How to Have Joy When It’s Stupid

James 1:2 says, “Count it all joy.”

When life is handing out hard knocks, how do you count like that?

Seriously, what is there to be so happy about?

Someone said: “it’s not happiness, it’s joy. Happiness depends upon happenings. Joy is eternal.”

What is there to be joyful about?

The Bible talks about Jesus so stressed before the crucifixion, he was literally sweating blood.

But despite His stress, “for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2).

What was the joy?!

I believe Jesus knew the greater purpose, His Father’s heart in sending Him to die. For that, He had joy in it. In that, He endured the cross.

What’s the purpose of where God has you? Some people can go through a dealing, and it is just a torment.

Others can have that same experience, and yet behold God.

What’s the difference?

Perspective.

For instance, I heard of a cool optical illusion on a street called Via Padova in Milan, Italy.

To look at it initially, you might only see a few bright yellow circles and triangles in odd places.

But perspective matters.

You have to stand at just the right angle, before you suddenly see it.

Have joy requires us to know the heart of the One providing the dealing. That takes a deliberate choice to see that perspective.

I read about someone, Keith, having a hard time. God was dealing him; he knew it. But he also knew he had a choice how he viewed what was happening to him.

So Keith asked himself:

"What would I do if this was literally the best thing that ever happened to me?"

Right in the middle of his trial, Keith deliberately started dancing. He didn't feel like it at all, but he knew he needed to.

The trial passed, but he retained a valuable lesson.

That word really ministered to me when I heard it.

Later that same day, I was cooking up corn dogs for family and friends.

I had a specialty type of hot dog, very fancy.

As I dipped it in batter and deep fried it, the batter started "blowing up" or separating from the hot dog, practically ruining it.

As I fried more of them, it happened over and over again. I changed different things as I fried, trying to understand why the dogs were blowing up.

As the fifth expensive corn dog blew up yet again in my hot oil, I started to get frustrated.

I remembered the word the brother had shared, however, and I knew: okay, this is where I need to apply it.

I literally started to thank God for it as I pulled yet another expensive corn dog, freshly ruined, out of my hot oil:

"God, thank You so much that these corn dogs are turning out awful.

“Thank You that they aren't turning out near as good as I was hoping. Thank You that I feel like I'm ruining these. I know you'll give me wisdom on how to proceed. Thank You, God."

Frustration had no place any longer.

As I kept thanking God, He quickened me on how to deal with the situation. I gave the "ruined" corn dogs to a few of my less discerning friends.

God quickened me to cut the rest of the expensive corn dogs smaller, and after I did that, they turned out perfect.

It even stretched the corn dogs so more people got to try them.

A few days later, I was milling deck boards. It was cold, and the boards were made from a dense wood that was twice as heavy as a typical board.

I was struggling to get a straight edge on them, and, try as I might, I kept running into issues.

The wind began kicking up. I was losing patience with the job when God brought the word back to my heart.

"God, thank You for the cold. Thank You for how heavy these 12' boards are. Thank You for how many issues I'm running into here."

As I kept thanking God, my gratitude got more specific.

“God, thank You for the endurance and patience You are teaching me.

“Thank You for teaching me to be more than an overcomer in You, who loves us. “

“Thank You that patience is having her perfect work. Thank You for teaching me to keep my eyes on You, no matter what the situation is. Thank You, God."

The situation changed in front of me. I watched how joy entered into the situation, and frustration left.

I was talking to a young lady who dealt with migraines.

They were so intense, she was seeking an operation to remedy the headaches.

She even spoke about the power of singing, and how singing was the only thing that saved her mom when her mom nearly died from Covid.

But when I asked her if she ever sang when the migraines began, she thought it was a weird question.

"No, I don't feel like singing much," she said.

"I understand that," I said. "But I believe you need to sing.

“The Bible says that for a spirit of heaviness, put on a garment of praise. (Isaiah 61:3)

“It also says that we enter Heaven's gates with thanksgiving in our hearts. Singing is incredibly powerful. Many times our attacks are not just physical; they are spiritual."

Joy is more than a feeling; it’s a choice.

Singing is a powerful, deliberate way of choosing to refocus our hearts on God.

His Joy fills the moment, and “the things of earth grow strangely dim”, as the old song says,

Recently, I started getting vexed by the little things again.

I knew: I need to just change the channel.

Like changing the station on the radio or a TV station in my head. Just switch it off.

So I deliberately took my mind off of it and started praising God, pouring out love songs to the Lord all day.

By the end of a day, I had a glorious testimony of seeing God's hand in my life, and I also had joy.

Look for God’s hand and purpose today and embrace it.

And choose joy!

That’s where the kingdom of God is!

A Practical Guide to Roaring

 The first chapter of Hebrews says: “...God…makes His servants flames of fire…”

Do you serve the mighty God of Israel? Have you received His engrafted word which is able to save you into your heart?

Have you asked the Lion of Judah to live in your heart and speak to others?

