One of God’s greatest gifts to us is joy. When Jesus died on the cross, he took away all of our sins and gave us the opportunity to have a new life–a life of joy and peace. John 10:10 describes it this way: “[Jesus] came that we might have life and life more abundantly.”

Grace paves the way for us to experience God’s joy!

The World’s Joy

I was talking to a lady awhile back who described her childhood as one filled with drinking, partying and lots of people laughing. As she grew older, she associated these “fun times” with evil behavior. So, in her mind, she wanted to avoid anything resembling that kind of “fun.” It became very difficult for her to experience any joy and laughter, because in her mind, anything “fun” was evil. Later in her life, she began to understand this mis-association and started to enjoy life more.

Lots of believers today struggle to experience joy in their lives because of this mis-association with fun. Each of us has a desire to experience joy. God put characteristics of himself into each of us. We were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and because of that, God created us to experience joy and for his own joy. God rejoices over you!

For the LORD your God is living among you.
He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With his love, he will calm all your fears.
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.

Zephaniah 3:17

Much of the world’s fun and laughter is really just a counterfeit. It is man’s attempt to experience what God created us for–to enjoy life. We often strive to fill this legitimate need for joy in an illegitimate way.

A few months ago, I traveled to Las Vegas for work. While I was there, walking around the downtown area, I was mesmerized by all the sights and sounds of Vegas. I had been there many times before, but this visit was different. I began thinking about all the vain promises of Vegas–money, pleasure and power. Then, it hit me–this is a counterfeit for heaven.

The allure of Vegas for many is this deep craving for true joy. This “joy” of Vegas will always be short-lived and temporary. While it may be fun for a moment, it is not everlasting joy. Only God provides true, everlasting joy. Heaven will be a place of incredible beauty, wealth and joy.

Here’s the incredible truth: we don’t need to wait till heaven to experience all that God has for us. The Kingdom life that heaven provides is already ours today through faith in Christ. When Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), all of the work required to bring heaven to earth was completed. Paul said it this way, “[God] has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

Heaven is ours today!

God’s Presence – Cartoons and PB&J

As a worship leader, Steve was familiar with drawing people into the presence of God. Each weekend, he would lead people in worship and many would experience God’s presence and incredible joy.

One Saturday morning, Steve was going through his normal routine. Make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then sit down to watch some Saturday morning cartoons. All of sudden, he felt God’s presence. His gut reaction was to stop everything, turn off the TV and “enter in”. But, God whispered to him, “I just want to sit down and watch cartoons with you.”

I love this story because it reminds me that God just wants to spend time with us. Even in those little things that bring us joy, he is there. And, he wants to draw you into more of those moments of joy and pleasure. Through Christ and his finished work on the cross, there is nothing keeping you from experiencing God’s joy, peace and presence.

Prayer: Father, help me experience more of your joy. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth and in my life as it is already in heaven.

A few months ago, Christian comedian Michael Jr. put on a show at our church, and it was hilarious!

Here’s a small snippet for you to enjoy. Don’t forget to laugh!

Deep inside each of us, though, is a craving and desire for true peace. We want our bodies and our minds to be at rest, but the battle within just seems to rage on. Where is that peace? How can we find it?

Let me start by sharing three ways we wrongly search for peace:

Try Harder

In the “try harder” solution, we carry the burden of finding peace. Results are our responsibility, the fruit of our effort. It’s pretty common in the American culture to expect results from trying harder. We find it in schools, in our jobs, in almost every area of our life. “Just try harder, and then you’ll succeed.”

Here’s the problem–it doesn’t bring true, complete healing. Sure, there are some areas of success that come through trying harder, but they are often superficial and short lived. Trying harder puts all of the burden and effort on you.

Trying harder also has the exact opposite effect. The more strength, effort and emotional energy you pour into trying harder, the more adrenaline you release and the more anxiety you create. It’s like blowing on a campfire trying to put it out. You would think that it would help, but you end up feeding the fire more oxygen, and then it burns hotter. The same is true with trying harder–it only feeds the anxiety.

Wait on God

If trying harder is at one end of the self-effort spectrum, then waiting on God is at the other. It’s the notion that we can do nothing on our own, so wait on God. Like the “try harder” solution, there are certain elements of truth in each of these solutions. Sure, there are times we need to engage our will and there are times we need to wait on God. What I’m referring to, however, is that passive “waiting” that does nothing to change.

