September 8, 2023 • 18 mins
Ever pondered why 'choose joy' feels like a vacuous, Instagram slogan rather than a life-changing mantra? Join us as we navigate the sincere essence of choosing joy. Ditching the cliché, we dissect what it genuinely means to choose joy, going beyond fleeting happiness to discover a wellspring of strength, resilience, and integrity. We touch on the constraints of individualism, drawing from the book of Nehemiah, and how it impacts our journey to embody joy in our daily lives.
Surviving isn't just about gritting our teeth and pushing through, it's about finding joy in the midst of the storm. Amidst the trials of life, we can anchor ourselves in the solid truth that God's intention for us is good. With Noah, we explore how to bravely say 'yes' to God's plans, even when it seems like the hardest choice.
Remember, Jesus loves you, life is worth living, and your joy is yours to find, choose, and live.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Noah James Wiebe (00:07):
This is the question why is it so difficult
to choose joy?
Today, on the In Rest podcastwith Noah James Wiebe, we are
going to be talking about why isit so difficult to choose joy?
Well, the question isn'tsomething that complicated.
I mean, why is it so difficultto get out of bed in the morning
?
Why is it so difficult to dothe right thing when you know
(00:29):
that that's the best thing to do, even if it's the most
inconvenient thing to do?
Well, choosing joy is one ofthese, almost a trendy thing in
our society today.
We get this concept that youknow we should just muscle
through whatever difficulty thatwe're experiencing and expect
that on the other side of thatmuscling through, we're going to
(00:49):
find the satisfaction and thefulfillment for life that we
need.
Choosing joy is great, the ideaof choosing joy is great, but
it's almost become meaningless.
The idea of choosing joy likeit's something that's cute.
I mean CS Lewis talked aboutcuteness by, you know, sort of
presenting.
Actually, no, it wasn't cute,it wasn't to CS Lewis, it was
(01:09):
Dallas Willard.
Dallas Willard, in his bookDivine Conspiracy, talked about
the issue with US society and Imean North American society by
extension by talking about thefact that sometimes we like
things that are cute over thingsthat are actually meaningful
and significant.
So one of the problems withchoose joy is that it's become
something that's meaningless andcute.
And when we get into cuteness,and I mean like there are things
(01:32):
that are cute, that's good.
You know, there's research thattells us that looking at
pictures of cute dogs or cutebabies actually helps us be more
productive, for whatever reason.
But the idea of having choosejoy, this cute little phrase,
actually dictate how you liveyour life.
That's, it's weird, it's odd,and the breadth and the depth
(01:52):
and the meaning of choosing joyhas kind of lost its edge
because of this constant misuseof the term of the phrase
choosing joy.
Choosing joy is not really aboutthe cute, trendy way that we
talk about it on social media.
Choosing joy is actually gritty.
It revolve.
It involves being resilient.
(02:14):
It involves having integrity ofour actions with our beliefs.
It involves having anintegrated life in which the
things that we value are thingsthat we consistently think about
and things that we consistentlylive out in our day to day life
.
One of the issues that we haveas a society is that we are
(02:36):
individualistic.
We think about ourselves allthe time, and one of the
problems with that is that wenever really put ourselves to
the test in community and inaccountability, in which our
values and the integration ofthose values into our day to day
life is not really tested, it'snot really given its strength.
I mean, the Bible says in thebook of Proverbs as Iron
(02:56):
sharpens iron, so one personsharpens another.
If we're avoiding beingtogether with others, humbling
ourselves and saying hey, likeI'm actually crazy here, like
give me some insight, weactually limit our ability to
live the life that we need tolive.
We limit ourselves from growingand becoming all the God who
wants us to be, because weprefer to evaluate life on our
own terms and that cutenessactually kind of reinforces that
(03:19):
idea.
You know, it says all well,choosing joy is really just a
meaningless thing.
I'm gonna do life my own wayand there are some people who
really hold on to that phrase,even if it is cute to them that
they just take it on and theyrun with it.
But today we're not talkingabout choosing joy from the
perspective of a trendy socialmedia phrase.
We're talking about choosingjoy from a truce place of
resilience to true place ofstrength.
(03:41):
The Bible tells us in the bookof Nehemiah that the joy of the
Lord is your Strength.
But the contrast that the bookof Nehemiah presents in that
moment is not joy versusdepression, is joy versus grief.
