God WANTS to Bless You with His Joy

            Have you had your Joy Juice today?  You can expect your personal serving of joy today…it’s ready and waiting! 

            The term “self-fulfilling prophecy” was developed by Robert K. Merton, a twentieth century sociologist. The term refers to a belief or expectation which may influence the outcome of a situation or an individual’s behavior.  There are countless stories of young ones whose parents or other adults in their life repeatedly told them they would amount to nothing! When children are told often that they are worthless, stupid and ugly….they are tempted to believe it!  

                How important it is to hear about the love and faithfulness of God!  We can trust that He, indeed, has a plan for each of our lives.  No matter where we grew up or what kind of family we came from, we can expect great things from God! 

                Do you know that there are over 900 promises in God’s Word that talks about how He wants to bless His children? But if we don’t know what those promises are, how will we be able to claim them?  There are promises about health, provision, and peace, just to name a few.  Do you know of anyone who wants to be sick, poor, or agitated? People spend millions of dollars just to have health and peace in their lives.  Some folks spend a heap of money on lottery tickets, seeking to find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; and how many fall for get-rich-quick schemes?!

Proverbs 28:20 declares: “A faithful man shall abound with blessings.”  Be faithful and be joyful!

Taste God's Delicious Joy

               Have you had your Joy Juice today?  Would you say that your expectations of God are high or low?  Do you feel as though you can trust Him to fill your life with His continual joy?

            Those are loaded questions! Most Christians experience only a small fraction of what God has planned for them. If we will study faithfully the Word of God, we will dramatically raise our expectations of God….because the scriptures are filled with His promises!  Psalm 34:8 tells us to : “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”  

            There is a passage in Revelation 4:1-2 that challenges us to have great expectations of God.  Listen to John’s words:  “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’ At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.”

            What do these verses mean for us today?  God calls us to “Come up” to a higher perspective. Let’s not depend on our human vision but be open to see things from God’s standpoint…with the help of the Holy Spirit. He wants us to “Come up higher! And be closer to Him to that we can understand His purpose for our lives. 

            We should not settle for the “same old stuff and just float through our days.  We should raise our expectations and trust God more.  He has a banquet table of blessings ready for us; but how often do we just nibble on a stale snack? 

             Taste God’s goodness and expect great joy.

Joyfully and Boldly Expect Great Things from God

            Have you had your Joy Juice today?  Expect great joy from Jesus! 

            Let me share a true story about expecting great things from God:

        There was a professor of philosophy at a major university who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God doesn’tt exist. At the end of every semester, he would say to his class, "If there is anyone here, who still believes in Jesus, stand up!"

In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, "Anyone who believes in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that He is God, and yet He can't do it." And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces.

A few years ago there was a freshman…a strong Christian…who was required to take this class. Every morning he prayed that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said.  

Finally, the day came. The professor challenged," If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" As the young man stood, the professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked! The professor laughed:“ If God existed, he would keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!" He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleat of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away unbroken.

 

            We can joyfully expect the unexpected from our great God.