Rejoice and be glad[.]

Matthew 5:12

Rejoice and be glad[.] Matthew 5:12

I continue my study of The Character of Jesus.  For this morning, I focus on chapter 19: The Gladness of Jesus where I highlighted in my Kindle version the following excerpts:

• "Jesus says that he is a bridegroom. He seized upon a word that is the symbol of human joy. If ever a man is happy in this world, it is on his wedding day. Jesus says that he lives in an atmosphere of wedding joy, and so also do his disciples."
• "He told the men who criticized him that his life was different from the life of John the Baptist and also from the life of the Pharisees. You cannot mix the two kinds of piety, the two forms of life will not mingle. Let me give you an illustration or two, he said: 'A man does not put a new patch on an old garment, because the new patch will tear out and the rent will be still worse. Neither can you put my form of life on to the old form of piety, the two will not hold together, the strength that is in my form of life will simply tear the old form of life to pieces. Or, to give you another illustration, men do not put new wine into old wine skins, for there is too much life and movement and sparkle in new wine for the old skins. If you attempt to put the new wine into the old skins, the old skins will burst and the wine will be lost. So do not think that you can put the new life which I live and which I want all my followers to live into old forms of pharisaic piety, for this cannot be done. I am living a new kind of life, and I want a new kind of man, a new spirit, a new form of religion.'"
• "It would seem, then, that Jesus was a man abounding in joy. Gladness was one of the notes of his character. Listen to him as he teaches, and again and again you catch the notes of happiness. He was all the time saying, "Unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of God" — and what was it in the little child that attracted him? One thing which attracted him was the child's sunny heart. What would we do in this world without the children laughing away the cares and sighs?"
• "Or listen again to what he says about worry. He defines it as one of the deadliest of all sins. We are not to worry about the present, about the necessities of existence, about to-morrow, about what we ought to do or say in the great crises which lie ahead of us. It is not right, he says; it is contrary to the law of God.  Listen to him again as he says to the great crowds, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." A glum-faced prophet could never speak so. He was glad even to the end. Even in the upper chamber, with death only a few hours away, he goes right on speaking of the joy that is bubbling up in his own heart and he prays that the same joy may abound in the hearts of those that love him. He tells his disciples that all of his teaching has been granted unto them because of his desire that his joy might remain in them and that their joy might be full. There was no shadow on his face that night in the upper chamber. The cross is near, but it casts no shadow."
• "The very finest apples, you know, in the earlier stages of their growth are sour and green. It is not until the sun has done his perfect work that they are golden and luscious. Just so it is with souls in the earlier stages of development — they are often green and sour, crabbed, and full of acid. But if they will only subject themselves to the shining of the sun, the great joyous, exuberant, laughing sun, all the juices of their nature will grow sweet and mellow, and they will find themselves at last in the kingdom of peace and joy."
• "It is the tragedy of this world that there are so many people in it who find it impossible to rejoice. What is the matter with you that you are not happier than you are ? Certainly there is something wrong! What a pity it is to live in a world like this and not enjoy living! It is amazing that any one should live in a universe so glorious, and not feel like shouting! If you are lachrymose and drooping it is because there is something wrong. You are not well in body or in mind, or it may be you are sick in both. You have not yet learned the high art of living, you have not yet come to Jesus. Why not come and sit at his feet? Why not take his yoke upon you and learn of him, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light."

For believers, salvation alone is worthy of living joyfully every day.  Yet for many believers this may not be enough.  If this is you, I would encourage you to press on in your faith and lean into Jesus.  One of the great promises in scripture is Matthew 5:6 where early in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus shares: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."  Another word for satisfaction is contentment - and when one becomes content there is joy.  Joy in God. As believers mature and come to know God more intimately, it becomes abundantly clear that God is treasure enough - above anything else the world can offer.  John Piper refers to this as Christian Hedonism - "God is most glorified in us, or Christ is most magnified in us, when we are most satisfied him."

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My Prayer: Father God, You are so great that You provide Your Son and so much more so that we can enjoy all the rich blessings of faith.  Thank You for my salvation, for the mercies that You provide every morning that never cease, for Your Word, the Holy Spirit, the church, etc. I am not deserving - my sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.  