Specifically, the people arehearing in the context in
Nehemiah, chapter 6, the peopleare hearing about the book of
the law, so they're hearingabout all the ways that they are
(04:03):
not living the way that Godintends for them to live.
They experience this deep levelof cognitive dissonance which
contributes to their sense ofgrief, the sense of deep loss,
because they haven't, you know,they haven't really lived out
the life as a community thatthey know they're supposed to.
And so they begin grieving andwailing and crying in the
Nehemiah and the other leadersare saying no, no, no, don't
(04:24):
grieve, don't grieve, don't weep, don't go to this place, don't
give in to the sense of lossthat comes from this dissonance.
Instead, remember the joy ofthe Lord is your strength.
They feel like a city broken in.
They feel like a city whosewalls have been destroyed.
They feel like they have beenruined Inside of themselves
(04:49):
because they know that.
They know it.
They feel the sense of lossBecause they've let all kinds of
other things in and let allkinds of other things influence
them instead of looking the waythat God Wants them to live, and
so they grieve it.
But Nehemiah and the otherleaders encourage them no, no,
no, don't grieve, because thejoy of the Lord is your strength
.
And so for you and me tochoosing joy is not so much
(05:12):
about Choosing to be happy andsmiling when we don't feel like
it.
Choosing joy is about choosinga life of lived strength, rather
than giving in to grief andletting it have the final word
on our life.
There's a contrast, there's asense of tension here, with a
fully, wholeheartedly addressinggrief and addressing cognitive
(05:34):
dissonance in our life and yet,at the same time, not Giving in
to the message that it portraysto us that death is all there is
and there's no sense in tryingagain because we've failed so
many times.
Choosing joy is aboutremembering that.
No, no, it's not that we dothis, that and the other thing
to have Success and fulfillment,but rather we choose to live
into the joy that is availablefrom the Lord so that we can
(05:57):
have strength now, the strengththat the Nehemiah talks about in
you know that that verse is nota strength that is consistent
with picking things up andputting them down or fighting in
a box Match and winning againsta competitor.
Rather, it's the opposite it'sactually being that person on
the defensive end and havingfortitude to stand the test.
Being able to have a joy is thedifference between caving in
(06:21):
when things are difficult andand living the life that God has
for us instead of falling tothose things.
So choosing joy is aboutchoosing fortitude.
It's about choosing strength,the strength that can withstand
and endure difficulty.
Now, I don't know about you, butI do not always have that kind
of joy.
I don't have that kind of livedinto joy in which I operate
(06:43):
from a place of satisfaction andcontentment.
I mean the apostle Paul, whowrote the book of Philippians,
one of the most joyful books inthe New Testament.
He himself not only saidrejoice in the Lord.
Always, again, I say rejoice.
He also later said I havelearned the secret of being
content in any circumstance,whether in plenty or in hunger,
whether in this or that or theother thing, you know, whatever
(07:06):
it is.
He's like no, no, no, I can doall of these things through
Christ, truth strengthens me.
What is he really saying?
He's saying no, no, no.
Not that he has the power ofthe offensive, but he has the
power of the defensive.
He has the fortitude to lastwhen things are really, really
comfortable and they threatenhis faith.
Because I don't know about you,but if there's anything that
I've learned about the Christianlife is not that difficulties
(07:27):
come against my faith, it's thata life of too much comfort is a
danger to my faith.
That's one thing to wrap yourhead around.
But whether it's in difficultyor in comfort, whether it's in
grief upon grief or in joy uponjoy, paul's like no, no, no, I
can get through all that throughChrist.
I can live the life that Godhas for me through Christ, who
(07:47):
strengthens me.
See that connection between thejoy of the Lord and our
strength, right?
So?
So, okay, hold on.
No, you haven't really answeredthe question.
Why is it hard to choose this?
Well, because choosing thismeans that you have to have a
level of internal grit to sayyes to God and his will and his
interests in the world, evenwhen it's the most difficult
(08:09):
choice to make.
Like I said, joy is not justabout choosing to smile when
it's difficult or when we feellike it.
Choosing joy is about livingthe life that we're called to
with with an attitude of ofgratefulness and attitude of
encouragement and attitude of ofhopefulness, despite everything
(08:29):
that's going on, and not justdespite, but because of the
truth of God's presence in allof those things.
The Bible tells us againanother Paul quote no, we are
more than conquerors in all ofthese things, through him who
loved us.