Then there’s a roar in your bones.

Many things come to war against this roar of the Spirit. Insecurity is so common nowadays, it seems weird to speak boldly.

You might look uncool.

Inferiority isn’t just a mindset. It’s a demonic spirit.

People will say things to me. Treat me a certain way. Before long, I look at myself and all my lack. And believe me, I have lack.

I’ve been so crippled up by inferiority in the past.

I’ve literally hidden away in my room when other guys came, convinced I wasn’t nearly as good as they were.

I’ve been in tears, my whole body a giant knot.

I’ve made a list of all my flaws, and felt like the most miserable being in the entire planet. I wanted to buy a T-shirt that said: “I’m the Idiot”.

I’ve struggled with looking at my own lack. I knew I needed to behold God in the situation.

But I was so “self” conscious, I struggled to be “God” conscious. It was not easy to leave that place of unworthiness.

I remember the day when I began to realize that that feeling on worthlessness didn’t come from me. I was working on cutting trim, and I heard that familiar narrative.

“You remember that time you screwed up that situation…”

I heard it then. That wasn’t me.

Nor did God say that about me. God was wanting to speak to me that day, move in my life, but it wasn’t about: “John, thus saith the Lord. You’re a loser.”

What’s more? I had authority to bind that.

“Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” 2 Corinthians 10:5.

I had authority over my thought life! That worthlessness I felt was actually a demonic stronghold wanting to distract me from what God was wanting to do. Even more, it wanted to distract me from the people God wanted me to speak to.

That revelation that day while I was cutting trim was the beginning of the end of that in my life.

Years ago, a man had a near death experience(NDE). He died and went to Heaven.

In Heaven, God spoke to him, and one of the things God told him was: “in the universe, there is something called a ‘black hole’. To prove to you that this experience is real, I’ll tell you that they will discover black holes soon.”

(This was in the 1960s. Sure enough, they discovered black holes a few years later.)

“Black holes are a picture of what happens when people focus on themselves. Black holes will suck everything in, even the light.”

Once I read an interview by someone who does parkour.

You know, those crazy people on YouTube who leap from rooftop to rooftop, performing crazy leaps high off the ground?

Someone asked: “how can you make all these jumps and do all these stunts so far off the ground without freaking out? What’s your secret?”

“The secret is you can’t focus on what isn’t there. You have to focus on what IS there.”

That quote changed my life.

Walking with God is the same.

Going through trials and the intensity–even the aggravation of dealing with other flawed humans like myself–it’s so easy to focus on the lack.

It’s easy to focus on what isn’t there. But looking at that constantly drains you.

Again, you have to focus on what IS there.

What’s that quote by that one philosopher? “If you look long enough into the void, the void begins to look back through you.”

You can focus on all the things you’re missing until the cows come home, but it still doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. It’s a trick of our enemy, satan, to redirect our focus.

After all, as 1 John 3:2 says: “...we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is”.

In other words, seeing God as He is makes us like Him.

Seeing our lack and our human frailty? It guts us of our confidence to speak to others.

“What do you have to ‘roar’ about?” That old serpent, satan, hisses. “Who do you think you are?”

It isn’t who we are. It is not about who we are.

It’s about Who God is.

Do you know how BIG God is?

Someone told me that years ago.

I was going through some trials–I can’t remember what now…they were probably nothing, really, but at the time, they seemed big.

I called up a friend for help, and I never forgot what he said.

“No matter how big your problems are, they’ll never be bigger than God.”

God’s spirit is a spirit of confidence. Boldness. Authority.

Do you remember in the Gospels, how the people were astonished at Jesus– “for he taught them as one having authority” and not as the mere religious people of Jesus’ day.

Well, that’s Jesus. Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, after all.

But, no, that’s not just Jesus.

Do you remember in Acts 4: 13?

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled…”

What happened to Peter and John that gave them boldness?

The Spirit of God filled Peter and John.

The same Spirit settled on Jesus in the form of a dove as Jesus was in the river Jordan. God has poured His Spirit upon all flesh, as it says in Acts 2:17.

That same Spirit–that Spirit of boldness and authority–is in us!!

“But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you…” Romans 8:11.

Someone told me once: “John, take a few steps forward.”

I was in a gathering of people, and I stepped out. Everyone was looking at me and I felt self-conscious.

“Why are you self-conscious?” I was asked. “Don’t you know the Bible says the footsteps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord?”

Someone once said, “Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden because of insecurity.”

The serpent in the garden hissed: “Surely God didn’t mean that.”

It made Eve insecure in what God said. That insecurity caused the fall.

We are blessed of all men for His Name’s sake. We are a royal priesthood.

“I will not fail you, nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage...” Joshua 1:5,6.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace...” Hebrew 4:16.

Set your face “like a flint”(Isaiah 50:7) and speak as God moves you.

Rise up, speak the word of the Lord as God leads even in the hard and awkward situations, and “roar” with boldness of God’s spirit.

God is with you!

HALLELUJAH!!!