|
THE JOY OF FAITH
FOUNDATION STATEMENT: People who live by faith are the same people that walk in the fullness of joy. Some people think God can, some people know He will, but the ones that walk in victory are the people that believe He already has and praise Him for it.
FOUNDATION SCRIPTURE: Philippians 1:25, Colossians 1:11
I. Joy has been the missing substance in the faith of most believers
A. The truth is this; if you have believed that you have received, if you believe the victory is yours then you should have joy like it is
1. A person who is in faith is a person who is full of joy (Psalm 5:11)
a. Joy is an expression of your faith; your trust is expressed in your joy
b. If you believed the Word of God was true and so, you would have joy to express your faith
c. Rejoice (chairo) - overjoyed, elated, ecstatic, exhilarated, thrilled, jubilant
2. Your stance in faith should be done with joy (Colossians 1:11 KJ&)
a. [We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy,12 Giving thanks to the Father,
b. You don't stand on the Word grumbling and complaining all the time; you do your stand in faith with joy
B. Joy plays a vital role in the life of faith because it provides you with the strength to continue in faith and overcome
1. The joy of the Lord is my strength (Nehemiah 8:10)
a. No joy = No strength
2. If we don't faint and quit we will win (Galatians 6:9)
a. If we can keep from getting weary and giving up we can keep from being defeated
b. Proverbs 24:10 - If you faint it's because you don't have any strength
i. The reason you don't have any strength is because you don't have any joy
3. You need joy because you need the strength to exercise patience and endurance to inherit the promise (Hebrews 6:12)
a. Joy will be your strength that enables you to endure
4. You need joy because you need the strength to stand steadfast in faith resisting the devil so that he will flee (1 Peter 5:9, James 4:7)
a. If you don't have strength you can't resist, if you can't resist you can't win
C. Joy comes from the Word of God that you believe in your heart (Jeremiah 15:16)
1. When the Word of God was deposited into his heart, that Word was joy to him
a. Just finding the scriptures and knowing what the Word of God says is not enough to produce joy in your life
b. That Word has to be deposited in your heart and believed before joy will manifest in your life
2. Joy comes from the Word of God that you know (John 15:11, 1 John 1:4)
a. Joy comes from the Word of God
b. Many times the reason that you don't have any joy is because you don't have the Word; sometimes you do have the Word, but it's in your head, instead of your heart and you don't have any joy
II. Discouragement and depression are merely manifestations of doubt and unbelief that will cause you to faint, grow tired, quit, and settle for less than God's best (Numbers 14:1)
A. You're discouraged and depressed because you don't believe that the Word of God is true
1. They wept because they didn't believe the Word of God was true
B. Charge the atmosphere with faith-filled words
1. You can live in an atmosphere of doubt and unbelief or you can live in an atmosphere of faith, joy, and praise depending what you choose to say out of your mouth
a. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
i. If you sit around and tolerate that atmosphere of death, doubt, fear, discouragement, and unbelief before you know it Satan will have talked you into quitting and you'll be defeated.
ii. There's a huge danger in dwelling in that kind of atmosphere
b. You stand up and speak life-filled, faith-filled words
i. Don't you sit there like Calvary was a failure
c. Luke 8:52
i. When Jesus went into that place of doubt and unbelief the first thing he did was charge the atmosphere with faith-filled, life-filled words
ii. Put them out - literally threw them out
2. Psalm 23:1 - He charged the atmosphere with faith-filled, life-filled words
a. "David composed this famed Psalm during one of the most dangerous and discouraging periods of his life. He was a forlorn fugitive, fleeing from King Saul and his army. In desperation, David hid himself in a barren, desolate forest."
b. He was in the valley of the shadow of death when he wrote this
3. 1 Samuel 30 - Under the time of the greatest pressure David encouraged himself in the Lord by charging the atmosphere with faith-filled and life-filled words
III. You praise your way to victory
A. You get to the end of your faith (which is the victory) by rejoicing (1 Peter 5:8-9)
1. Even though you can't see the manifestation of the promise, you believe and rejoice and because of it, you receive the end of your faith
2. You reach the manifestation through rejoicing with joy
B. The victory in your life will always follow the praise (Joshua 6:1-5,16,20)
1. God said, "I have given you the city."
a. They didn't have the city in the natural, but God said I've given it to you
2. They had to praise before they got the city
a. They didn't get the city and then praise, the praise preceded the victory
C. In the time of attack if you choose sadness over joy and depression over rejoicing you will be defeated (Acts 16:16)
1. When you are under attack that's no time to cry and be depressed, that's precisely the time to release your faith through joy
2. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 - In everything give thanks
a. No matter what the situation is I thank God for the victory
IV. Releasing faith through your joy, the way you release a bullet from a gun
A. You have to release faith through joy on purpose in a time of pressure (Habakkuk 3:17)
1. "I" will rejoice - You're going to have to make the decision to exercise your faith through rejoicing when you don't feel like it
a. He didn't pray that God would help him rejoice or that God would give him joy. He simply made the decision to rejoice.
b. You can take everything I've got, but it will not affect my joy
2. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation
a. Salvation - deliverance
b. God - Elohim - the creator
c. I will rejoice in the creator of my deliverance
d. To the natural, physical, carnal eye this guy hadn't been delivered, but this guy was rejoicing because he knew that he was already delivered.
3. He rejoiced in the middle of horrific circumstances - why?
a. Because if he didn't receive strength he wasn't going to make it through this thing
b. When do you need to be releasing faith through joy the most? You need to be releasing your faith through rejoicing the most when the circumstances are the worst.
B. Releasing faith through laughter (Job 5:22)
1. You might not feel like laughing, but you laugh in faith
2. Psalm 37:13 - God laughed because he knew Satan's day was coming
a. He laughed before it came
3. You have joy with the answer of your mouth, so how are you answering the pressure? (Proverbs 15:23)
C. Praise becomes powerful when we do it with all of our might (1 Samuel 6:14-22)
1. With every fiber of our being
2. David's wife despised his praise and because of it was barren the rest of her life
|
