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In your part of the world, how do people define happiness? In other words, what’s the difference between happiness and JOY. You see, most people define happiness as a pleasure or an enjoyment. I’m telling you what – it’s found in the Word of God and in walking in right relationship with Him. Jesus isn’t hiding His JOY from you. He wants it to be in your grasp, and we’re talking about how to find it today!
Scriptures in Podcast
1 Peter 1:3-9 NIV
1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV
Merry Christmas friends. This is Heidi St. John, welcome to the Heidi St. John podcast!
Today is Wednesday December 19th. This is episode number 703.
Today we’re going to be continuing the study at MomStrong International – InSearch of JOY. The JOY we are looking for is a deep foundational contentment. Let’s find out today how to get it!
Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged!
All right you guys. So I am thrilled we are halfway through the month of December and just the other day we reached 10,000 members over at MomStrong International! So keep your eyes out on the forums, out on the chat rooms at MomStrong International – and we are going to start giving stuff away!
I cannot wait to see what God does in 2019 as we study His Word and continue to dig deeper for the answers that we’re looking for as we grapple with the questions of the culture right now.
Couple of things I want to let you know before we dig into today’s study. The first thing is that we have really amazing gift baskets for you at HeidiStJohn.com. If you search for the Heidi St. John Store you will see that we have necklaces. We have two different styles of arrows (here and here), and a Quiver Necklace, we have a brand new series of shirts in the store right now based out of the Psalms.One of them says He trains my hands for battle.
These are great gifts for the women in your life and for the young girls! Their wonderful gifts for your daughters – to let them know that they are arrows in the hands of their warrior Father, The King of kings, and the Lord of lords.
Also, you can get them in baskets. If you do the gift baskets they come with a limited release candle that has arrows, gold embossed arrows, all around it! So check it out at HeidiStJohn.com just click on the store and I hope that that will bless you! Also It blesses us – when you shop from that store it helps us with the ministry here.
Also wanted to let you know that we believe that giving the gift of membership to MomStrong International is a fantastic gift! It’s two dollars a week to sponsor somebody here at MomStrong International and for that two dollars a week – as you guys know, you’re going to get a Bible study that is deep, and meaningful, and will hopefully draw you and your children into right relationship with God as we walk out our lives as believers. And that’s really what we’re trying to do at MomStrong International.
So, I want to thank you guys for coming. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. We are regularly hitting 50,000 downloads an episode now, and we’re just excited to hear from you! We love to get your feedback, by the way. And you can reach out to us anytime just simply send us an e-mail podcast@thebusymom.com. We have a staff that looks over those and we are getting your questions ready for the 2019 year!
If you have a question that you’d like to see addressed over at Mailbox Monday, the best way to do it is to put Mailbox Monday in the subject line and a shortened version of your question. So the topic of your question addressed to Mailbox Monday right in the subject line.
So you might say Mailbox Monday: Help, I have a three year old! Or something like that that helps us to make sure that those e-mails are seen and categorized appropriately, so that we can answer them on the podcast.
All right, let’s jump into today’s Bible Study we are going through. 1 Peter 1:3-9
The key verse this week is Psalm 63:3. So I’m going to give you an opportunity, if you haven’t done it already, to open up your Bibles and turn to Psalm 63 with me.
Women, I would love it if every time you listen to this on Wednesday – you had your Bibles out and you were ready to go with me. As we dig into and study the truths that are found in the Word of God. So we’re going to parse it out a little bit – but I’m going to start by just reading this to you.
Psalm 63:3. This one is actually out of the NLT
3 Your unfailing love is better than life itself;
how I praise you!
This is David’s prayer. He’s saying that God is the one who satisfies our deepest longings. It’s the Lord who does that. And then 1 Peter 1:3-9 – I’m going to look it up in my Bible really quick.
So let’s dig into the Bible Study. Let’s open our Bibles to 1 Peter 1:3-9. I’m going to read it to you today out of the NIV.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious JOY, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Let’s open up this study in a word of prayer.
Lord Jesus, I thank you Father for the opportunity that you give us to study Your Word. Wherever it reaches through this podcast, we praise you. Lord we praise you for the freedom that we have to speak Your Word here in the United States. And Father, I pray that Your Gospel might go forward bringing hope, and healing, and salvation to millions of people who have yet to hear it and believe. Father as we talk about JOY today, I pray that You would anoint my words. Lord, for the women who are listening to this who are struggling in their walk with You. Lord, who are struggling to see purpose in their life, who are frustrated or discouraged. Father I pray, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, that you would turn our eyes heavenward, toward You – and that You would change our hearts and that we would recognize that JOY comes only from You. As we study Biblical JOY, this Christmas Lord, I pray that You would help us to turn our eyes ever always only to You, in Jesus name amen.
So when you’re part of the world. Let’s talk about this for a second because this is part of the MomStrong International study. If you haven’t downloaded it yet you can actually download the notes and come along with me as we study the pursuit of JOY.