"I came to cast fire on the earth[.]"

Luke 12:49

"I came to cast fire on the earth[.]" Luke 12:49

I continue my study of The Character of Jesus.  For this morning, I focus on chapter 18: The Enthusiasm of Jesus where I highlighted in my Kindle version the following excerpts:

• "In the speech of to-day, enthusiasm is a noble word. It is fervor of mind, ardency of spirit, exaltation of soul. It is passion, heat, fire. Though the word is absent, the thing itself is present. Jesus bums with fervent heat. His very words are sparks which kindle conflagrations."
• "When a boy he visited Jerusalem with his parents, and slipping one day into the Temple to hear the 229 scholars discussing the great problems of religion, he lost himself. He forgot what day of the week it was, and what hour of the day it was. His father and mother and brothers and sisters and friends all passed completely from his mind. He plunged headlong into the discussion of the doctors, gave himself up completely to the subject of the hour, allowed himself to be swept along on the tide of thought and discussion, until all at once his mother's face appeared at the door and he was reminded of the place he had left vacant in the caravan which had started toward Galilee. In this temple experience we see a nature sensitive and impressionable, capable of being heated to high temperatures."
• "Jesus is so full of feeling after the experience which came to him in his baptism that he cannot linger near the homes of men, but must at once rush away into infrequent and dessert places where he can meditate upon the strange thing that has happened to him, and ponder the steps which he must next take. From this time on we have a man before us who is being driven. Even when a boy he used a word which expressed the intensity of his feeling, " Do you not know that I must be about my Father's business?" He never ceased to use that word 'must.'"
• "He felt that his life would be short and so he kept saying, "I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day: the night cometh when no man can work." How intense his life was we can see in what is told us of his habit of praying. He was always praying. He arose early in the morning in order to find more time to pray, he stayed up late at night in order to increase the hours in which he might speak to God."
• "Men were astounded by the magnitude of his labors. Sometimes he did not take time to eat. Even when he went away for a season of relaxation he gave himself up to the crowds which pursued him. His words have in them an energy which burns. Again and again we catch expressions in which we can feel his great heart beating:"I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel," "O woman, great is thy faith!" "I thank thee, O Father!" "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often!" All these are out of the throat of an enthusiast, a man surcharged with feeling. At the distance of nineteen hundred years from the day on which they were spoken our heart leaps when we listen to them. The rains of the centuries have not put out their fire."
• "He stirred men up wherever he went. They crowded him off the land upon the water. They pushed him off the plain up the hillside. They crowded the houses in which he tarried, they pressed round him as he walked through the streets. Again and again the excitement rose to fever heat, and Jesus slipped away and hid himself. Near the close of his career the crowds went wild in their tumultuous joy, shouting, singing, casting their clothing in the dust that the animal which Jesus rode might have a carpet for its hoofs like unto that furnished for triumphal processions of kings. No man can set a crowd blazing unless his own soul is ablaze."
• "A still finer evidence of this is found in the character of the men whom Jesus attracted to him as his intimate friends. The apostles were all men of fire. Do not believe the pictures when they paint the twelve as limp and pallid men. They were full-blooded, virile, mighty men, full of fire and passion, drawn to Jesus because in him they saw a man who satisfied them.  Peter had a seething soul, his words roll out of him like molten lava. John and James were called Sons of Thunder. The disciple whom Jesus loved was so passionate that he wanted to burn up a whole town which had insulted his Master....They loved Jesus with such an intensity of devotion, such a passionate self-abandon, that they were ready at any moment to lay down their lives for him. No man can win and hold the ardent devotion of strong men unless he has a soul which is hot. Jesus from first to last was surrounded by enthusiasts because he himself was enthusiastic."
•  "If you ask for the cause of this enthusiasm, you will find that it has three roots.  Put these three things together — a sensitive and inflammable nature, a clear and glorious vision, and a fiery and indomitable purpose —and you have the ingredients which go to produce the divine flame which is known as enthusiasm."
• "Higher than all enthusiasms is the fire that burns in souls in love with God. To know Him, to serve Him, to glorify Him, this is the highest ambition of which the soul is capable, and the soul when possessed with this ambition burns with a fire that cannot be quenched. This was the enthusiasm of Jesus." 

