A Heart of Joy, A Life of Praise
Notes
Transcript
Opening Scripture:
Opening Scripture:
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our Hope is connected to our Joy…
We find Joy just like any other fruit of the Spirit when we trust in God through His word and Holy Spirit.
The more we grow in our relationship with God through Jesus our hope will be more and more confident
Our Joy is one of the first things that the enemy tries to attack because he knows that if he is able to succeed then he robs us of our strength and robs God of His glory.
Joy is something that we have to protect and guard in our hearts.
God is the Source of our Joy… There is no job, no amount of money, not relationship that can bring us as much joy as God can.
Get Your Praise Up
Get Your Praise Up
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!
Our joy is targeted because it is our source of strength
Our joy has the ability to give us hope even when we are going through trials and tribulations in our lives on the earth.
It is hard to praise God when there is no joy
Where there is no joy there is no hope
For the person who does not have hope they are lost… wondering around with no sense of direction.
Our joy reflects both our level of trust and dependency upon God.
The Joy of the Lord confuses the enemy because of the type of hope it produces in our lives ,it has us praising God anyway…
My bank account may be on zero BUT I AM GOING TO PRAISE GOD ANYWAY…
My marriage may be against the Ropes BUT I AM GOING TO PRAISE GOD ANYWAY…
All of my friends may have walked out on me BUT I AM GOING TO PRAISE GOD ANYWAY…
I may have lost my job BUT I AM GOING TO PRAISE GOD ANWAY!!
When I Keep my praise up, when I choose to worship despite what my situation looks like then i will discover my joy is found only in the Lord!
Get Your Strength Up..
Get Your Strength Up..
And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”
The Israelites had just returned from exile and were hearing the Book of the Law read aloud for the first time in a long time.
As they listened, they became sorrowful because they realized how far they had strayed from God.
Nehemiah and Ezra encouraged them not to mourn but to rejoice in the Lord, because His joy would strengthen them to walk in His ways.
We often times get discouraged when we are presented with the word of God or as we dig deep into the word of God for ourselves because it reminds us how unholy we really are.
BUT we should change our perspective!
The scriptures should not make us sorrowful or discourage us because we have Jesus who came to take it all away and to give us a life of victory through the price He paid on the cross of calvary!
The word of God along with the Spirit of God will constantly remind us how we are in the need of a Lord and Savior daily..
The word of God will remind us how God is faithful and paid the ultimate price to give us life and life more abundantly!
The word of God was not meant to discourage you it was meant to encourage and empower you!!
The word of God is the food in which nourishes your soul and strength!
Where there is no manna from heaven there is weakness within your Faith!
The more we feed our faith the more joy we begin to develop as our faith continually increases.
Guard Your Heart, Protect your Joy!
Guard Your Heart, Protect your Joy!
Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong.
This is the formula that we must use in order to effectively guard our hearts
Our hearts is like a storage bin… we have to choose what we want to store within it..
Jesus tell us from out of a persons heart does their mouth speak…
If we have evil stored up in our hearts then it will manifest in the way we act and speak
If we have righteousness stored within our hearts then it will manifest in the way we act and speak
This is why it is important to plant the seed of God’s word deep within our hearts so that the blessing can not be taken away from us
The more God’s word grows in us the more we grow closer to the Lord.
The more I grow in God… The more room I give Him to move in my life… The more access that I give to Him the more joy I will have.
Joy is apart of your testimony
Joy is apart of your Victory!
Joy is connected to your relationship with the Father through Jesus His Son
Don’t let fear hinder your Joy… Be Courageous
Stand firm in God’s word… Hide it deep within your heart
Don’t let the weight of life crush you or weigh you down but instead GIVE IT ALL TO THE LORD!!
YOU HAVE THE VICTORY!!
THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOURS!!!!