So if we are more thanconquerors, if we have this
choice available to us, thenwhat happens really is not the
choice between joy and sadness.
(08:51):
It's the choice betweenstrength and loss.
Is a, joy is a is the choicebetween life and death.
It's the choice between rollingover in to die or getting back
up, even when it's the mostdifficult choice to make.
Choosing joy is hard becauseliving is hard In.
(09:15):
The rest is all about helpingyou live the life that you've
been called to live, living asGod intended you to live, living
your best in Christ, and that'shard.
It's one thing to know you havedepression, to know you're
struggling with anxiety, to knowyou're dealing with all those
things.
Whole other thing to believewith all of your heart that you
are a conqueror in all of that,through him who loved you.
(09:37):
It's a whole other thing to getup out of bed, not because I
have to, but because no, no, no.
I must because this is a lifethat God has given me.
I must because ther e arepeople th at are depending on me
t.
I must because God has made itpossible for me to get up, and
it is an insult and a spit inhis face for me to refuse a life
(09:59):
he's called me to live androlling over and surrender to
death.
Rather I should.
I should surrender in death toself and say no, no, no.
I don't care how difficult it isgoing to be, I don't care how
many failures it's going to take, I don't care how much effort
it's going to be on my part.
I'm going to get up.
I'm going to spend time withthat friend.
I'm going to be honest andconfess my sins.
(10:20):
I'm going to show up, and I'mgoing to show up in a way that's
present even when I, even whennothing in me has the strength
to do it.
I'm going to be the best momthat I can be.
I'm going to be the best dadthat I can be.
I'm going to be the best spousethat I can be.
No, not because it's theeasiest thing and not because my
kids are spouse deserving, butbecause this is the life that
God wants me to live and that myfriend is tapping into.
(10:42):
Joy that is choosing joy,because joy happens when we A
obey, obey, and joy happens whenwe tap into the life of Christ.
We tap into the kind of lifethat he lived, and he lived a
kind of life of resilience.
He lived the kind of life thatdepended on his father's
strength and not on his own.
He lived a life of constantwillingness to surrender to
(11:05):
God's purpose for his life.
Submit to God's will, even whenGod's will involved difficulty.
When I was going through some ofthe most difficult seasons of
depression I had ever sufferedas a teenager, one of the things
that I had to hold on tothrough the difficulties I was
experiencing the toxicrelationships I was still
experiencing, the negativeself-talk and the suicidal
(11:27):
ideation I was struggling with.
The thing that kept me goingwas believing, as a 16 year old,
that no, god wants to restoreme.
God is going to restore me andI can get up today with
gratitude because, in my presentmoment, god has given me the
strength to stand and to gothrough the difficulties I'm
(11:47):
feeling and he's given me afuture to look forward to, and
that's what kept me going.
That's what was so life-savingto me, this truth from God's
word that his intention for mewas good, that his heart for me
was good and that the futureahead of me was good.
And so that's what it meanswhen Paul is talking in Romans,
chapter 12.
I think it's actually verse 12,romans 12-12, when he says
(12:08):
rejoice and hope, be patient andaffliction, be faithful in
prayer, and so tapping into joy.
The reason why it's sodifficult, the reason why
choosing joy is so hard, isbecause it's not a choice of
vain happiness in the midst ofsorrow, it is true, surrender to
(12:29):
the purposes of the interestsof God in your life when you
have nothing left in you.
So that's why, that's why it'sso difficult.
And is there hope for you?
Absolutely there is, becauseGod does in fact have a purpose
and a desire for your life thatis better than you could ever
imagine, and I'm praying thatyou tap into that.
I pray that this episode hasbeen encouraging to you.
I want you to understand that,at the end of all this, the
(12:50):
choosing joy is attainable foryou and for me because of the
finished work of Christ on thecross in his resurrection, and
that life and death to the worldand death to your flesh, death
to that thing in you that justkind of wants to roll over and
die and give up.
That's attainable, thatstrength is attainable to you
today, in the name of Jesus andthe devil who comes to steal and
(13:14):
to kill and to destroy.
The one who does not need youto buy into a big fat lie, who
only needs to take a tiny littlelie that says no, maybe it's
not worth it, maybe you shouldgive up, maybe you should blank.
He does not have the final wordon your life.
He does not have a right todefine or direct you.