And I want to ask you – in your part of the world, how do people define happiness? In other words, what’s the difference between happiness and JOY. You see, most people define happiness as a pleasure or an enjoyment. So for example, you know – all your Christmas packages are wrapped before men and on December 23rd and you’re like — yes! I did it! My laundry’s done, the dishes are miraculously done by the time I go to bed and I feel happy, right?
I grabbed a great deal on a sweater that I’ve been eyeing. Happy, right? Sunny weather: #happy.
But JOY is different. JOY is defined by the world as a sense of deeper emotion. It’s peace and contentment a sense that all is well. Some of you were watching my Instagram stories last week and I was telling you that I spent the month of July and August — I literally tore my house apart. I’d been on the road (and which I’m getting ready to go back on the road again)…
I’d been on the road with my family for months and I was just so happy to be home and I wanted to — I just wanted to do anything that made me feel like I was living there and not living out of a suitcase in a hotel somewhere. And so I decided to get rid of almost everything that we had downstairs. You know – 30-year-old couches, and we ripped up a 20 some odd-year-old carpet. We painted all the walls. I mean I had my kids – they were working. They were what my mother used to call: singing for their supper. And we did that.
And on my Insta stories, I showed you sort of the net result of that, which was a very peaceful home. I got rid of a lot of stuff. You heard me talk about my striving to declutter our home in an effort to have it be more peaceful. And we realized a long time ago, right? As many of you have already realized – that contentment doesn’t come from any of the things that we do.
Peace can come with it, but it lasts for just a little while and that’s why I took a video of my family room. I was like – look, all is well. There’s peace in my home, there’s contentment- but you know what you guys? – it doesn’t last.
And Biblical JOY, which is what God says we want to search for, is neither one of these things. It’s not JOY as defined by the world. It’s not a sense of contentment or of peace that’s momentary. It’s not happiness which is really just an emotion that comes from pleasure and enjoyment.
The Bible says the Biblical JOY, the JOY that we are wanting, isn’t either one of these things. And this is what we want to teach our children, right? So in this study, for the whole month of MomStrong International, we’ve been fleshing out how Biblical JOY is different than the world’s definition of JOY.
So, and here’s the thing you guys – the Good Good News that we just read in 1 Peter 3:1-7 (NIV) is the phrase
6 In all this you greatly rejoice
because it’s looking back at all of the content in the verses before –
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable,
1 Peter 1:3-4 (ESV)
Which means it’s never going to it’s never gonna go away, it will never it will never fail, it will never disappear. It’s undefiled, it’s not going to fade away, it’s been reserved in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God.
through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:5 (ESV)
Right? So as you think about this, and we look ahead, it helps us to feel a little bit more prepared to read verse 6 and the following – because we know that JOY, the real JOY, comes from the reinforced steel four-foot concrete slab of Truth that’s underneath our feet.
So listen to this women. So in this, which is what we just read in versus a 3 to 5 – we greatly rejoice. There it is. Even though now for a little while we’ve been distressed by trials. I think of my friends in paradise. I just got a message the other day from a friend who has a friend in the church over in China. The Chinese are being terribly persecuted for their faith right now. Part of the result of communism and wickedness, right? So that’s why, well it’s a whole other thing – but that’s why we pray for our people in government, for the men and women who are in our government because it actually matters. Right?
But though we’ve been distressed by trial – so that the proof of our faith which is more precious than gold, and even though it’s tested by fire – we want to be found to result in a life that’s giving praise, and awe, and glory, and honor to the Lord Jesus.
You see, this is the reason that we have JOY.
True JOY is a deep foundational contentment – knowing that no matter what is going on around us – all is well between me and my God. So Biblical JOY, not defined by your circumstances, has nothing to do with whether or not our husband said nice things to us, or our children were obedient, or we got everything done on our to-do list, or even if we have enough money to pay the rent.
JOY, Biblical JOY, is based on a spiritual reality – a fact of God being glorified in every circumstance.
It’s the unmistakable fingerprint of God in our lives. And when we’re walking in right relationship with Him, when we’re pursuing His purpose and walking rightly with Him – that’s when we get it! That’s when we get to experience it.
So think about this: When gold needs to be purified it’s put to an intense heat and this melts the gold and it raises any impurities to the surface. And the impurities then, are skimmed off and removed – and the resulting purification leaves that gold free from as much contamination as possible. And while God will not test or try us for the purpose of seeing us fall to evil -He doesn’t tempt us (if you don’t believe me read James 1:13. God doesn’t do that). In other words, God’s purposes are different. His testing is used to raise up the stuff in our character that inhibits us from becoming more like Him.
And this is always ever only for our good and His glory. You see – God never wastes our brokenness and He won’t waste the brokenness of our children either. I want you to keep this in mind when your children are going through troubles. And we talked about this last week, right? God allows afflictions and trials to cleanse us of things that stand in the way of us becoming more like Him. And true JOY, Biblical JOY, is a deep foundational contentment that tells me that no matter what’s going on in my life – all is well between me and God.
Do your children know that all is well between them and the Lord? Did they know that no matter what they do in this life – JOY only comes from knowing that we are in right relationship with the Lord? You know, a lot of times we talk a lot about discipline and parenting on this podcast, partly because I’ve been privileged to raise seven children, and partly because I see a terrible lack of the understanding of the discipline process for our children.
