Joy For You 3

The Elements of Joy—Part 3

by

Rev. Irvin Mizell

Once again we have the opportunity to come together in the Lords house and partake of the amazing Word of God

Now we are in a Minnie series so to speak as we are investigating the elements of Joy

And this is our third look at joy so far…

And already we have seen there is a great difference between happiness and Joy

And that Joy is a product of a spirit filled life

And that Joy has working elements to it

The joy of remembering is the first element we looked at

The spirit allows us to remember the good in people

So today we will start by looking at the second element of Joy.

And that is the joy of intercession.

Now if you remember, we were using the text of

Philippians 1:1

Php 1:1 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

Php 1:2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Php 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

Php 1:4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, Php 1:5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;

Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Notice Verse 4,

Php 1:4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,

Now here’s an element of joy that you probably didn’t know about…

But you never want to miss…

the delight of praying for others.

When the Spirit of God is in control of your life you will delight in praying for others.

Now pay close attention…

Php 1:4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,

Paul says, "On my every occasion of praying for you I am filled with joy."

Always in every prayer no exceptions..

Joy fills his heart

And this joy is produced by a special type of prayer…

every prayer of mine for you all

His prayers were for them

The word for prayer here is “deesis” and it means to intercede

It’s the idea of asking God for something for someone else.

Have you ever heard the expression…..

It is better to give than to receive

Think about this…

We have, the privilege of praying that God would pour out His blessing on others.

You can have a very real part in the success of others because you pray for them

There is nothing more thrilling than being part of a prayer team that sees answered prayer in others lives

Fact is, you can be a loving and caring person in life, and in prayer.

Or you can be self centered in life and in prayer…

When you pray is it your joy to pray for the spiritual benefit, blessing, progress of someone else?

Or are you forever and always praying only about yourself?

I will to confess to you, that I believe...

that there are very few Christians who know true joy.

The Joy that the Holy Spirit gives to those who submit to His leading.

And the lack of joy and a spirit filled life shows up in several ways,

their negative thoughts toward others and the lack of concern,

They’re self-centered.

They’re selfish.

That’s ego, that’s pride. They find little delight in praying for others or serving others.

There’s a man named George Raindrop, an interesting name.

He Wrote a book called "No Common Task."

It’s got one interesting event in it that I want to relate it to you.

In the book he tells about a nurse and how this nurse taught a man to pray and literally changed the man’s entire life.

The story says he was a dull disgruntled dispirited man who became a man of joy.

This is what the writer says,

"Much of the nurse’s work was done with her hands. And she used her hand as, as it were, a scheme of prayer. Each of her fingers stood for someone. Her thumb was nearest to her and it reminded her to pray for those who were nearest and closest and dearest to her. The second finger was used for pointing, those who teach us point to us with it when they would ask us a question. Therefore her second finger stood for all her teachers, she prayed for them. The third finger is the tallest and it stood for the VIPs, the leaders in every sphere of life. The fourth finger is the weakest, as every pianist knows, and it stood for those who were weak and in trouble and in pain. And the little finger is the smallest and the most unimportant and to the nurse it stood for herself."