If you have put your trust inJesus Christ as your Savior and
(13:35):
your Lord and your leader andyour friend, jesus is the one
who defines you and directs you.
So don't give in to the beliefthat your life is no longer
worth living.
Don't give in to the beliefthat your failures are the
things that have defined you.
Don't give in to the beliefthat says you need to give up.
You don't need to give up, itis not too late.
It is never too late.
(13:56):
There's no story that Godcannot rewrite.
There is no life that Godcannot save.
There is nothing impossible forhim.
And even those lies, even thosesituations, even those lives
that are broken and ruined, thatthreaten to cause us to doubt
and give up on our faith, eventhose things are things that we
can overcome in our thought,life and in our faith.
(14:18):
When we say truly, witheverything we've got, no, no, no
.
God has a greater story and heis greater than all of the
things that I'm seeing in thedeep, dark reality of this world
.
There is nothing that canseparate you from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus.
There is nothing that can keepyou from being more than a
conqueror through Jesus, wholoved you on the cross.
I'm sorry for wagging my fingerat you, but that's the truth.
(14:39):
The truth is you are.
If you're, if you're a memberof the family of God, if you're
a son or daughter of His, you'reapproved of, you're loved, you
have a future, you have thepower to live the life that God
has called you to live, and Iwant to help you Now.
Here's the thing.
Okay, that's what this podcastis all about.
(15:00):
Keep listening to more of theseepisodes, because that's what
this is all about, but the factis, my prayer for you, my desire
for you is that you would beable to learn the secret.
And now it's not really asecret, it's not really, like
you know, a hidden mystery.
All it is is the truth.
Understand the truth that youcan, through Christ, who
strengthens you, go through allof those things Because he's
(15:25):
with you and he loves you andhe's walking with you to bring
you through this and redeem allof these difficulties in your
life.
There are times there's waste oftime in your life that you feel
like is irredeemable.
There's difficulties in yourlife that you feel are
irredeemable.
There's people in your life whoyou're maybe struggling with,
wondering if they'reirredeemable Relationships, your
(15:45):
finances, whatever it is.
But the fact is, god has a way.
God can make a way.
God can do all things.
You put your trust in Him.
If you say God, I need you, I'mgonna trust you.
I'm gonna give up, live thelife you call me to live.
Help me, help me walk with youthrough this.
(16:06):
Through Christ, you can do allthose things Because he's the
one who strengthens you.
So thank you for listening tothis episode of the InRest
Podcast If you want to have someassistance, some genuine,
tested, experienced wisdomintroduced into your life, if
you want someone to comealongside you and walk you
(16:28):
through a process ofimplementing the truths of the
gospel into your day-to-day life.
If you want someone to help youovercome some of these lies that
you're struggling with anddevelop a real strategy,
effective strategy for not onlydeveloping a rule of life, a way
of walking with Jesus every day, but also a strategy for
overcoming some of these mentalhealth issues that you're
struggling with, or even justfinding hope in the midst of
(16:51):
these difficulties that you'reexperiencing.
I would love to be a part ofthat story.
My name's Noah.
I'm the host of the InRestPodcast, but I'm also the owner
and proprietor of the InRestInstitute.
I exist to help other peoplelive their best in Christ and,
if you'd like to meet it, be acoach in your life to bring you
through a process and to leadyou through a process and guide
(17:11):
you through a process in whichyou are able to take on the
truths of the gospel for you andfor your life and for your
future.
I would love to be a part ofthat.
If you want to DM me atinrestinsta on Instagram, or
send me a message on theFacebook page facebookcom inrest
podcast or even just leave acomment and say Coach, I would
love to reach out to you and getback to you and have a little
(17:34):
bit of a conversation with youabout what it might look like
for me to come alongside you inthis journey of integrating the
truths of the gospel into yourday-to-day life.
In the meantime, jesus lovesyou and I love you too, and I
pray that you would trust inJesus more fully than you ever
have before and you'd live thelife that he's called you to
live.
Thank you again so much.
Don't forget to follow,subscribe, leave a comment,
(17:56):
leave a review.
If you're listening to this onSpotify, watching on YouTube or
any other platform, please makesure you interact with me.
I'd love to get in touch withyou, but also leave a 5-star
review or like or subscribe orsomething or comment.
I would love to interact and Iwould love to hear of your
engagement, and that wouldreally help podcast a lot and
get this message out to otherpeople who might need to know
(18:17):
that life is worth living andthat the life that God has for
you is worth living.
