Welcome to 15 Minutes in the Word with New York Times bestselling author Joyce Meyer. On today's program, Joyce will be teaching from her series, Calm Down and Cheer Up. The Bible is full of Scripture describing God's love for each one of us, and it tells us how, through salvation in Christ, we can know true joy. But keeping our joy isn't always easy when the difficulties of life creep in. So how do we remain calm and cheerful when circumstances are worrisome? Today, Joyce shows us practical ways we can calm down and choose God's joy in every situation. Let's discover how his peace and joy can transform our lives. Now, here's Joyce with today's teaching. Well, I'm so glad that you're with me today because I have some things to share with you that I believe are going to make your life better. I started a series on two days ago called Calm Down and Cheer Up. In the first two days, we really talked about the calming down part. Today, I want to talk to you about what I'm going to call the duty of joy. And that may sound strange. Well, why would joy be a duty? Well, it is a privilege and it's a blessing, but I believe it's a duty from the standpoint of our witness to the world. You know, if we're sorrowful and sad and discouraged and downtrodden all the time, that's not going to say much about what having a relationship with Jesus does for you. And the Bible says that we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. And so we need to live lives that are a witness to other people that are lost. And if you're joyful around people, if you're calm when you should be upset and you're joyful, joy can be anything from extreme hilarity to a calm delight. When I talk about being joyful, that doesn't mean that you have to be on the ceiling all the time, laughing your head off. It can be anything from extreme hilarity to just this delightful, peaceful, calm that we've been talking about the last couple of days. But joy is so important and it took me so long to understand that it was God's will for me to enjoy my life. I was legalistic. I looked at what all I should be doing and was always concerned that maybe I wasn't pleasing God and did so many things out of obligation, that I really did not enjoy the life that Jesus died to give me. And I've learned a lot about the importance of joy. But when you hear me say the duty of joy, I want you to understand that it's not like a legalistic duty, but anybody who wants to be used by God to be an example to other people, if you want to be used by God to draw people to Christ, then put a smile on your face and learn how to have consistent joy in your life, joy that is not determined based on what your circumstances are. Number 1513, a glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken. Joy makes you strong and a broken heart, a depressed heart discouraged, it makes you weak. That's not the way God wants us to live. Psalm 511, but let all those who take refuge and put their trust in you rejoice. Let them ever sing and shout for joy because you make a covering over them and defend them. Let those also who love your name be joyful in you and be in high spirits. I know it sounds to me like we're supposed to be happy people. I think one of the things we could do is just start by practicing smiling on a regular basis. So many people today are so, they have a scowl on their face and they're all deep about everything and all anybody wants to talk about is all the problems in the world. And yes, there are problems in the world, but let me tell you, God is still on the throne and Jesus is alive and well. And in him we always have hope and we can always expect all things to work together for good if we trust him and love him. Psalm 3211 says, be glad in the Lord and rejoice. You uncompromisingly righteous who are upright and you're right standing with him. Shout for joy, all you upright in heart. Now, you know, I could go on and on with scriptures like that just over and over and over, but let it just be established that God wants us to be happy. I said, God wants you to be happy, but you have to take responsibility to be happy. And the way to do that is to stop worrying about everything all the time and being anxious and wrought up and having such a busy packed schedule that you're stressed out all the time. You got to leave room for some joy in your life. John 1010 says, the thief comes only to kill, to steal and destroy. But Jesus said, I came that they might have and enjoy their life and have an in abundance to the full until it overflows. And I think when you get right down to it, the bottom line of what everybody wants is just to be happy. We just want to be happy. Now, you know, if you have known sin in your life that you're allowing and not dealing with it will block your joy. David, great man that he was, and the Bible says he was a man after God's own heart, he did commit a terrible sin. He committed adultery with Bathsheba. I had her husband, Uriah, killed because she got pregnant. They didn't want the husband to find out. But even worse than what he did was the fact that he tried to ignore the sin for over a year and never repented. But listen to what Psalm 32 5 says, when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. Well, we can repent and be forgiven for any sin. God loves us. He knows we have weaknesses. The Holy Spirit sent our life to convict us of sin and to deal with us. And he doesn't condemn us, but he convicts us. He lets us know the areas that we're doing wrong in. And all we need to do is admit them, repent, which doesn't mean just to be sorry. It means to be willing to turn and go in a brand new direction. It means to walk away from your sin and walk toward God and His will. And if you try