It would seem, on the surface of things, that joy and suffering are incompatible. And yet, when God talks about joy, HIS joy, in HIS Word, the Bible, more often than not, He talks about joy in the midst of suffering. That, I think, is worthy of a closer look.

In this world, the basic law of the jungle is that you have to work hard for everything you want – you work at it, you get it. It’s a performance oriented world. Okay, every now and then, someone may win the lottery and get something for nothing, but that’s pretty rare. It’s the exception rather than the rule.

In my lifetime, I’ve only known one couple who has one a big prize in the lottery. The rest have all had to work hard for what they have. My hunch is that you, like me, are one of those.

So when someone comes along with the idea that you can have something for nothing … well, that doesn’t sit too well with us. You know the old saying – if it sounds too good to be true, it usually us.

Last week on the program, we were taking a look at the joy of the Lord. Joy after all, is something we all want to have in our lives, in our hearts. Man, if you can have joy overflowing out of your heart in any and every circumstance, wouldn’t that be awesome, although it does sound too good to be true.

Joy and suffering, after all, don’t go together. At least not in our mindset. And yet … and this is what we’re going to chat about today, God’s joy can be His free gift to anyone who is willing to accept it … not a sense of happiness that waxes and wanes with your circumstances, but a deep, abiding sense of joy that never leave you.

When a person accepts Jesus into their lives, as their Saviour, the one through whose suffering God forgives, and as their Lord, the one whom they follow and live for the rest of their lives, something amazing happens. The promise of God is that the moment you do that, the Holy Spirit, God Himself, comes to dwell in you. That’s what Jesus said:

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. (John 14:15-27)

That’s a pretty amazing promise, and it’s true. That’s exactly what happens. And as the Holy Spirit starts to help us to grow and change and get closer to Jesus, it’s like that process bears fruit. And in fact, the Bible talks about that fruit:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self. (Galatians 5:22)

There are nine things in that list and one of them is joy. By the way, it’s closely linked to the other eight. But joy is a natural consequence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s not something you have to go out there and get for yourself. It’s something that God gives you. And as we saw earlier in this series, the original Greek Words for Joy, and for grace come from the same root, their almost identical. The idea is that joy is a free gift from God.

So that’s why, God can talk about giving you joy amidst the trials and tribulations of life. In fact, think about it, if God is in the business of giving His children His joy, the time we most need that joy is when things aren’t going well, right?

That’s why you read things like this in the Bible:

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. And if any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. (James 1:2-5)

Just think of how bizarre that sounds. Whenever you face trials of ANY kind, consider it nothing but joy … another translation says nothing but PURE joy. That flies completely in the face of worldly wisdom and yet God … He wants you to have joy in your trials because there’s meaning there. He’s doing something there. He is growing you and maturing you and making sure that as time goes on, you will be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

Who else does that for you? Without God, you’re out there suffering on your own. But with God, He’s right there with you, giving you His joy, in the knowledge that He is refining your character and giving you the wherewithal to handle the things this world throws at you. That’s how the Apostle Paul can write … 2 Corinthians 7:4

I am overjoyed in all our affliction.

God means to give us His joy when we’re under fire, because then all of a sudden, we discover His strength. His joy is His path to His strength, right when and where we need it.

Well, where do we go with this? How do we lay hold of the Joy of the Lord? Well, according to Jesus, you simply ask:

Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. (John 16:23-24)

Jesus wants to make your joy complete. Think about that for just a minute. Wow! And what He’s saying here, to His disciples who were about to go through great fear and suffering, is just ask me and I’ll give it to you.

One of the things that I’ve discovered is that when we take God at His Word, when we take Jesus at His Word, He actually honours that. Psalm 118:24 says:

This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

That’s not such a bad piece of advice now, is it. God made this day. None of it is any surprise to Him. He knows exactly what He’s doing. He is in your past and your present and your future. They’re all connected. He can and will make a difference for you right now, by bringing His joy into your life.