Yes, there are times we need to wait on God, but it’s far more important that we press in to God, hear his voice and respond to him. Simply waiting on God and doing nothing will not bring lasting peace into our lives.

More Information

Another common response is more information. Over  the past two decades, access to information has increased tremendously. There are massive amounts of books, teachings, seminars, workshops, how-to’s and litany of informational resources. Again, information is not bad. We are to grow in our understanding and knowledge, but information alone cannot transform us. Knowing the truth in our mind does not make it real in our heart.

Look at the Pharisees in Jesus’ time. They were a wealth of information and knowledge. They knew the scriptures inside and out. If information alone could bring healing, then these guys would have walked in complete freedom. But, they didn’t. Knowledge and information did not change their hearts.

So, what is the solution? Is there hope for those struggling to find peace? Yes! There is hope! The key is transformation through revelation.

Transformation

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

They key to finding peace is not trying harder, waiting on God or learning the right information–the key to finding peace is transformation that comes through believing what God says. Let me explain.

For transformation to take place, we must surrender to God’s way of doing things instead of trying to make it happen on our own. God created each of us to be transformed into the image of his son (Romans 8:29). When we were saved, we were given a new heart (Ezekiel 11:19) and we are now a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are transformed when we believe the truth of what God says about us.

“Without faith, it’s impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). God is not pleased with our own strength and efforts to find peace. God is pleased when we believe what he says about us. This week, I encourage you to take time to listen to God’s voice. Let him speak his transforming love over you. God is at work in you, and he desires for you to live a life full of peace. If you’re not sure how to hear God, check out this article on Hearing God.

Prayer: Father, open up my spiritual eyes to your transformation process. Help me surrender to the healing work of Christ in my life.

I said that for years! Lord, give me more faith. Help my unbelief. Lord, give me a mustard seed of faith. But, nothing really changed in me. My situation stayed the same. I started to wonder if my prayers for more faith were accurate. After some deep study of the Bible in this area of faith, I started to change the way I prayed, because my understanding of faith was not accurate.

Here’s what I learned about faith:

What is Faith?

First, we need to know what faith is. There are two Greek words that appear throughout the new testament: pistis (noun) and pisteuo (verb). Interestingly, most Bible translates the noun as “faith” and the verb as “believe” but these two words have a very similar meaning.

Too often, we define “faith” as something different than “belief.” We talk about the Baptist “faith” or getting more “faith”, but I don’t think that’s Biblically accurate. Faith simply means “belief”.  When you say, “I wish I had more faith”, you can also say, “I wish I believed more.”

Faith does not move God

This may sound weird, even heretical, but it’s one of the most powerful truths I’ve learned over the years. Faith does not move God, because God already moved 2,000 years ago. When Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, he reconciled us to God and all the promises of God in Christ are available to us today. Peace, freedom, healing, joy and salvation are all available to us right now. Faith is simply renewing our minds to receive what is already ours. That’s why Romans 12:1, 2 encourages us to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. We need to think differently.

When Paul prayed for the Ephesians, he asked God to give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened. And, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (Ephesians 1:17-21). We have available to us today this incredible spiritual inheritance, and we must pray that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened so that we can see what we already have in Christ.

Misdirected Faith

Too often, we focus our faith on things. We ask God for peace, healing, strength, and provision. I have done this quite a bit myself.  And sometimes, those prayers are answered, but I don’t believe this is where we should focus our faith.

When we focus our faith on things, we can easily miss the Source of those things. What you focus on will organize your life. If you focus on freedom, healing and peace, then those things will organize your life, and you will be consumed with finding things instead of finding God. Jesus said it this way, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

Our faith—what we believe—should be focused on knowing Christ and his righteousness. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He should be our complete focus.

In John 6:28-29, the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, “What does God want us to do?” They were asking Jesus where they should focus their faith? Jesus responded, “This is what God wants you to do: Believe in the one he has sent.”

I want to encourage you this week to focus your faith on Christ. Seek first his righteousness and all the things you need—freedom, joy, rest, healing and peace—will begin working in your life. Renew your mind through prayer, scripture and Bible study. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and teach you all things.

Prayer: Father, help me refocus my faith on your son, Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith.

