Full Joy Jn. 16: 23-24 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
At times, we experience full joy in our salvation. This lesson will discuss those times so that you can have full joy. On a recent Wednesday night, I preached on abundant joy which we get by being saved, being filled with the Spirit, being united with believers, being assured of our salvation and by loving and obeying the Lord. Full joy comes from:
Answered prayer – Jn 16:23-24 – there is full joy in answered prayer, particularly when you have prayed long and hard for God to answer. The more for which you pray, the more for which you can rejoice, because God answers prayer. If Daniel and David could pray three times a day with their busy schedules, no doubt you and I can find ample time to pray.
Sacrificial giving – 2 Cor 8:2 – see the admonitions in Prov 11:24-25 and Prov 13:7. There is full joy in sacrificial giving. If you have never experienced this joy, then give sacrificially and you will. The Macedonian churches gave liberally during a great trial of affliction and deep poverty because of the grace of God and the abundance of their joy. You will never know this joy until you give this way.
Tried faith – 1 Pet 1:5-8 – contrast the temporary joy of the people represented by the seed that fell on stony ground in the parable of the sower and the seed [Matt 13:20-21]. They had an immediate joy when they received the word. But when they were tried, they were offended and that was the end of their joy. When your faith is tried and the trial only draws you closer to the Lord, not further away, your joy increases. It’s like winning a hard-fought battle. There is more joy in that than in a rout.
Personal fellowship – 1 Jn 1:1-4 – John wrote his epistle so that you and I could have personal fellowship with the Father and the Son. As Jesus was manifested to John in life [1 Jn 1:1-3] so the Lord will be manifested to us in his words. When you have had good personal fellowship with the Lord in the Bible, you will have a joy that exceeds any joy you can experience from any other event or relationship on earth. That’s full joy.
A good report – 3 Jn 4 – you can’t control this. When your children (biological and spiritual) walk in truth, you will have full joy. But if your children are not walking in truth, then pray till they are, even if they never do. The moment you hear that they have repented and turned back to the truth, you will have such full joy that you will then know, personally, what the prodigal son’s father felt when his son came home.
Conclusion: since we have full joy when our prayers are answered, when we give sacrificially, when our faith is tried and we come forth, when we have personal fellowship with the Lord in the word, and when we receive the good report that our children are walking in truth, we should strive to maintain these things in our lives to have full joy. And if you don’t have full joy, check these five things. They may reveal to you the reason that your joy is not full.