Again, thank you.
Jesus loves you.
God bless, bye.
This is the question why is it so difficult
to choose joy?
Today, on the In Rest podcastwith Noah James Wiebe, we are
going to be talking about why isit so difficult to choose joy?
Well, the question isn'tsomething that complicated.
I mean, why is it so difficultto get out of bed in the morning
?
Why is it so difficult to dothe right thing when you know
(00:29):
that that's the best thing to do, even if it's the most
inconvenient thing to do?
Well, choosing joy is one ofthese, almost a trendy thing in
our society today.
We get this concept that youknow we should just muscle
through whatever difficulty thatwe're experiencing and expect
that on the other side of thatmuscling through, we're going to
(00:49):
find the satisfaction and thefulfillment for life that we
need.
Choosing joy is great, the ideaof choosing joy is great, but
it's almost become meaningless.
The idea of choosing joy likeit's something that's cute.
I mean CS Lewis talked aboutcuteness by, you know, sort of
presenting.
Actually, no, it wasn't cute,it wasn't to CS Lewis, it was
(01:09):
Dallas Willard.
Dallas Willard, in his bookDivine Conspiracy, talked about
the issue with US society and Imean North American society by
extension by talking about thefact that sometimes we like
things that are cute over thingsthat are actually meaningful
and significant.
So one of the problems withchoose joy is that it's become
something that's meaningless andcute.
And when we get into cuteness,and I mean like there are things
(01:32):
that are cute, that's good.
You know, there's research thattells us that looking at
pictures of cute dogs or cutebabies actually helps us be more
productive, for whatever reason.
But the idea of having choosejoy, this cute little phrase,
actually dictate how you liveyour life.
That's, it's weird, it's odd,and the breadth and the depth
(01:52):
and the meaning of choosing joyhas kind of lost its edge
because of this constant misuseof the term of the phrase
choosing joy.
Choosing joy is not really aboutthe cute, trendy way that we
talk about it on social media.
Choosing joy is actually gritty.
It revolve.
It involves being resilient.
(02:14):
It involves having integrity ofour actions with our beliefs.
It involves having anintegrated life in which the
things that we value are thingsthat we consistently think about
and things that we consistentlylive out in our day to day life
.
One of the issues that we haveas a society is that we are
(02:36):
individualistic.
We think about ourselves allthe time, and one of the
problems with that is that wenever really put ourselves to
the test in community and inaccountability, in which our
values and the integration ofthose values into our day to day
life is not really tested, it'snot really given its strength.
I mean, the Bible says in thebook of Proverbs as Iron
(02:56):
sharpens iron, so one personsharpens another.
If we're avoiding beingtogether with others, humbling
ourselves and saying hey, likeI'm actually crazy here, like
give me some insight, weactually limit our ability to
live the life that we need tolive.
We limit ourselves from growingand becoming all the God who
wants us to be, because weprefer to evaluate life on our
own terms and that cutenessactually kind of reinforces that
(03:19):
idea.
You know, it says all well,choosing joy is really just a
meaningless thing.
I'm gonna do life my own wayand there are some people who
really hold on to that phrase,even if it is cute to them that
they just take it on and theyrun with it.
But today we're not talkingabout choosing joy from the
perspective of a trendy socialmedia phrase.
We're talking about choosingjoy from a truce place of
resilience to true place ofstrength.
(03:41):
The Bible tells us in the bookof Nehemiah that the joy of the
Lord is your Strength.
But the contrast that the bookof Nehemiah presents in that
moment is not joy versusdepression, is joy versus grief.
Specifically, the people arehearing in the context in
Nehemiah, chapter 6, the peopleare hearing about the book of
the law, so they're hearingabout all the ways that they are
(04:03):
not living the way that Godintends for them to live.
They experience this deep levelof cognitive dissonance which
contributes to their sense ofgrief, the sense of deep loss,
because they haven't, you know,they haven't really lived out
the life as a community thatthey know they're supposed to.
And so they begin grieving andwailing and crying in the
Nehemiah and the other leadersare saying no, no, no, don't
(04:24):
grieve, don't grieve, don't weep, don't go to this place, don't
give in to the sense of lossthat comes from this dissonance.
Instead, remember the joy ofthe Lord is your strength.
They feel like a city broken in.
They feel like a city whosewalls have been destroyed.