The more I searched–what could I do to please God–the more I realized that there was nothing I could do to please God. He was perfect. He required perfection. He is a holy God, and cannot look upon sin. His standard of righteousness was beyond my reach. There was nothing I could do to be holy or worthy. This fact is even confirmed in Romans 3:10, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” This was not good news.

All that was compounded by this gnawing sensation that something was wrong with me. Why couldn’t I do better? Why couldn’t I spend more time with God? Why couldn’t I overcome this bad habit? Why couldn’t I shake this feeling of fear? What was wrong with me?

I was really feeling hopeless.

That gnawing sensation, I learned later, was shame. And, it was relentless. It made me feel bad, and it never let up. It was a constant voice in my head that told me I wasn’t good enough, or that I would never be good enough. People who struggle with shame have one of two responses. Either they constantly beat themselves up trying harder to please God only to fail, or they just give up the notion of being good altogether and choose to rebel. Why bother with being good, they declare boldly.

Neither of those responses are good nor healthy. In fact, they are quite destructive.

So, is there hope? Yes!

The answer is twofold.  First, you do please God and second, there is no more shame.

First of all, you please God in Christ. Those thoughts I had about displeasing God–my sins, my failures–were not from God. If you have truly surrendered your life to Christ and put your trust in him, then you please God. The Divine exchange happened when you believed. All of your sins were taken off you and put on to Christ at the Cross.  And, all of Jesus’ righteousness was put on you. Now, your sins are remembered no more (Hebrews 8:12). You are declared a child of God (1 John 3:1). The Father has given you his Kingdom (Luke 12:32). In Christ, you please God!

Secondly, the shame of all your sins–past, present and future–is gone. Jesus took all your shame on the Cross. The reason we experience shame today is that we don’t believe we are free from sin. We strive to please God in our own strength and efforts, and fail because God’s standard is perfection. We don’t realize that our efforts to please God do nothing but hurt us and hinder us. They are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

When we try to please God in our own strength and our own efforts, we are saying that the Christ’s death on the cross is not enough. We need to do more.

Romans 4:4 declares that gifts are given freely and wages are earned, and that eternal life is a gift. We cannot earn it. Galatians 2:6 also confirms that no flesh shall be justified (made right with God) by our efforts and our works.

The key is that we believe what the Bible says about our righteousness, that it’s a gift, not earned.

Do you know what pleases God? The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 that faith pleases God. In other words, when we believe (faith) that we are righteous through the works of Christ and not through our efforts and strength, then God is pleased with us.

I have found incredible peace and freedom in this truth. My striving, my work, my efforts to please God are gone. I please God! He’s happy with me!

Prayer: Father, show me this week that I am righteous and justified by what I believe not what I do. Show me that I am pleasing to you in Christ.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds (Luke 2:8-18).

It’s late one night, and you’re tending to your flock. Business is booming because the local census has drawn lots of people into town. There’s food to be prepared, sacrifices to be made, and lots of animals to sell. All of sudden, an angel appears! And, he has a very interesting message about a Savior being born in the City of David.

What’s even more amazing is what happens after this angel delivers his message: “Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Suddenly, heaven opens up and a bunch of angels appear speaking in unison, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” This heavenly declaration must have been very important, that God would send a host of angels to declare it.

It was very important, and sadly, I think most of us miss the real message of what they said. We’ve heard this story so many times around the Christmas holidays. We sing songs about it. We talk about it Christmas stories. We glaze over it and often miss the real message of what the angels were declaring.

They were not saying, “Tonight a Savior is born and he’s bringing world peace.” Rather, the angels were declaring God’s new attitude towards us because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. All of God’s punishment and wrath was taken care of. He no longer looked at us with judgement, shame or anger. Because of Christ, our Father now looks at us with peace and goodwill. That’s why the angels declared, “on earth peace, goodwill towards men”.

The heavenly message that night was simply this: Because of this child that is born today, everything changes. God’s thoughts toward people here on earth are now thoughts of peace and goodwill. They are good thoughts, peaceful thoughts, hopeful thoughts.

What a message of love!

This Christmas season, I encourage you to think about this story of the shepherds in the pastures that night. But think about the message they heard from the angels–a message of hope and peace. A message that God loves us so much that he sent his only son to die for us and give us eternal life.

Prayer: Thank you for sending your son to die for us. Thank you that your thoughts towards us are thoughts of peace, not of evil, to give us a future and hope (Jeremiah 29:11-14).