Transcript
Speaker: The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self -control. Galatians 5, 22 through 24. Joy. Dear Heavenly Father, this fruit of the spirit is a hard one for me. In fact, if I'm being honest,
Speaker: I don't think that I'm feeling so much joy in my life right now. And I know that the joy that comes from your spirit is different from the joy that I feel when I've had a really good day or something really special has happened or I just have that feeling of excitement and happiness. I know it's a different kind of joy, but it's really, really hard to stir up any kind of joy when life feels so overwhelming and heartbreaking, and sometimes it feels like the problems are never going to end. So this prayer for joy, Lord, is coming from a bit of place of frustration and a place of yearning. I really, really want to know your joy, dear Jesus,
Speaker: I know that you experienced difficulty in life and you experienced pain and heartache, and yet you were filled with the joy of the Lord. God's word says that the joy of the Lord is your strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. I guess I'm coming to you today to ask,
Speaker: for you to show me how that can be true. Because it's easy to believe when things are going well and life is on the road that I thought it should be going on. But when it derails and when it takes twists and turns and when I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring or even today, I struggle with finding joy
Speaker: So Lord, in this prayer today, would you please speak to my heart, Holy Spirit?
Speaker: Help me to surrender all of the worries on my mind right now. Help me to lay down things that are holding me back in a barrier from your joy.
Speaker: really show me in my mind's eye experiencing your joy.
Speaker: I know joy isn't necessarily a feeling, not your joy. Your joy, I think, is more like holding onto a promise.
Speaker: It's more like a remembering. A remembering of all the ways that you've shown up in the past.
Speaker: A thankfulness for that. And a thankfulness and a trust in your promises for the future. Thank you for showing me some things that are keeping me from that joy.
Speaker: I'm sorry for trying to figure things out on my own and not surrendering them to you. Please forgive me for all the times that I try to take my life back and make it my own. When I forget that I am rooted in you and your love and that it's only from that source that these fruits of the spirit can bloom on my tree like joy. And I imagine joy as a yellow flower growing from the green leaves of my life.
Speaker: And the crazy thing is that there's nothing I can do to make it grow. Maybe the only thing I can do is to get out of the way to let your love and your promises flow from the roots where I have been planted through my life
Speaker: out through my days to be a reflection of my trust, not in what this life can give me, but in what you've promised me. And so on hard days like today, Lord, please allow me think deep to your love and pull forth your joy. I love you. Amen.