We discipline our children so that they will walk in right relationship with God, so that they will learn how to treat other people, so they will learn the value of respect and obedience. And trials are for the adult, what discipline is for a child.
So we look at the trials in our lives as the Lord allowing us to be purified. Trials do to our faith what fire does to gold. And this process isn’t enjoyable, right?
And there’s a couple of ways we can respond. We can run away from the hard things. We can hide our kids from the pain that they surely are going to endure. And when we do that – we raise children with skinny spiritual muscles. They can’t hold themselves up in the current or the culture.
Men and women, when you recognize that your children are struggling in whatever reason – take the time and discipline them. Take the time and discipline them. Paul teaches us in his letter, and we talked about this in Blessings on the Battlefield. Yes. Last month in the month of November in week three, you can look back at it.
We can teach our children to respond with confidence with courage with perseverance and in so doing we prepare them for real life in the fallen world that we live in. Peter says in essence – shift your perspective Christian. Don’t waste the opportunity to grow. So in James 1:12 we read about trials. Where do these trials come from? What’s the purpose of the trials that come from the Lord? The Bible says to consider it all JOY knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance. It produces endurance.
We talked about, many months ago, the difference between perseverance and endurance. I’m not going to go through it again – if you want to you can hear that podcast, just probably if you just google it: Heidi St. John Perseverance versus Endurance.
But I want you to think about this, talk about this with your children. Why is endurance an important character trait that we want our children to learn? Why is it important? When trials come which of your parenting responses can interfere with God’s training of your children? And what are you going to do to retrain yourself for the good of your children’s relationship with Jesus?
We want to be thinking about these things because as I’m always telling you, mom and dad – some time, and it’s going to happen sooner than you may think, your children are going to grow up and they’re going to leave your home and they’re going to take their memories of you with them! And everything that you taught them or did not teach them about the Lord – they will take into a world that’s watching.
So as we think about what it means to pursue JOY, Let’s think about the things that we can build in place when the heat turns up in our lives that will remind us of God’s steadfast grip which holds us and causes our faith to grow.
In Romans 10:17 we see one sure practice. I’m going to let you look that up for yourselves. But I want you to be thinking about what other practices you can list. What are some things that you can do to ground yourself in the Word, to ground yourself in that truth.
You know I talk a lot about politics here at the podcast – and part of the reason I do that is because I want you to go back to the foundational truth that you know in God’s Word. Because the truth of God should impact every area of our lives.
It first should impact our personal lives. We should be different. The Gospel doesn’t doesn’t leave us where it finds us. It changes us. It grows us up so that when we encounter trials in our lives – our faith is not shaken. Our faith isn’t shaken. We need to think about some verses that you’ve gone to that encourage you when you’re feeling disoriented or you’re feeling discouraged.
A good place to start is head back at Habakkuk 3:17-19. Open your Bible today, do the Scripture Writing challenge with me, get in there with your kids. It’s so important for you to understand what it means to walk in right relationship with the Lord. And so if you haven’t done it this week – I would encourage you again open your Bible read 1 Peter 1:3-9 and then discuss with your children, or your husband, or your MomStrong Group — your response to the verses that you read.
I’m out of time for today but if you are not a member at MomStrong International you can find the study that I just did, including a whole lot more, as we dive into how you can be set free from anxiety that robs you of sleep in the middle of the night. How you can come up with different ways to to anchor your soul into the Holy Spirit and into Jesus as you study His Word? How do you get upheld when you’re walking through trials?
I’m telling you what – it’s found in the Word of God and in walking in right relationship with Him.
Let’s have this be our goal and our ambition and our desire for 2019 – that we would go beyond an obvious answer and marinate in the work and person of Jesus. That we would ask Him to show us what it is that we can do to be filled with JOY. That no matter what happens in politics, no matter what happens in the culture, no matter what’s happening in crazy downtown Portland, Oregon right now – I am not moved. My JOY cannot be taken from me because it has nothing to do with me it has everything to do with God and in the promises that are found in His Word.
And sweet mama, if there’s not much else around you that feels JOY-producing, I would encourage you right now – think on one simple way that you can realize the difference between a circumstantial happiness that’s found in your life, and a foundational JOY that comes from knowing that you are walking in right relationship with God.
And if the concept of foundational JOY, Biblical JOY, is a struggle for you to understand, it feels elusive to you — I want to just encourage you head on over to MomStrong International and go to the chat room and talk to a group leader there or another MSI girl, and ask you to pray for you.
Jesus isn’t hiding His JOY from you. He wants it to be in your grasp. Search for it in Him – the only right place to find it.
Thanks for listening to the Heidi St. John Podcast today! We love to hear from you. This is a wonderful time of year for you to encourage the ministry that’s happening here. We love to get Christmas cards from you. We love it if you would be considering supporting this ministry to become a member at MomStrong International. You can reach us by mail at 11100 NE 34th Circle Vancouver, Washington 98682.
Thanks for listening everybody, and I’ll see you back here for Meet-My-Friend-Friday in just a couple of days.