Keys to Maintaining Joy in Desperate Times
By
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
PRELUDE: - These are my keys, they give me access to my house my car, my office, the staff bathroom, my shed and so on, you get the picture. If you like me have ever lost or misplaced, your keys you know you go through dire straights to find them because keys are necessary to really function in your everyday life. Today I want to give you 4 keys to maintaining joy in desperate times.
Prayer
1 Peter 1:6–9 “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls”.
Romans 5:1-5 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us”.
OPENING: - There is an old proverb that says desperate times call for desperate measures! The meaning of this proverb is that in adverse circumstances actions that might have been rejected under other circumstances may become the best choice.
The Origin: This phrase likely originates with a saying of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, which appears in his Aphorisms: "For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, as to restriction, are most suitable."
We now find ourselves living this very proverb. An extreme disease has spread across this world and extreme methods of cure are in place. We have restrictions placed upon us, travel has stopped, wearing protective mask is the new standard, social distancing is the new way of life, and stay at home orders are in affect. Everything is upside down.
There is a commercial on television that says something like dinning rooms have become offices, bathrooms have become break rooms, garages have become gyms, and the children have become the new co-workers. Things are totally different now and the stress level in people is rising dramatically. With the world literally on lockdown confinement to our homes, not being able to go to the beach, out to the parks, the restaurants, or have things the way we used to have them in these desperate times, the question becomes How do you maintain joy during this and other desperate times?
DEFINITIONS: - Desperate: - adjective feeling, showing, or involving a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with. Many feel this current situation is impossible to deal with, we have protestors in camouflage some carrying guns talking about we need to open the country even though we still have people dying by the thousands every day. The governmental and medical systems have made us more vulnerable than we ever thought we could be. Unemployment is equal to if not surpassed that of the great depression, people are hoarding toilet paper and other supplies unsure of what the future holds, and now a threat of famine with the meat processing factories closing down is an very real and looming possibility because of the coronavirus. I saw a news article about several U-Haul trucks parked outside of a funeral home full of bodies that were to be cremated but the funeral home was so back logged that they just haven’t been able to do it all. These are truly desperate times.
Joy: - noun a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. You’ve no doubt have heard people say that joy and happiness are not the same thing. They will say that happiness is circumstantial, it is based on outside influences and joy is not. That is true, happiness is regulated by outside influences, if it’s sunny outside and the humidity is low I am happy, if I get my stimulus check that will make me happy why because that is an outside stimulus that causes me to be happy. Yet when we talk about joy, it’s often a conversation about our emotions.
Joy is a knowledge that runs deeper than any emotions could ever go. Real joy is based in the knowledge of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and Him being an ever-present help in trouble. That is true regardless of what is going on around us and cannot be changed.
When we limit joy to a feeling, we devalue it. When we think of it as solely emotional, we rob ourselves of the full experience that joy gives us.
WATCH THIS:- Joy is a posture we find ourselves in when we praise the One and only True and Living God. The one who is with us, who will never forsake us, the risen savior who defied death, hell, and the grave to be our advocate. Kirk Franklin said “Someone asked a question Why do we sing When we lift our hands to Jesus What do we really mean Someone made we wondering When we sing our song At times, we may be cryin' And nothings even wrong” – that’s Joy simply because of who He is and what He means to me.
If joy were only a feeling, commandments such as Philippians 4:4 “rejoice always and again I say rejoice” and “Rejoice in the Lord” would be ludicrous. UNDERSTAND: - God created our capacity for emotions. He knows the ways they bend and sway to and from the emotional manifestation of joy. When he commands us to rejoice, he knows that we don’t always feel like it. He knows that there are moments when feeling joy seems impossible, inappropriate, even offensive, in the face of the brokenness of the world. But because joy runs deeper than what we feel at any given moment, we can still have the joy in desperate times. Joy that is rooted in the reality of the resurrection and power of God that transcends brokenness, goes beyond despair, and surpasses tribulations. One song writer said it like this: - “This joy that I have the world didn’t give it to me and the world can’t take it away”.
So now that we understand what Joy is, the question becomes: -
HOW TO HAVE JOY IN DESPERATE TIMES!
I am going to give you 4 keys of how to have joy in desperate times.
Key #1 – Rely on the Promises of God!
Hebrews 6:13 says “For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself”. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us”. His promises are true, and He cannot lie. Deuteronomy 31:6 says this promise “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee”. When God makes a promise, it will come to pass. A promise is a covenant or declaration that one will do exactly what they say they will do, or something will happen that they say will happen. Man will make a promise and turn around and lie right in your face but when God makes a promise it will come to pass.
