Joyful, Joyful, Is Possible

“Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” (Joh 16:24 AV)

Our dear Savior implies that if we ask for the right things, our joy will be full.  This is not a hopeful wish.  This is a promise.  If our joy is not full, we are either not asking, or we are asking for the wrong things.  There really are two thoughts this morning.  First, Jesus tells us plainly that our joy can be full.  This is hard to believe.  When you are facing the trial of your life, it doesn’t seem as though joy can be full.  If we are to believe our LORD, our joy indeed can be full.  The other profound thought upon which the Spirit laid was that our prayer life is not what is needs to be.  If our joy is not full, then there is something lacking in our prayer life.  Let us assume there is no unconfessed sin between the soul and the Father, those things for which we ask must produce joy.  Over the years, I have learned that we often pray ignorantly.  Or, more specifically, temporally.  Not that we are forbidden to do so.  We are told to pray for our daily bread.  Rather, the spiritual implications of that for which we ask are rarely the motive or understanding behind our requests.  Let me explain.

When faced with dire physical or financial challenges, we usually ask for healing or provision.  But what if that is not the LORD’s will?  Perhaps illness or hardship are part of God’s will and the means by which joy might be fulfill?  I am reminded of how often we pray for the healing of someone who is in serious need of it.  That is certainly a valid prayer.  Jesus brought forth Lazarus from the grave, didn’t he?  He healed the leper, gave sight to the blind, opened the ears of the deaf, and made the lame walk again.  Yet all those who were healed eventually passed away from something.  There are many who have lost everything.  A financial crisis was upon them.  Sometimes, one of their own makings.  At other times, from unforeseen circumstances.  My father was fired from his job with nine kids to feed.  My mom worked as a low-paid secretary.  We were on public assistance for a while.  My father took any job he could find.  Financially, those were not happy days.  Yet we didn’t know any different.  My mom grew up in the projects before the projects were the projects.  She grew up with a dad who fed his family at the end of a hunting rifle and fishing rod.  So, for what do you pray?  Those were good times.  Hard times, but good times.  So, for what do you pray?

If we are to believe Jesus, then our joy can reach a maximum capacity.  And we most definitely should believe Jesus.  What I have found by the ministry of the Holy Spirit is that meditation and prayer go hand in hand.  What I mean by that is instead of filling the time with spoken words, the prayerful saint will make prayer more of a two-way conversation than a one-way diatribe.  He or she will speak and then listen.  I have learned to stop and think long before I say words.  This is the active part of the Holy Spirit in our prayer life.  Romans tells us that He will help us when we don’t know for what to pray.  Which, by the way, is most of the time.  When we have a conversation with God instead of treating prayer like a religious event, it is amazing how much work in our souls is accomplished.  Many times, the Spirit has given me understanding as to what or how to pray.  What is the result?  Joy!  Joy that is full!  I may not be there yet, but I trust the words of my Savior.  An active and effective prayer life is the key.