Finally . . . rejoice in the Lord! . . . it is a safeguard for you. (Philippians 3:1) Take another look at joy, Paul says. What is it we haven’t understood? What makes us ho-hum it away, treating it like a good thing, if it happens? If it happens? Paul would stare at us, boiling with near anger that we missed the point. For Paul understood that Joy had grabbed him on the Damascus Road, turned him around, and filled him with an unquenchable thirst what went deeper than good

How do we know when something is God’s will? This is where too many of us struggle with confusion. We carry a belief that God’s will is something remote and difficult to understand. It’s the target we always miss but keep trying to hit. That’s why this verse, in its utter simplicity and straightforwardness, is a relief. God works in us so that we can know His will. Then, He empowers us so you we do it. It’s His work that makes the difference, not ours. His will is not a

Where does your most important, soul-satisfying encouragement and comfort come from? Paul shares the most comprehensive summary of what it means to let the heart of Christ grow in you so that what comes out of you came from Christ first. Read the verse slowly to identify where you are full or empty with what Christ would give. Paul doesn’t beat around the bush. He assumes that as we are re-created by Christ, we want the encouragement and comfort from Christ more than from an

Do you remember that childhood euphoria that made you feel you could do anything? Where did all that confidence go? When we are confident, the world is at our feet; but let it take a vacation and we can battle fierce demons, fight internal wars, and come out so battered we lose momentum as well as big chunks in our self-concept. Joy feels out of our reach. We muddle through, but not with joy. Confidence is an unpredictable companion. When Paul addressed confidence, he talke

Does everything have to be in its right place and every situation a welcome gift for there to be joy? It’s easy to think that difficult situations make joy impossible. I think that’s why I listen to Paul when he talks about joy. He was isolated, beaten, misunderstood, accused, chained, snake-bit, shipwrecked, threatened, stoned, and not just once. Yet, he talked about joy like an anchor, like his north star, like something that wasn’t just a mood that could pass or an adren

How positive do you have to be to find joy? I don’t mean a little smile across the face. I mean the kind of joy that tickles up from your unmasked self, a bubble that cannot live submerged, a flash of innocent playfulness. I’m talking joy. Pull-out-the stops joy. Stop-in-your tracks joy. The kind of joy that turns everything you touch to gold, which isn’t the same as success. I don’t know about you, but I look into the eyes of joyless people too often. And the truth is t

When life has tumbled your around until you don’t know which side is up, when too many circumstances are outside of your control, when boredom or burden so beats you down that next steps are agony; you need joy. Not just an emotional high. Not a party. Not escape through some addiction of your own making. You need joy, God-breathed, Spirit-infused, irrepressible, heart-expanding JOY! And the only One who can give it is God. That’s where today’s prayer comes in. I have pra

It is the third week of Advent. This week the focus is Joy. Too much of our lives are joyless. Routines put us on auto-pilot. The mundane uncovers boredom. It is too easy to live without expecting joy in our daily ways. Yet, the first Christmas participants remind us that joy found them in the middle of their mundane and routine. Routine is not our problem; distracted living is. We need quiet circles to protect us from the pulls and pushes of our demanding lives. We need to