How to Make Joy a Habit

2 Questions:

 

 

  1. How can joy become my default setting?

 

 

  1. What if joy had less to do with the things I do than the person I am?

 

 

 

Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith. 

Philippians 3:1

 

 

24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.  Matthew 7:24-25 

 

26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”Matthew 7:26-27 

 

 

So how can joy become a daily habit for me?

 

 

2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God  are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort,Philippians 3:2-3

 

 4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!Philippians 3:4 

 

 

5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.Philippians 3:5-6 

7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ Philippians 3:7-8

 

Your faith can’t be about you. Neither can your joy.

 

9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! Philippians 3:9-11

 

We gauge the value of our lives on what I’ve done rather than how closely I’ve walked with the one who gave me that life.

 

Joy becomes a habit when I remember that my performance doesn’t affect my value.

 

Joy comes from knowing Jesus more.

 

Joy is remembering…

 

  • That God is good when life is hard.
  • That I don’t beat sin by getting stronger but by getting closer.
  • That my relationship with God can’t be ruined by my dysfunction.
  • His purpose won’t be thwarted by my imperfection.
  • His strength will be proven through my weakness.

 

Joy becomes a habit when my pain moves me closer to Jesus.

Email my notes