Can I tell you the man they got to preach was prepared! The Lord used him. He prayed this beautiful prayer before he preached that I loved and I want to incorporate into my own prayer life. I write about it often but I've never prayed it. Pastor Faison said something like "Let my frailty not hinder what you have for your people." <----TRUTH! I pray my own short comings not be a hinderance to the way I show Christ to others and not cause my intercessory prayer to fall short. I know there's so much grace there and I need it.
Need!
Today's message was called Don't Lose Your Joy.
My thoughts appear in purple.
The text is Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice!
Let all men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness (your considerateness, your forbearing spirit). The Lord is near
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition ([definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
7 And God’s peace which transcends all understanding shall [d]garrison andmount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
The first thing Pastor discussed was thermostats versus thermometers. He talked about how a thermometer simply reacts to the environment its placed in but a thermostat makes a demand on the environment. A thermostat tells the environment what it expects and changes it accordingly.
Christians should be thermostats and one of the things we should mediate in our environment is joy.
Nehemiah 8:10 says for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold.
Following God isn't going to work with joy because joy enables us to do right in the midst of crazy. Joy brings about strength because it relies on who God is not what we see.
One condition of joy is obedience. Now its not often discussed in this way but joy is a choice. I choose it everyday. I choose to make up my mind to have joy and my joy is based in faith but also obedience. How so? Obedience brings about joy because I'm trusting that whatever God is directing me to do will be the absolute best for me. I obey because I'm assured that no matter what God has in store, there nothing better/greater/more fulfilling for me. My joy is produced out of heading God's direction. Attempts at joy don't really work when you aren't sure that you know that you know God has your best in mind. Faith in Him and trust in Him are essential. You can't really have joy without relationship. I've got to not only know but obey because the obedience leads to His best for me.
Joy helps us do three things
1. If you have joy, your circumstance doesn't change who you are.
Let all men know and perceive and recognize your considerateness
Joy helps us properly respect relationship. It enables me to love people. How I interact with people stems from joy. We've all seen that God is very concerned with how we treat people. The Bible discusses how can you love God who you haven't seen and not love your brother who you see every day? How we treat people is dictated by our level of joy and indicates our level of joy. Its a reflection on us.
When I think about how I treat people, especially those who have wronged me I think this is the only reason I still act like I have good sense. For so long so many have asked why I haven't snapped and I'm going to say its His joy. I just don't need to snap. This doesn't mean I'm not sad, it just means I don't treat people out of a tit for tat mentality.
Satisfaction can't be had without joy because its an inward issue. Its inside, not external. A person that has no joy will probably not take very good care of people and God isn't pleased when we hurt people. People are precious to God. Joy is required to exist in hard environments without becoming a hard person.
Joy is how I got out of the circumstances and punishments around coming out with my spirit intact and my heart whole. Had I not had the joy of the Lord, my environment might have caused me to intentionally hurt some folk and that isn't Godly.
2. Joy helps me love people and live with problems.
Joy lets me see the weakness and resist the weight.
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer
The weight is anxiety. Instead of worrying, pray. Worrying allows your imagination to become your prison. You can't focus on what is because you're so concerned about what might me. Worry will kill you.
When I talked to my mentor about coming out she talked to me about this. She was like "Don't worry about Thanksgivings that haven't come. Its just today and before you know it days will be weeks and then months and you'll be walking this thing out." I was already becoming defensive about the treatment of my wife when I hadn't even told my parents there would be a wife! Worrying about their reaction was driving me into a frenzy that I had no data to support. Now that I have data, I'll continue collecting it and make informed decisions but worrying was doing nothing for me. Prayer got me to where I needed to be to tell them because I had to get my joy together first.
Worry hurts you but it does not change your situation Joy. on the other hand, brings choices. Prayer releases you of the pressure and has the power to change the issue. Prayer is the activating of a power that can go where I can't go. It activates a trust and belief in a God that is able.
There are so many things I'm believing God for and I love the freedom in prayer. I surrender in prayer. I let God know that I know I can't but I know He can. I also tell Him not only that I know He can, but that He will especially in regard to promises He's made me or put on my heart. Hello Med School!
The act of praying is literally sharing your weakness and its designed for God.
When I tell you I'm broken before Him? Its bloody, its brutal, and its so beautiful. The things I can't get off my mind and can't wrap my mind around, I take right there to the Throne. I'm more vulnerable before Him than in any other place because I've got to get my stuff handled and there's no point in acting in front of God. He already knows.
It reveal your joy because it says "Lord, I trust you." It surrenders the part where you try and go over there and change things and says "God, I know you can actually get this done."
If y'all knew the actual tenor and character of the audacious prayers I'm praying, y'all would know that its only by His power that any of it will be accomplished.
The next piece in the scripture says with thanksgiving and that means worship. The worship is for me. While He's fixing what I need, the worship undergirds my faith and my relationship. It reminded me of what He's done. It tells me who He is. God's got perfect credit...look back at your life!
I love worship. Worship changes my perspective. It reminds me that He's absolutely God and there's none like Him and no better for me. It tells me who He is and who I am in Him. I thrive on worship. Its like food for my hungry soul.
Joy can't actually be defined but joy is the author of peace. If you let Him handle what yo can't handle, then you'll have peace. There's no place where peace comes from other than God. And watch for fruit. That thing that you use to do in a particular situation, you won't do. You'll surprise yourself because your posture towards the same thing will be different.
There are things that use to tear me out the frame. I just couldn't handle certain things. There are still things I can't handle but there's growth there. Can I tell you I surprise myself when I walk away from things seeing what God wants me to see and acting accordingly? I've come out of things going "Was that me? Like did I really get through that unscathed?" He's enabled me to have peace in wartimes.
3. Joy will guard your heart.
And God’s peace which transcends all understanding shall [d]garrison andmount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
Peace will become your personal security guard and stand at the gate daring anything that doesn't belong to come in. Peace halts anything that isn't of God from entering. The thing about peace though is that its protection is where? IN Christ Jesus. You've got to be in Him which for me means in relationship to have this type of peace that guards you.
I remember when I didn't have peace about one of my big prayers. I remember very vividly because I was trying to do everything I could to change that situation on my own. I also remember this sense of dread. It would wash over me and it was literally like my adrenal glands were releasing every time my phone dinged. Can I tell you that putting prayer together with faith allowed me to have peace once again? It sure did. Instead of being afraid I'm like "Okay God, show me how to walk through this." And sometimes He's said "No, you don't have to walk through this." That's peace keeping me safe.
Lastly, Paul wrote this. Paul's life wasn't easy in the ministry. He wrote this particular passage while under house arrest. What we learn about Paul is that his joy was predicated on God alone, not on circumstance or situation. I want Paul's joy, joy unhindered by situation and tethered to God.
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