And when your heart is overflowing with joy, at the same time as your eyes are overflowing with tears, there is nothing sweeter than that, because it’s in that place that you discover in your own experience the grace and the faithfulness and the love of God. So let me leave you today with this Word, God’s Word for you:

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. (Colossians 1:11) 

God has a plan. And a part of that plan is to fill you with His joy around the clock, in any and every circumstances, whether things are going well, or badly for you. Now … if I were the devil … I think what I’d want to do is to set about ruining that plan by robbing you of God’s joy. And that is exactly what the enemy plans on doing.

You know, I don’t think there is any sweeter combination than God’s peace and God’s joy. When I’m filled with the peace and the joy of the Lord, it doesn’t seem to matter what the world throws at me, I’m able to get through it all.

That doesn’t mean that we all don’t have some bad days mixed in with the good ones, but God loves you and He wants to make a difference in your life and one of the ways that He does that is to bless you with the free gift of His joy. Because when you’re filled with His joy, the joy of your salvation, the joy of knowing Jesus, the joy of knowing that He has everything in control and that He loves you and cares for you – well, honestly, that makes you strong. That’s why the Bible says – Nehemiah 8:10 – that the joy of the Lord is your strength.

But as I said earlier, the devil doesn’t want you to be strong. He wants to rape and pillage your life and steal away all the good things God is giving you, including your salvation. If He can get you to turn away and walk away from Jesus … He won. And He can’t do that while you’re strong in the Lord. So, how does He do it? Well, the devil has read the Bible too, so he knows that when you’re filled with God’s joy, you’re strong.

So … why not rob you of God’s joy? Why not tempt you and test you to see if he can get you to let go of the joy of the Lord and become weak so that He can plunder your life and undermine your salvation?

This is important stuff we’re talking about today, because that is exactly how Satan works. Have you ever wondered why it is, after you’ve had a great time of prayer with the Lord that’s lifted you up and filled you with His peace and His joy, why it is that you walk out of that straight into some sort of conflict, some sort of attack?

It’s because the devil doesn’t want you filled with God’s joy, that’s why. I want to come back to one of my favourite passages today, it’s about the fruit of the Spirit which includes joy – Galatians 5:22. But, I want to read you the bit before that as well. Have a listen:

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:16-26)

So, what’s God saying to us here? Basically this, that sin, robs you of the fruit of the spirit. You go out there and disobey God by gratifying the desires of the flesh – and there’s a long list of those there, right – you live your life for yourself and not from God, and do you really expect to have the fruit of the spirit in your life? Do you really think that God’s love and His joy and His peace are going to be a happening thing in your heart.

That’s why the devil tempts you. He wants to slip under your guard and get you involved in just a tiny sin to start with. You know the sort that God probably won’t notice, or if He does, it’s only a little one, so He won’t worry too much about it.

You’ve got to be kidding, right? As though there is any such thing as a small sin to a perfect and Holy God!! Let’s face it, eating a piece of fruit from a tree that God said, “Don’t eat from this one.” That surely can’t be such a big deal?! It is, after all, only a piece of fruit for goodness sakes! And yet look at the terrible consequences of THAT one, seemingly small, innocuous sin, on Adam and on Eve and on the rest of humanity to this day.

Listen up. There is one thing for certain, if we live our lives in sin, for ourselves, rather than in the Spirit, for Jesus, we are not going to be experiencing the joy of the Lord. And the moment you lose God’s joy, you become weak and vulnerable.

Now the enemy has a foothold in your life and he is going to exploit it to get what he wants. In Ephesians 4:27, we’re told not to make room for the devil, or not to give him a foothold. That’s why. The number one thing that robs you of God’s peace and His joy … is sin. Rebellion. Think about a child who rebels against its parents, a child who explicitly does what mum and dad told it not to do.

How much peace and joy do you reckon is going to be happening around the dinner table tonight in that family, when that child comes to the table, unrepentant, continuing in its rebellion? Not a lot, right? I’ve been there as a kid, and let me tell you, I’ve experienced some frosty receptions at the dinner table … and rightly so. That’s what rebellion gets you.