to hide sin, it's going to steal your joy. But if you bring things out in the open, the truth will set you free and your joy will return. David prayed a powerful prayer when he prayed for forgiveness. I think it's in Psalm 51, and it's really worth reading and looking at. Philippians 4-4 says, Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Well, that may not sound like much unless you realize where Paul was when he wrote that. He was actually in jail. And I can tell you the jails that he was in was not like the jails we have today. I actually had the privilege of standing in the same jail cell where Paul was when he wrote this. And I can tell you it was about the size of a very small powder room. And it had concrete walls and a dirt floor and a window, maybe about like that with bars on it. No heat, no air conditioning. It was a horrible place. Matter of fact, historians tell us that the town sewer system ran right through that area. So I guess it didn't smell very pretty either. And no telling what was going on in his cell or around it. But yet he said rejoice in the Lord. And again I say rejoice. You know why? Joy gives you strength. Sadness drains your strength, but joy actually gives you strength. And the devil wants you to be weak. When the enemy comes against you, he's not trying to steal your stuff. He's trying to steal your joy. There are countless scriptures in the Word of God that tell us that we are to rejoice in the Lord. Well, what about the problem of sorrow? You know in Nehemiah 810 they had rebuilt the wall around their city and that was a big thing to rejoice about. And as part of that the people stood and the Word of God was read to them pretty much all day. And the people began to weep because when they heard the Word they were convicted of sin in their lives. Well see I remember when I first started going to church on a regular basis and hearing really good preaching that I could understand. There was never a message that I heard that I didn't need. But I didn't understand this thing about the difference between conviction and condemnation. And so I would leave feeling worse than I did when I came in. Because I felt like every message just showed me something else that was wrong with me. And I didn't know how to rejoice in that. But you see I've learned now that when the Holy Spirit convicts me of sin, wow I appreciate it. I thank Him for it. Because I can't do anything about something I'm not aware of. The truth will set you free. If you continue in my Word Jesus said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. John 8 31 and 32. If you're truly my disciples and you continue in my Word you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. Facing the truth about ourselves is one of the boldest and bravest and most courageous things that we can ever do. To be able to say yes this is a problem in my life I admit it. I'm sorry I repent and God I need your help. I want to change but I won't be able to change if you don't help me. I need you to help me. So Nehemiah as the people began to weep as they heard the Word he said don't be sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Well you know we may be sorry about different things for a season. We grieve over different things for a season. But the Bible says weeping endures for a night but joy cometh in the morning. And actually when you lose a loved one or you lose a job or you lose money you've worked hard to save. Loss makes us sad and there is a proper time for grieving but we have to be careful that we don't let a spirit of grief attach itself to us. I mean we all know people that perhaps lost their retirement and their job and 20 years later they're still bitter. Well that's not helping them get back what they lost but if they would do things God's way he can not only restore what they lost but give them more besides. In the Bible in the Old Testament when a loved one died according to the law they were given 30 days to mourn and then they had to move on. Now I'm not suggesting if you've lost someone that you love that after 30 days you've got to get all happy again. But I think the point is made is that there's a time for mourning and weeping but then eventually we do have to make a decision that we're going to press on. Can I tell you something? If you're here on the earth there's a reason for you being here. Don't ever let the devil convince you that you have no purpose and you're useless. You have a purpose you just need to find out what it is. And you might say well I'm trying but I don't know what God wants me to do. Well you know one of the things I suggest if you really don't know what God wants you to do just start trying to do a few things and you'll find out pretty quick what works for you, where you fit and where you don't. Thanks for listening. Jesus said in John 14, 27, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Let's remember these words and resist the temptation to lose our joy, especially in those troubled times. Fear and worry do not have to control us. As we grow closer to Jesus our trust in Him strengthens and we can choose to remain calm through any difficulty. For more resources from Joyce visit JoyceMyre.org. Well I hope that you feel that I'm a partner in your life by teaching you the Word of God. And I'm asking you to partner with me in helping us continue reaching out not only to you through this program but to so many people around the world that still don't know Jesus. Together we can do so much more than what we can do by ourselves so please become a brand new partner with us today. To join us in partnership right now go to JoyceMyre.org. Thank you so much. Thank you for listening to 15 Minutes in the Word with Joyce.
