns, but to focus rather on a spiritual life lived with God. When we have experienced the joy of living with Him and in His life, sin totally loses its appeal. It's just not worth it anymore. And also, when our spiritual lives are right, we will find that we are more than equipped to deal with any problems that come our way, because the joy of the Lord is in our heart. It's an awesome thing really, that joy; I am sure many will testify to that! Come back to Him always, seek to be right with Him and to know His will, even if your flesh screams out to do its own thing. That is the solution to all our problems, and the path to a joyous life.
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