It’s the same with God. You want His joy? Live your life for Him. You want His peace? Then stop fighting with Him. And all it takes to restore your fellowship with Him and get His joy back in your heart, is for you to go to Him and admit your mistakes and ask for His forgiveness.

Theologians will call that repentance. I call it plain common sense. It’s not complicated at all. Sin will rob you of God’s joy every time. Every time. Did you get that? Every Time!!!!! And it’s a downward spiral … that is exactly the enemy’s plan for you. To alienate you from God, get you while you’re weak and maul you and destroy you.

But remember, the joy of the Lord is your strength. It’s not rocket science.

One of the things I know is that there are some people listening today who feel like they’re a million miles from God, because the devil has done just what I’ve been describing. And on top of everything, he may have filled your heart with the lie that things are so bad between you and God that He just doesn’t want you back anymore. It’s over.

But I’m here to tell you that Jesus died for every sin of yours … past, present and future and by His blood, by His sacrifice – as long as you put your trust in Him, you are forgiven. So, the best way I can think of using the next minute or so, is to pray with you, to bring you back into that delightful fellowship with Jesus:

Lord God, you know my sin. I am so ashamed. I am so pained by the things that I’ve done, and yep, the devil has been plundering my life, to the point where it does feel like it’s over. But I have just been reminded of your mercy, your grace and your love, through what Jesus did for me on that Cross. And I come to you in His name, because I believe in Jesus, and ask you for your forgiveness. I have no right to expect that, but I know that you purchased that right for me at Calvary. Please forgive me, please hold me close, please fill me with your Spirit and please, bring back your joy and your peace to me. I’m asking you today, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let me tell you, if you prayed that prayer with me today, then God has heard you, God has pardoned you and right now, at this moment. He is wrapping His loving arms around you. That’s good news, eh?

May the Joy of the Lord truly be your strength, this day and forever more. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

It’s probably no surprise to you that sin, our rebellion against God, robs us of His joy. It’s pretty logical, and I’m guessing you’ve probably experienced that loss of joy through your sin. But there’s one sin, I think more than any other, that today is resulting in a chronic lack of joy in people’s lives. And i THAT sin, that we’re going to talk about right now.

As I travel around the country and indeed around the globe, I meet so many people who say that they believe in Jesus, and yet, it doesn’t take me long to notice, that they’re experiencing a chronic lack of joy. And can I tell you, I’ve found myself in that place from time to time as well.

Now yesterday on the program, we saw that sin of any kind is going to disrupt our deep joy and rob us of that joy and make as weak and susceptible to further attacks from the enemy, attacks that will most certainly come.

So let’s just be clear here, God’s plan for you is to be filled with His joy. That’s what the Bible tells us over and over again.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

But one of the things that works so strongly against that joy and peace and hope in our lives, is a chronic sin – a sin that becomes worse the more affluent a society becomes. It’s the sin of … selfishness. And not just self-centerdness. Being self-absorbed. A while back on the program we spent some time looking at the way in which narcissism has gone from being a rarity to a plague.

And the reason is that the more affluent we become, the more the advertising industry tells us that it’s all about you, you deserve it, you’re worth it … spend your money on yourself. We are bombarded with that stuff day after day and eventually it becomes part of our psyche. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Add to that the smartphone phenomenon, that puts the world in the palm of your hand, that makes you a publisher of selfies in social media, and you can see why so many people have become so self-absorbed. We live in the age of the selfie. They’re even making selfie sticks now so that you can put your mobile phone on then end of them and take pictures of yourself. There’s a whole movement, in fact the zeitgeist of our times, is the selfie. Me at the centre of the universe. And that is exactly what the Bible says is going to happen.

For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them. (2 Timothy 3:2-5)

People will become lovers of themselves and that leads to that arrogance and boasting and all that long list of things. We have been taught by society to put ourselves at the centre of the universe. And the younger you are, the more you’ve been influence by that.

