The Book on Joy

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.  Henry Ford.

It's Time to Choose Joy!

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(Matthew 3:2 NKJV) “Repent (change your mind and direction), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (It's closer than you think)!”

Joy begins with changing your mind and direction.  It is not as hard as you might think.

Joy comes… when you choose a joyful attitude regardless of your circumstances.  

(Nehemiah 8:10) “Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Where is the joy of the Lord?  

It's in the Lord, and your relationship with Him.   

It's in the middle of God's plan.  

If you follow any other plan, your joy will be robbed. 

"Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life."  Kay Warren

"Joy is the determined choice to praise God in all things". Kay Warren

If you choose joy in despair, it delivers you from it. 

• Joy is knowing God has a

 plan for my life.

(Psalm 16:5-11) LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. 

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. 

I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the LORD. 

With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 

herefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. 

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

• Joy is being certain that God will work it out.

(1 Peter 1:8) Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

Even if God does not work it out in this life.  I will still be sold out to Him.  

It will eventually be made right even if it is in eternity. 

• I have Joy when I

 choose Joy.

Don't wait on joy to find you.  You choose to have joy as an act of obedience.

(Philippians 4:4) Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Rejoice is to remember what God has done in the past by reliving it in the present and praising God for it. 

Despair is to remember the bad in the past by reliving it in the present and complaining to God about it.

It’s Time to Choose Joy

(Deuteronomy 30:11-19 (MSG) This commandment that I'm (Moses) commanding you today isn't too much for you, it's not out of your reach. 

It's not on a high mountain—you don't have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level and explain it before you can live it. And it's not across the ocean—you don't have to send sailors out to get it, bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it. No. 

The word is right here and now—as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. 

Just do it! Look at what I've (Moses) done for you today: I've placed in front of you Life and Good, Death and Evil. 

And I command you today: Love GOD, your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by GOD, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess. 

But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won't last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 

I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live.

Paul writes the Scripture below about Joy in a prison cell waiting for his head to be cut off.

He was planning a crusade in Rome, but instead was captured and sent to prison. 

In prison, Paul surrendered his plans to God. 

Because Paul went to prison, he chose to write his messages in letters because he couldn't preach them in person.

God remembered Paul in prison and put his letters in the Bible which makes up about half of the New Testament. 

Paul escaped his prison cell in his thought life by... 

  

1. Choosing to look beyond 

what happened.

(Philippians 1:12) Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.

2.Choosing to find the

 new opportunities.

Don't focus on the problem, but in the opportunities that the problems create.

Look what happened for Paul.  

(Philippians 1:13-14) As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 

And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

3. Choose to focus on what really matters.

(Philippians 1:15-18) It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 

The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 

But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice.

What did you lose your joy over?  

Does it really matter?

Today I will choose joy.

Jesus, you chose me.  Now, I choose you.  Be my Lord and Savior.

Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands

Video

https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/its-time-to-choose-joy