Believers of course are called to share in and demonstrate this enthusiasm.  In response to those seeking to trap Him with the question what is the most important commandment (see Matthew 22:34-40), Jesus answers: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment."  For believers who have earnestly taken the time to get to know God, this is the natural response to who Jesus is and what He has done for us.  Peter's response on his arrest after Pentecost (Acts 4:20) demonstrates such enthusiasm when in his defense he states: "we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard."  It is this enthusiasm that should motivate us to do what He seeks for us to do - with one example being the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20). 

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves me and whose enthusiasm I now have inside inside of me via the Holy Spirit.  Thank You God for giving me an intense desire to love, please and find joy and satisfaction in You above all else.  I am not deserving of how You do this.  My desire for You is sometimes weak and this of course breaks the most important commandment.  So I know there is more work for You to do in me and through me.  Please forgive me for my sin and help me overcome and turn from such sin and turn towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength. Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.  

... [F]or the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

... [F]or the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. While Holy Week and Easter have passed, I do want to read to completion John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #48: To Gain His Joy and Ours.  In today's devotion, Piper gets to it right away: "[t]he path that leads to joy is a hard road. It’s hard for us, and it was hard for Jesus. It cost him his life. It may cost us ours." We are then referred to Hebrews 12:2 where the author of the text shares that Jesus willingly endured the agony of His death on the cross because He was focused on the joy Heaven.  Piper continues by describing "the joy set before Him" as joy on many levels, including "reunion with His Father," "triumph over sin," "divine rights restored," and "being surrounded with praise by all the people for whom He died" - see also Psalm 16:11, Hebrews 1:3, 12:2, and Luke 15:7.  Piper than makes clear that this joy is not just for Him but for all of those who believe in Him - see also John 15:11.  Yet this joy for believers comes at a cost as Piper returns to how the devotion began - our path to joy will be hard.  Piper points us to John 16:33, Matthew 10:24-25, and Luke 21:16-17.  At the same time, the devotion does offer us great encouragement by referring us to how "our hope of joy empowers us to suffer with him."  See Matthew 5:11-12.  This hard path for Christ was the only way that we could have the Good News that Jesus Christ died for us, rose from the dead, ascended to Heaven, and for those who believe in Him they shall have eternal life - see John 3:16.  Piper ends the devotion by pointing us to Romans 8:18 and Psalm 30:5 where the text describes the "glory that is to be revealed to us," and the "joy [that] comes with the morning." Rejoice for the joy set before us!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an incredible God that willingly went to the cross so that I could have life with You via the Holy Spirit and for eternity with You in Heaven!  Thank You God - the greatest gift of all time.  I am not deserving of such blessings.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

...[F]ar be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

 Galatians 6:14

...[F]ar be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #33: To Make His Cross the Ground of All Our Boasting.  In today's devotion, Piper unpacks Galatians 6:14, Piper by sharing that, while the Bible shares that believers are only to boast in the cross, and this for some may seem "over the top" to non-believers.  Yet this is indeed what the Bible says, not just in Galatians 6:14, but also in Romans 5:2, 3, 2 Corinthians 12:9, and 1 Thessalonians 2:19.  While these verses seem to describe boasting about things, they all point to honoring the cross.  Piper then connects the dots for us as he shares that "every good thing—indeed, even every bad thing that God turns for good—was obtained for us by the cross of Christ. Apart from faith in Christ, sinners get only judgment. Yes, there are many pleasant things that come to unbelievers.  But the Bible teaches that even these natural blessings of life will only increase the severity of God’s judgment in the end, if they are not received with thanks on the basis of Christ’s sufferings."  We are referred to Romans 2:4-5.  Piper then goes on to share that "everything that we enjoy, as people who trust Christ, is owing to his death. His suffering absorbed all the judgment that guilty sinners deserved and purchased all the good that forgiven sinners enjoy. Therefore all our boasting in these things should be a boasting in the cross of Christ."  Piper encourages all believers to be "radically cross-focused."  We do this by recognizing that when we truly trust in Christ, our old self is dead and we are born again and we belong to Christ.  We also recognize that all of our enjoyment is sourced by God and we seek what God seeks because we love Him and therefore love to please Him.  See yesterday's post.  Piper concludes by sharing that "every legitimate pleasure in the world becomes a blood-bought evidence of Christ’s love and an occasion of boasting in the cross."  Trust in Jesus and experience everlasting joy in Jesus as he becomes "the ground of all our boasting."