I at least grew up under parents who had experienced the horrors and deprivation of WWII in Europe – and so built into their psyche was a sense of duty and sacrifice and serving. Some of that rubbed off on me. But we baby boomers have passed something different on to our children, and they to their children. As conspicuous consumption and rampant consumerism have become more the norm, we’ve taught them that they’re precious – which they are of course – but to the point where the truly do think and believe, whole generations of them, that they are each the centre of the universe.

The problem with being self–absorbed though, is that the rest of the world doesn’t see you as the centre of the universe, because they all think that that’s a position that belongs to them. So being self–absorbed ends up making you incredibly insecure. I know. Because I used to be so incredibly worried about how I looked and how I sounded and how much I succeeded, and, this was the BIG one, what other people thought of me.

And that is a treadmill of self and insecurity that completely robs you of the joy of the Lord. Why? Because it’s the complete, 180 degree opposite of God’s way, God’s plan for our lives. Of course there’s nothing new in any of this, it’s just that these days it’s happening in plague proportions. It’s a chronic disease that is robbing so many of Jesus’ followers of the joy that He has ready and waiting for them.

Let’s go back and look at His advice and His teaching to two of His disciples who were suffering from this very problem.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:35-45)

So there it is, if selfishness, self-absorption, self-centredness, the great paradigm of our times, is robbing you of the joy of the Lord, there’s only one way to get it back. It is, to follow Jesus’ example – the Son of God, the Creator of the Universe, who came to serve you and to die for you. Get a revelation today – you are not the centre of the universe. And the moment we get that into our heads, everything changes.

You may have heard me say this before, but it’s so important I’m going to say it again. The biggest – THE BIGGEST – revelation I had when I became a Christian is the buzz that being a servant give me. The incredible satisfaction and contentment o fusing the gifts and abilities that God has given me to bless other people – is something that I’ve become addicted to.

I spent the first 36 years of my life trying to live with me at the centre of the universe – and as hard as I tried, it just didn’t work. I was tough and brave on the outside, but on the inside I was a quivering mass of insecurities, always wondering what people were thinking, what people were saying behind my back, and never, really, impacting anyone’s life for the better.

Needless to say, there was no joy in my life. Then by God’s grace, He got a hold of my life and started showing me a different way. It wasn’t easy at first, and still, some days it ain’t easy, right?! But the more I walk along the dusty road of life with Jesus, and the more He shows me the opportunities He’s set before me to use His gifts in my life for other people – which is what it means to be a servant – the more I’m enjoying my life.

When we come to the same conclusion about Jesus and our lives that John the Baptist came to, then all of a sudden God’s joy abides in us more and more. What did John the Baptist say, when His disciples came to him worried that Jesus’ ministry was becoming more prominent than his own?

He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30)

What a great way of looking at life. What a great path to the joy that Jesus has ready and waiting for you.

What if I told you that there was something really simple, so simple almost that you’d laugh at me, something simple that you can do to lay hold of the joy of the Lord in your life – anywhere, anytime, no matter how good or how bad your circumstances might be? Would you be interested?

Yesterday on the program, we were chatting about the degree to which self-centredness, which is very much the zeitgeist of this century, is robbing people of the joy that God wants to give them.

It is in many respects, a natural human trait to want to put ourselves at the centre of the universe, and yet when we do, we end up living joyless lives. The question is, how do you turn that around? Well, interestingly the word “repent” which sounds a bit old and stuffy, literally means, to turn around.

The self-centred person spends most of his or her time, looking at all they don’t have, and desiring more. They set their lives on a course of getting more, not realising that it will cost them everything. The opposite of that, is looking at all you have. And being thankful for those things. And that’s what we’re going to be chatting about today on the program. Thankfulness.

Now, thankfulness is one of the simplest things to do, even when you think that you don’t have much to be thankful for. I remember a time in my life a couple of decades ago, when I really felt that there was nothing to be thankful for. It was a dark time, I was alone, and yet it was in that place that I first met Jesus. The only way I can describe it was that his small light shone all the more brightly in my heart, because of the inky blackness that surrounded me.

