Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account....Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

 Matthew 5 and Luke 10

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account....Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Matthew 5:11, Luke 10:20

This morning, I pause my study of 1 Corinthians to use DesiringGod.com's Solid Joys daily devotion, which today looks at how Jesus "revealed a secret that protects our happiness from the threat of suffering and the threat of success." This secret follows in Matthew 5:12 is that "[g]reat is your reward in heaven." John Piper highlights both Matthew 5:11-12 and Luke 10:20 to show us how Jesus protects our joy and happiness.  In Luke 10:17, Piper expands his review of the text to share how Jesus warned the disciples not to be tempted to "put their joy in ministry success."  Piper summarizes the text and its application by sharing how we must focus on the "greater reward in heaven" as the anchor of our happiness and joy. "[T]hus [Jesus] freed us from the tyranny of worldly pain and pleasure — worldly suffering and worldly success."

Comment and discuss this post.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and compassion - giving me protection of my joy and happiness through my salvation.  Thank You Jesus! I am not deserving of such love, compassion, grace, and 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 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

Comment and discuss this post.

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.

[I]t is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Philippians 1

[I]t is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:20-21

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 six - Magnifying Christ through a Satisfying Death.  Here, John Piper shares how a deeper study of Paul's letters - starting with Philippians - addressed an unresolved tension when he was younger.  This unresolved tension afflicts all believers at some point - that we want to be happy, and at the same time we want to glorify God (with the latter being of course the reason why we exist). Piper saw these options as at odds with each other - if I pursued one it compromised the other.  Piper then describes how, as he started seminary, a reading of Philippians 1:20-21 unlocked the secret which helped him resolve this tension - and this is what what led him to Christian Hedonism. This text by Paul reads that Christ is honored regardless of whether we live or die....because in death we gain.  How we gain is then described in verses 22-23 where Paul shares how in death we then are unified with God in Heaven which is course incredible!  Piper shares how Paul explains that "[d]eath gives him a closer experience of Christ.*"  Piper then describes how this resolved the tension for him: "you cannot glorify God in your heart if your heart does not find God more satisfying than everything else.*"  Additional scripture references provided include Philippians 3:8, Psalm 37:4, 32:11, and Philippians 3:1 where we are commanded to be glad and rejoice in the Lord. Piper wraps the devotion by pointing to Psalm 16:11.

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

Comment and discuss this post.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who gives me joy - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of how You give me joy, nor how You bless me in innumerable ways...thank You Jesus!  Yet I am not deserving.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me turn from and overcome my 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 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.

Enter into the joy of your master...These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Matthew 25 and John 15

Enter into the joy of your master...These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. Matthew 25:23 and John 15:11

I pause on my studies of both Isaiah and of Proverbs to listen to today's Solid Joys daily devotion on DesiringGod.com.  John Piper offers that God is happy God.   He starts by citing 1 Timothy 1:11 which refers to God as blessed, and Piper writes that "[i]t was inconceivable to the apostle Paul that God could be denied infinite joy and still be all-glorious. To be infinitely glorious was to be infinitely happy."  He also refers to Jonathan Edwards who stated "[p]art of God’s fullness which he communicates is his happiness. This happiness consists in enjoying and rejoicing in himself; so does also the creature’s happiness."  Piper then describes how the gospel is inherently happy: "[n]o one would want to spend eternity with a gloomy, unhappy God."  He then uses both Matthew 25:23 and John 15:11 to further bolster this claim that God is a happy God.  Before we depart from this topic, it should be understood that God does indeed seek for us to be joyful and we must appreciate how this is a supernatural joy - not an earthly joy delivered through idol worship or love of the world.

Comment and discuss this post.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who loves me and who is full of joy, and as a believer, You allow me to experience this supernatural joy - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessings.  My sin is great and it continues, including how often I seek my comfort first - over You.  This is sinful.  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.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

Acts 16

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. v25

We all find ourselves in difficult circumstances and we may be tempted to grumble or complain - yet we must remind ourselves that God does not promise a trouble-free life.  On the contrary - John 16:33 and other scriptures tell us that we will have difficulties. 

John Piper's team advises us to view God as the only source of happiness and God can produce joy and happiness both eternally and in difficult circumstances.  This is what Paul and Silas were experiencing.  We don't know what God is doing in our difficulties but we do know that He is working (always!).  We must see how God's hand is producing something great and glorious in the midst of the troubles - we may not see it unfold in our lifetime but we do know that such greatness and gloriousness will result...ultimately.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is always doing great things in my life and through my life - thank You Jesus...You are amazing!  I am undeserving of such love.  I worry and I am selfish, etc.  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.

Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

John 12

Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him. v9-11

As a follow up post to yesterday where Judas Iscariot objects to using expensive perfume to anoint Jesus, this morning we are reminded of how desperate Satan is to get a hold of us.  MacArthur suggests that, in v11 we see "a conscious, deliberate move away from the religion of the authorities and a move toward genuine faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God".  The chief priests would have none of this - hence their plot to kill BOTH Jesus and Lazarus!

According to John Piper, "Satan hates evangelism and discipleship", so it is no surprise that we see the plot to kill Lazarus.  "[M]any of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in [H]im"..."on account of [Lazarus]", and earlier in John 8:44, Jesus accuses those plotting to kill Him of "belonging" to the devil.  Satan was desperate to stop growth of the early church.

Satan is equally desperate to prevent believers from growing in our relationship with Jesus - he plants our minds with lies - go here to learn more from John Piper on Satan's Ten Strategies Against You.  

To protect ourselves, we have the Armor of God, and our belief that true freedom and joy is found in Christ alone. 

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who gives me true freedom and joy.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessings.  I worry.  Please forgive me and help me turn from my sins 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.

    

Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.

Genesis 35

Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone. v3

In Genesis 34, Jacob's daughter Dinah is raped - Jacob's life is full of ups and downs.  Yet this is by design since The Fall when sin entered the world in Genesis 3. While God does promise that He will be with us (Immanuel/Matthew 1:23), He does not promise that our lives will free from trouble.

But we can take heart because He is with us and He will comfort us and we will all have victory in this world either here on earth but most definitely in Heaven!

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, I KNOW that You are with me - every day, all the time.  Thank You Jesus for being SO faithful!  I am not worth such love.  I am selfish.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin and turn 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.  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.