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and mercy for me.  Thank You Father God - Jesus - You are deserving of all my boasting.  I am not deserving of the grace You pour out for me...which of course started on the cross and continues though today and ultimately to Heaven where You are saving a place for me.  Thank You for these gifts for which I am undeserving.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

...[H]e died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

 2 Corinthians 5:15

...[H]e died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Corinthians 5:15

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #32: To Enable Us to Live for Christ and Not Ourselves.  In today's devotion, Piper unpacks a truth that he says troubles some - that "Christ died to exalt himself."  Some may view this as vanity but Piper dispels this thought.  To unpack this truth, the devotion first shares that "[t]he very essence of sin is that we have failed to glorify God—which includes failing to glorify his Son (Romans 3:23). But Christ died to bear that sin and to free us from it. So he died to bear the dishonor that we had heaped on him by our sin. He died to turn this around. Christ died for the glory of Christ."  The devotion then continues by sharing that Christ's death on the cross should be viewed as "the supreme act of love."  As such, it is both an act to exalt Himself and to show His love for this He seeks to save.  Piper then shares: "Christ is unique. No one else can act this way and call it love. Christ is the only human in the universe who is also God and therefore infinitely valuable. He is infinitely beautiful in all his moral perfections. He is infinitely wise and just and good and strong....To see him and know him is more satisfying than having all that earth can offer."  See also Hebrews 1:3.  Paul describes this in Philippians 3:7-8.  When scripture states that "we might live for Him," Piper emphasizes that God does not need our help - see Acts 17:25 and Mark 10:45 - "[w]hat Christ died for is not that we might help him, but that we might see and savor him as infinitely valuable. He died to wean us from poisonous pleasures and enthrall us with the pleasures of his beauty. In this way we are loved, and he is honored. These are not competing aims. They are one." The devotion concludes by pointing us to John 16:7, 14 and John 17:24, which describe how (1) Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help believers glorify Him, and the Holy Spirit is the "greatest help in the world" and another act of love and (2) how Christ's love for us is so great for us that He prayed that those who have faith in Him would join Him in Heaven.  Rejoice in Him who loves us so much that He died for us and gave us help to glorify Him (we exist to glorify Him) and to give us "everlasting enjoyment."

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an incredible God that gives us Your Son and the Holy Spirit so that we can enjoy You now as infinitely valuable and for eternity with You.  Incredible - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of my salvation nor the blessings You provide for such everlasting enjoyment.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.    

So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

John 16:22

So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. John 16:22

Today I pause from my preparation for leading Sunday school today and listen to DesiringGod.com's Solid Joys devotion for today entitled The Only Enduring Happiness, which describes the joy a believer has and how this joy is eternal.  John Piper shares: "your joy comes from being with Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus means that you will never die; you will never be cut off from him.  So two things have to be true if your joy is never to be taken from you. One is that the source of your joy lasts forever and the other is that you last forever. If either you or the source of your joy is mortal, your joy will be taken from you."  Piper recognizes that many in this world do not have this joy as they have "settled" for a source of joy that is mortal, whatever that might be.  He urges these people to "seriously consider" Jesus as the source of their joy.  As he concludes the devotion, Piper refers us to Romans 8:38-39 as an encouragement and as additional text to confirm Jesus as the eternal source of joy.