Whilst I would never wish such a time on my worst enemy, I shall remain ever thankful for that time in my life, because it was the beginning of a new life for me. That was hard to see back then, in fact, I couldn’t see it, but I remember the joy of coming to know Jesus and spending time with Him as though it were yesterday. And it remains to this day, one of the sweetest, most sublime things that has ever happened to me.

And as I look at all that’s happened to me, during that time, since then, good and bad, what I see as I look back is the goodness of the Lord in my life. And that is something that I am just so thankful for. He has blessed me with a good and wonderful wife. He has blessed me with a roof over my head.

Are there some downsides to my life? Are there some things that I’d like to change, that if it were up to me, would be different? Most certainly there are. Absolutely. But the question really is, which shall I focus on? What I have, or what I don’t have? Which one of those two would you focus on?

The Apostle Paul was an amazing guy. Some people think of him as a saint, but if he were here, he’d tell you that he’s no more a saint than you or I and he would, according to God’s Word, be absolutely right. When he was close to the end of his journey, locked up in a dungeon on death row, he wrote these words – we looked at them a little earlier in the series but I want to come back to them here, because they speak so powerfully of the joy that thankfulness can bring in your life and mine:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-6)

He’s saying there exactly what we’ve been talking about this last little while on the program – that we should rejoice, in other words, revisit our joy – in every and all circumstances, even it would seem, right there on death row.

How do we do that? Well, instead of worrying, instead of focussing on what we don’t have, let’s go to God with thanksgiving and let Him know our needs. Not with grumbling or complaining or worrying or fear. Those heart attitudes never get you anywhere with God, but with thanksgiving. By giving thanks – thank you God – that’s the heart attitude. And when we go to God with that heart attitude, the promise is that His peace – a peace that doesn’t make sense in our circumstances, a peace that surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ. That’s good! Peace right where we need it.

And notice that our rejoicing is to be built on the foundation of thanksgiving. So … you want to get joy back in your life, then start thanking God for all you do have. Now … I know what you’re thinking. That’s not easy when you’re on death row. That’s not easy when things are tough. I agree, it’s not.

And so Paul goes on, in the next breath, to tell us how to do that. Verses 8 and 9 of Philippians Chapter 4 – here’s the “how” of being thankful when life is tough:

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

How do we get thankfulness happening in our hearts, when it’s hard? We think about all the good things that God has done and is doing? You know how when you have something you’re worrying about or afraid of, you churn it over and over in your mind, again and again? And the more you do it, the more down in the dumps it makes you?

Well, in exactly the same way, Paul is saying, instead of thinking about what you don’t have, think about what you do have. Churn those good things over and over again in your mind, and what you’ll find is that you will want to start thanking God for them. And when you do that, you’re doing exactly what Paul said to do, you’re going to God with thanksgiving. And what happens when you do that, is that you’ll end up rejoicing in God’s goodness and experiencing His joy.

Is that complicated? Well, no, actually it’s not. It’s just a habit that you and I can get into in order to experience God’s joy. Because we end up trusting God based on all the good things He’s done and the worry and the fear … they go away. Do you see the power of God’s Word here,.

And the thing is that when we’re thankful, when we have God’s joy in our hearts as a result, life is so much better. It’s true you know! The joy of the Lord really is your strength. So … if you’re down in the dumps, if you’re worrying or afraid, if you can’t find anything to rejoice about, start thinking about God’s goodness in your life.

Start thinking words of thanksgiving to God – and based on all the faithfulness He’s shown you to date, believe in God, put your trust in Him again, for whatever it is that you’re going through today. And the peace of God which passes all understanding really will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus! And think about it. What’s the alternative?

The alternative is continuing on, down in the dumps, not trusting in God, not experiencing His joy, not having His peace. Why would you possibly want to do that for Pete’s sake?!

