The Power Of Joy Part 2 Series

The Power of Joy Part 2

Scripture: Psalm 32:1-5; Second Corinthians 2:7-11; 6:10; 12:9; Matthew 6:12, 14-15

Good morning New Light. This is the day that the Lord has made and let each of us rejoice and be glad in it. The reason we can REJOICE is because we already have “the joy of the Lord.” Amen? This morning is the second part of the message “The Power of Joy.” In the first part, we looked at, in some detail, the source of joy and the source of happiness. We talked about joy as being something we receive when we are born again, when we become a child of God. We saw that joy is unrelated to the situations and circumstances we face because it has nothing to do with our emotions. Think of it this way: joy is the reason we can have peace in unpleasant situations when there is nothing that we can see that says peace is available. New Light, I can’t emphasize this enough – having joy is not about what we see. Having joy is about WHO we know. It’s about WHO we have put our faith and trust in. Having joy is about knowing, that as we go through the situation, WE mean the world to Him. I am sure that each one of you have been in situations that had declared war on your emotions and left you feeling helpless and then, for some reason, you calmed down and a sense of peace took the place of the agitation. You couldn’t explain it. It seemed to just happen. New Light, do remember what God told Paul when he was being attacked by the messenger of Satan? In Second Corinthians 12, we’re going to read the first part of verse 9. “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” When we were in the place of feeling helpless, which describes the word “weakness” in this verse, God’s grace brought His joy to the situation where we felt helpless and where we didn’t have the answer. We also spent some time looking at happiness, which is an emotional response to situations. Happiness happens when something occurs that makes us feel happy. That is not joy. The “joy of the Lord” is independent of all our situations and circumstances, whether they are good or bad.

This morning my message will focus solely on joy as it relates to forgiveness. Yes, you heard me right; unforgiveness will directly impact the joy that we are supposed to have in our lives. This includes the unforgiveness that exists in our lives because of unrepentant (unconfessed) sins; and the unforgiveness that exists in our lives because we choose to not forgive others – which is also a sin. Since our joy is tied to who we are in Christ, if we have unconfessed sin, God’s forgiveness is not made available to us – you will see this when we take a look at what David said in Psalm 32. Also, if someone has hurt us and we have refused to forgive them, this also impacts God ability to forgive us which impacts His joy reigning within us. In our society today, there are many Christians dealing with unforgiveness with the results being a state of anger, frustration, depression and a total lack of joy. It’s like a bad memory that creeps to the forefront of your mind in the most inopportune moment. You can be enjoying a day out and all of a sudden you see someone who hurt you and the memory of that hurt floods your mind and now your day is ruined because you saw that person. In reality, your day was ruined because you have not forgiven that person.

I read an article from the Mayo Clinic titled “Forgiveness: Letting go of grudges and bitterness.” The article gave examples of how people experience hurtful situations throughout life and how those wounds can leave us with lasting feelings of anger, bitterness and even thoughts of vengeance. It stated that if we don’t practice forgiveness, we might actually be the ones who pay the price – something Christians should know from reading the Bible. The article was not just talking about the emotional and physical price we pay for unforgiveness, but also the impact on our spiritual well-being. The article acknowledged that while forgiveness means different things to different people, in general it involves our decision to let go of resentment and thoughts of revenge. The act that hurt or offended us might always be with us, but forgiveness can lessen its grip on us and help free us from the control of the person who harmed us. It states that forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting or excusing the harm done to us or making up with the person who caused the harm, but that it brings a kind of peace that helps us to go on with life. Forgiveness can lead to healthier relationships, improved mental health, less anxiety, lower blood pressure, fewer symptoms of depression, a stronger immune system, improved heart health and improved self-esteem. When we allow the negative feelings of unforgiveness to crowd out our positive feelings, we might just find ourselves swallowed up by our own bitterness or sense of injustice. Where there reign feelings of unforgiveness and bitterness joy dissipates. So this morning we are going to examine forgiveness from two perspectives as it relates to joy. The joy we receive when God forgives us (and thus teaches us to do the same with others) and the joy we receive when we forgive others. Let’s start with what David wrote in Psalm 32.