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are SO good and You give me eternal joy and salvation - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such amazing grace.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 5

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:11

I continue my study looking at the life of Paul using John Piper's 30 Reasons Why I Love the Apostle Paul.  Today, I move to chapter twenty-six - Apostle of the Happy God and the Hard Life of Spreading   Joy.  Here, John Piper loves and admires Paul for his joy in Christ and consequently his love of others such that "his aim was their joy*" in Christ. First, Piper shares how it is an uncommon combination of traits for Paul to posses a great intellect, be logically rigorous, careful and cerebral in thought - yet deeply happy and joy...in all circumstances.  Of course God is the source of this happiness and joy.  Piper describes how God is happy, pointing to Jesus's parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:22-24) and how the Master "welcomes his servants home*" into the joy of your master (Matthew 25:21).  He further describes that "Paul knew that a gloomy God could not be the source, let alone the center, of all-satisfying good news. No. If Jesus came into the world with “good news of great joy,” as the angels said (Luke 2:10), then God is not a gloomy God, but a God of overflowing joy.*"  This joy is the result of how joy originates in God through His Son Jesus.  Piper then moves to share how the focus of Paul's ministry was to bring others into this same joy, referring us to Philippians 1:23-26.  Piper makes a point of saying that "Paul is not ashamed to sum up his ministry goal as 'for your joy.'*"  He makes this point because he sees that joy is the "essence*" of what Christians are to pursue, explaining that "Christianity is a divine project of replacing inferior joys in inferior objects with superior joys in God himself. That is why Christ came to die. He died to remove every barrier (like God’s wrath and our sin) between us and God so that we could say with Paul, “We . .  . rejoice in God” (Romans 5:11).*"  Piper closes the chapter by answering why 1 Corinthians 13:13 does not explicitly mention joy as key - Piper shares that it does not have to because "[l]ove is the overflow of joy in God that seeks to meet the needs of others, especially the need of eternal joy.*"

*John Piper. 30 Reasons Why I Love the Apostle Paul

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and compassion for me, and a God who gives me great joy in You - the One True God.  Thank You Jesus for these blessings and joy.  I am not deserving of such love.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

 2 Corinthians 7

In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. 2 Corinthians 7:4d

I paused this morning on both of my studies in Isaiah and Revelation to listen to the Solid Joys daily devotional on DesiringGod.com.  Piper reflects on Paul's joy here, and seeks to better understand how "unbelievably durable his joy was when things weren’t going well."  He asks: "[w]here did this come from?"  He then goes on to answer his own question as to the sources of this joy:

1. Teachings of Jesus: Luke 6:22-23
2. From the Holy Spirit: Galatians 5:22, 1 Thessalonians 1:6
   
3. From belonging to the kingdom of God: Romans 14:17
4. Through faith, believing God: Romans 15:13, Philippians 1:25
5. Seeing and knowing Jesus as Lord: Philippians 4:4
6. From fellow believers that help us: 2 Corinthians 1:24
   
7. From the sanctifying effects of tribulations: Romans 5:3-4
   

I love this verse - 2 Corinthians 7:4d - I am going to use when people ask me how I am doing!  I am overflowing with joy!

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God and You give me great joy - regardless of my circumstances - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such joy.  My sin is great and it continues - daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Chapter 25: Pages 350-361

 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

This afternoon, I continued John Piper's book Providence (purchased from Amazon Kindle Store) and started Part 3 "The Nature and Extent of Providence", moving to Section 5 "Providence Over Life and Death" - moving to chapter twenty-five "We Are Immortal till Our Work Is Done".

Here, Piper explores the difficult question of how believers can see God's goodness and mercy in death. Piper challenges us to ponder whether we would rather be in the hands of Satan or God upon death or martyrdom. Of course the answer is easy for believers.  Piper wants us to see that "[f]or those who belong to him, the timing and outcome of...death is mercy, not wrath."

Piper uses stories of how several missionaries endured tragic loss of loved ones but still found comfort and joy in the grace of Jesus. One such missionary expresses this feeling of comfort by saying "For [unbelievers] the pain is fundamental and the joy is superficial because it won't last.  For [believers], the pain is superficial and the joy is fundamental."

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God and I know that You will be with me until the end of the age and that nothing can separate me from Your love - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such love.  I worry and I have other sins.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to accept You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners[.]

Isaiah 61

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners[.] v1

As a follow up to yesterday, we once again see how God comes to provide freedom from the sting of sin and death and how God's children are a "planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor" (v3).  This chapter further continues to express great hope and "everlasting joy" (v7) and God will help us grow and bear fruit (v11).  See also John 15.

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5

 
My Prayer: Lord Jesus, what an amazing God You are that You love us even though we are broken and sinful.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not worth such love as I worry and I have other sin.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please help us provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.