Nineteenth century writer and theologian G.K Chesterton put it this way: I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

He’s absolutely right. The simplest thing that you can do to lay hold of God’s joy in your life, it to be thankful. Thankfulness is a heart attitude that sets us free from the burdens of today and releases us into the love and the faithfulness of God.

Don’t believe me? Give it a spin …

When things aren’t going well for us, then the last thing we feel like doing is praising God. And yet, praising God is the single, most powerful thing that we can do, to lay hold of His joy and peace in our lives.

Yesterday on the program we were chatting about the importance of thankfulness towards God, in laying hold of His joy, which is, after all, our strength.

Thankfulness really is a heart attitude that lifts the burdens off our shoulders and fills us with the unspeakable joy that only comes from God. But there is something more that thankfulness does – it takes us to another, deeper level of gratitude. Thankfulness and gratitude are closely related, but they’re not quite the same thing.

Here’s how nineteenth century Swiss philosopher and poet Henri–Frederic Amiel put it: Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts

I love that, because it’s true. When we go to God with thanksgiving, it changes our hearts to the point where we end up living in deep gratitude. And that gratitude, that new perspective, causes us to think differently, act differently, speak differently. It’s life-changing, to the point where we are filled to overflowing with the joy of the Lord.

You get to the point where you just can’t contain it anymore.

Methodist William Arthur Ward, back in the 20th century put it this way: feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

That’s good isn’t it? When we have that gratitude and joy welling up in our hearts we need to do something with that. We need to express it and that’s where praising God comes in. There is nothing so uplifting and empowering as laying down our lives before God and praising Him. And yet, as I said, praising God isn’t the easiest thing to do, when things aren’t going well. That’s why we being with thankfulness, focussing on all the good things that God has done for us and continues to do for us. Thanksgiving fills us with joy and in rejoicing, the natural thing that we want to do is to praise God.

Well, that’s a great theory lesson Berni, but is it possible? Is it feasible? Is it real?? Not unreasonable questions, so to answer them, let’s go to the best place of all, the Bible, God’s Word. We’re going to pick up the story of the Apostle Paul and his helper Silas, who were out there, proclaiming the Good News of the risen Jesus. Remember, they were doing good, and then, something bad, something really bad, happened to them.

One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. (Acts 16:16-24)

Well, thins have never quite happened for me that way, but to be sure, I’ve experienced things similar, if not quite so drastic. There is nothing more disheartening than getting out there and serving and honouring God, and then, finding that you’re punished, hurt, disadvantaged as a result. The most common thing is to throw your hands up, look at God and ask Him – Well Lord, that worked well? What were you thinking? Where were you when I needed you? Yeah, I know, you’ve been there too. I get that.

But let’s take a look at how Paul and Silas responded:

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God. (Acts 16:25-34)

Paul and Silas, crazy guys that they were, responded to their beating and imprisonment by, what? Grumbling, complaining, shaking their fists angrily at God? No! They responded by praising Him. By praying and singing hymns – so loud that everyone could hear them.

And then it happened. The power of God was unleashed in that place, prisoners were set free, the guard and all his family came to know Jesus. And, just quietly the other prisoners were impact by this amazing turn of events.

If only we understood the power, the incredible power of God that is unleashed in our lives when we choose to praise Him in our affliction. Let me say it again, if only we understood the power, the incredible power of God that is unleashed in our lives when we choose to praise Him in our affliction

That’s why the Bible commands us to rejoice in the Lord always – again I say rejoice. That’s why the Bible commands us – Ephesians 5:20:

To give thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That’s why the Bible commands us to:

Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathers praise the Lord! (Psalm 150:1-6)

Because you and I, we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. God isn’t interested in making us happy for a short time. God wants to fill us with His abiding joy, forever. Every moment of every day – especially when we’re in chains, especially when we’re being beaten, especially when we feel like a caged animal.

It’s in that place that your God wants you to experience His joy – for the Joy of the Lord is your strength. And it’s His strength that makes you mot just a conqueror of your circumstances, but more than a conqueror.

And if that doesn’t make you want to shout HALLELUJAH! I don’t know what does.