For as long as it takes we are going to study the gospel of
John chapters fourteen to seventeen. Some of it will be what I have already
written and some will be new. Therefore it may sometimes appear that I leave
off in the middle of a topic to be continued, since I have reached my daily
word count limit.
To pick up the topic, you may need to read the one or two
postings preceding this one.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and
that your joy may be complete,” (John 15:11).
We have seen in the last few verses that Jesus continually
emphasised the importance of us being in Him and Him being in us as He is in
the Father and the Father in Him – a close-knit unit. The method by which this
is accomplished is simply obedience. Jesus basically said in verse eleven that
doing this brings joy to Him.
As human beings we tend to seek fulfilment and joy from
various sources. Some needs adventure, some entertainment, others sport, others
mental challenges, some relationships inclusive of sexual relationships,
shopping, things and so on to create joy in our hearts. The world will take it
to the extreme and even Christians border on the brink of being ungodly in our
pursuit of joy. We need some sort of kick to bring fulfilment.
Jesus said that all we need is His joy in us – the sap
from the vine in the branches – to have our joy be complete. In other words if
we obey as He did, we will experience His love and that of Father God, as well
as their presence and this will bring us the ultimate joy He has received.
Have you ever experienced the joy of leading someone to
the Lord, praying for someone and they were healed, giving and someone received
it with joy, exercising your gift and experiencing the anointing along with it,
and so on? There is no joy like it. But we are often robbed of it by the lie of
materialism - the struggle in obtaining things, power and recognition, which
causes us to shift our focus away from obedience to Christ to satisfying our
carnal nature. Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith,” and he also told Timothy in 1st
Timothy 6:12: “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of
the eternal life to which you
were called when you made your good confession in the presence of
many witnesses.”
Fighting the good fight of the faith means to resist
temptations to live our way instead of in obedience to the Lord, and this resistance
should be to the point of shedding our blood (Hebrews 12:4). We lack joy
because we look at our circumstances and our feelings. We then rollercoaster
along with these constantly changing factors, instead of making the effort to
obey and receive our joy “from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not
change like shifting shadows,” (James 1:17).
Let us therefore remain in Jesus’ love by obeying His
commands and as a result have His joy, which is complete. All we need to do is
applying what the Bible tells us to do, and to be able to do that we need to
know the Bible. Bible reading will have a purpose and would not be a burden if
we have a motivation to read the Bible; such as a desire to obey Jesus’
commandments so we can remain in His love, Him and Father God can make home
with us and Jesus can reveal Himself to us, so that His joy in us can make our
joy complete (John14, 15). As a bonus the Holy Spirit will give us revelation,
and faith will result from it. What more do we need?
Lord, I want to obey so your joy will make my joy
complete.
Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth,
via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will
accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
Please pass this on if you
think others may benefit by it.
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