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6th July 2025
SundayReflection
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Jeff Stott
God used several factors to draw me to
Himself.
"The Practice of Joy"
Philippians 4:4
"God wants you to be joyful!"
The devil wants you to be ungrateful, unkind, cold, distant, unfriendly, and unpleasant.
God wants you to be full of joy, while the devil wants you to be full of discontentment, dissatisfaction, irritation, and anger.
When you are in a state of joy, you are more aware, calm, and present for God and others. When you have joy, it is easier to care about others.
When you have a lack of joy you are more concerned about you.
God has given you practices of peace to combat your anxieties.
We find 'joy' in Philippians 4:4. Let's look at God's Word and take a look at the practice of joy.
May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord. I say it again: rejoice!
If you are going to experience God's peace you will need to practice joy.
God's Word says to us we are to practice these things.
Instead of playing the right note, you hit the wrong note. That's called practice.
When you practice these things you will experience failure, it will feel awkward, and it will take time.
You are learning how to put off the old self and put on the new one.
Rejoice may sound unrealistic to some, especially the patient lying in a hospital bed, the unemployed dad trying to provide for his family, the single parent with a difficult child, or the person in a difficult marriage.
Regardless of your situation, everyone can learn to rejoice in the Lord and muffle the voices of anxiety trying to control your life.
Joy comes from the inside. We are talking about the word rejoice and joy.
Joy deals with your inner character, while happiness deals with your outward circumstances.
Happiness depends on what happens around you.
If what is happening around you is good, then you are happy.
If your happenings change, then so does your happiness.
Joy has nothing to do with what is going on around you.
Joy has everything to do with what is going on inside you.
That's why the writer of Hebrews said of Jesus,
"for the joy set before Him endured the cross" (Hebrews 12:2, NIV).
Jesus approached the cross with a deep inner joy, not happiness.
When you looked at Jesus enduring the cross you did not see a happy man, but if you could see His heart and mind, you would see a joyful man because He was doing the will of His Father.
Joy is a choice.
Joy is a choice; happiness is a reaction. You can choose to rejoice.
It's a decision. You can choose joy ahead of time.
No matter what happens to you, you can always select the option of joy.
As a follower of Jesus, you want to make the deliberate choice to rejoice.
It is a command we can choose to obey or not. Joy is a choice.
Joy can be constant.
Notice we are told to rejoice in the Lord always.
You can be joyful even though you are going through troubles.
God has always been upfront and honest with us about the difficulties of life.
God's Word says,
"How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble!" (Job 14:1, NLT).
Life goes by quickly and it will be full of one problem after another, but God wants you to handle all the disappointments with joy.
I'm sorry for the hurt you have experienced through life.
I'm sorry if your parents were not there and didn't seem to care.
I'm sorry people were mean and unkind to you.
However, you have a choice before you today.
You can clothe yourself in your hurt and pain, or you can dress yourself in God's goodness, God's sovereignty, and God's love.
You can choose to rejoice starting now.
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This is an edited version.
The full article is avaiable on request
Jeff Stott
As I began to grow spiritually my hunger for God's Word grew with it and my desire to share it and teach it was overwhelming.
In my later teens I began to have a desire and drawing toward some kind of full time ministry.
I eventually went to college and while there God confirmed through His Word,
others, and experiences that He was calling me into the pastoral ministry.
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