Key #2: - Rely on God’s Presence!
UNDERSTAND: - Remember Romans 5:3 said but we glory in tribulations Glory in tribulations does not mean celebrating when bad times have come. However; it does mean that we can believe that God is doing a redemptive work during these times of despair. The word “redemptive” means that God does not waste a hurt or disappointment. He is using them to shape and build us into His image and likeness.
When we go through desperate times, we often pray and seek God more intensely than at other times. God is using this current situation to get people’s attention and draw them closer to Him. People are praying now more than ever. So, the Key is we need to rely on His presence! Psalm 23:4, David says “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me”.
David writes that he does not fear walking through the valley of the shadow of death because God is with him. He knew that God was with him despite what he was going through.
God is with us through this pandemic just as He is with us in all the other times in life good and bad. Psalm 139:7-10 David talks about the presence of the God being everywhere, he says “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me…”
We must understand that God is here with us and He will never leave us so we can depend on His presence. Remember where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. Just like the 3 Hebrew boys when King Nebuchadnezzar had them thrown into the fiery furnace he looked over into the furnace and said in Daniel 3:23-24 “Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God”. Byron Cage made the song “The presence of the Lord is here I can feel Him in the atmosphere”. We must rely on His presence in desperate times. Not only is he here but He is working something out in us.
Key #3: - Rely on God’s Power.
Paul said in Ephesians 1:19-21 “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come”
The Greek word translated “great” is megethos, which means “strong” or “great,” and it appears only here in the New Testament. This word obviously wasn’t sufficient for Paul to express God’s great power, so he adds the word incomparably or, in Greek, hyperballon, related to a verb that literally means to “throw beyond the usual mark” or to “excel or surpass.” So, the full idea of the expression hyperballon megethos (exceeding greatness) is that of a power beyond measure, a super-abounding or surpassing power, power that is “more than enough.”
Paul gives us an idea of the power of God when he writes of the power of God. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority”. This is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, thee same power that was Lazarus from the dead the same power that raised the Shunammite woman’s son from the dead, the same power that split the Red Sea, the same power that brought water from a rock, the same power that did that is the same power that will bring us through this.
Ephesians 3:20 says “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us”. All we must do is rely on His power.
Key #4: - Rely on God’s Provision.
Philippians 4:19 says “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”. God told Abraham told offer Isaac as a sacrifice so Abraham was headed to Mt. Moriah with Isaac when Isaac asked a very important question Genesis 22:7-8 “And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together”. You know the story Abraham was ready to offer Isaac as a sacrifice when the voice of the angel of the Lord came from heaven and said lay not thy hand upon the lad I know thou fearest God. And Abraham looked and saw a ram caught in a thicket by his horns and Abraham took the ram and offered it as a sacrifice unto God.
Verse 24 says “And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen”. Jehovah Jireh = the Lord will provide.
Abraham calls the place, “God will provide.” The word there is richer than what our English denotes. “Provide” in Hebrew is also “see to it,” which is like the name a woman named Hagar calls the Lord in Genesis 16:13 “The God who Sees.” That Hebrew word also means “perceive” and “experience.”
When Abraham calls God Jehovah-Jireh, he isn’t just saying, “God gives the goods!” He is saying, “You see/experience all this need of mine and make provision for it.” It is deeply personal.
Remember in the beginning of this message I said keys give you access to something? When we rely of God’s Promise, Presence, Power, and Provision during trials and tribulations He gives us access to Joy unspeakable and full of glory. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1:8 “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory”.
What is this Joy Unspeakable and full of Glory? A joy so great and so glorious, that it is impossible to truly express with words but is expressed in posture or actions.
Joy Unspeakable and full of Glory is: -
Halal – to boast foolishly and make a show of it. I remember a man in our church when we were coming up, his name was Deacon Taylor and he would get excited in church and he would reach way back and clap his hands together and say I Love You Lord. He was Halal boasting and making a show of it.
Tehillah - To praise vocally in song or shouts.
Barak - Barak is used to denote blessing - the transcendent privilege of blessing the Lord.
Zamar – To praise Him with instruments
Hallelujah – a corporate praise
Yodah – To lift up our hands
Todah – to sing praises to His name
Shabach - Reach out with affection for God, to feel His hold on us
CLOSING: - So you want to have Joy during this Desperate Time.
You Must Rely of God’s Promises, Rely on God’s Presence, Rely on God’s Power, Rely on God’s Provision
Then Tehillah Him. Barak Him. Yodah towards Him, Shabach Him, Todah Him, Zamar Him, cry out HALLELUJAH.
Be encouraged and maintain joy in desperate times.
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