They feel like they have beenruined Inside of themselves
(04:49):
because they know that.
They know it.
They feel the sense of lossBecause they've let all kinds of
other things in and let allkinds of other things influence
them instead of looking the waythat God Wants them to live, and
so they grieve it.
But Nehemiah and the otherleaders encourage them no, no,
no, don't grieve, because thejoy of the Lord is your strength
.
And so for you and me tochoosing joy is not so much
(05:12):
about Choosing to be happy andsmiling when we don't feel like
it.
Choosing joy is about choosinga life of lived strength, rather
than giving in to grief andletting it have the final word
on our life.
There's a contrast, there's asense of tension here, with a
fully, wholeheartedly addressinggrief and addressing cognitive
(05:34):
dissonance in our life and yet,at the same time, not Giving in
to the message that it portraysto us that death is all there is
and there's no sense in tryingagain because we've failed so
many times.
Choosing joy is aboutremembering that.
No, no, it's not that we dothis, that and the other thing
to have Success and fulfillment,but rather we choose to live
into the joy that is availablefrom the Lord so that we can
(05:57):
have strength now, the strengththat the Nehemiah talks about in
you know that that verse is nota strength that is consistent
with picking things up andputting them down or fighting in
a box Match and winning againsta competitor.
Rather, it's the opposite it'sactually being that person on
the defensive end and havingfortitude to stand the test.
Being able to have a joy is thedifference between caving in
(06:21):
when things are difficult andand living the life that God has
for us instead of falling tothose things.
So choosing joy is aboutchoosing fortitude.
It's about choosing strength,the strength that can withstand
and endure difficulty.
Now, I don't know about you, butI do not always have that kind
of joy.
I don't have that kind of livedinto joy in which I operate
(06:43):
from a place of satisfaction andcontentment.
I mean the apostle Paul, whowrote the book of Philippians,
one of the most joyful books inthe New Testament.
He himself not only saidrejoice in the Lord.
Always, again, I say rejoice.
He also later said I havelearned the secret of being
content in any circumstance,whether in plenty or in hunger,
whether in this or that or theother thing, you know, whatever
(07:06):
it is.
He's like no, no, no, I can doall of these things through
Christ, truth strengthens me.
What is he really saying?
He's saying no, no, no.
Not that he has the power ofthe offensive, but he has the
power of the defensive.
He has the fortitude to lastwhen things are really, really
comfortable and they threatenhis faith.
Because I don't know about you,but if there's anything that
I've learned about the Christianlife is not that difficulties
(07:27):
come against my faith, it's thata life of too much comfort is a
danger to my faith.
That's one thing to wrap yourhead around.
But whether it's in difficultyor in comfort, whether it's in
grief upon grief or in joy uponjoy, paul's like no, no, no, I
can get through all that throughChrist.
I can live the life that Godhas for me through Christ, who
(07:47):
strengthens me.
See that connection between thejoy of the Lord and our
strength, right?
So?
So, okay, hold on.
No, you haven't really answeredthe question.
Why is it hard to choose this?
Well, because choosing thismeans that you have to have a
level of internal grit to sayyes to God and his will and his
interests in the world, evenwhen it's the most difficult
(08:09):
choice to make.
Like I said, joy is not justabout choosing to smile when
it's difficult or when we feellike it.
Choosing joy is about livingthe life that we're called to
with with an attitude of ofgratefulness and attitude of
encouragement and attitude of ofhopefulness, despite everything
(08:29):
that's going on, and not justdespite, but because of the
truth of God's presence in allof those things.
The Bible tells us againanother Paul quote no, we are
more than conquerors in all ofthese things, through him who
loved us.
So if we are more thanconquerors, if we have this
choice available to us, thenwhat happens really is not the
choice between joy and sadness.
(08:51):
It's the choice betweenstrength and loss.
Is a, joy is a is the choicebetween life and death.
It's the choice between rollingover in to die or getting back
up, even when it's the mostdifficult choice to make.
Choosing joy is hard becauseliving is hard In.
(09:15):
The rest is all about helpingyou live the life that you've
been called to live, living asGod intended you to live, living
your best in Christ, and that'shard.
It's one thing to know you havedepression, to know you're
struggling with anxiety, to knowyou're dealing with all those
things.
Whole other thing to believewith all of your heart that you
are a conqueror in all of that,through him who loved you.
(09:37):
It's a whole other thing to getup out of bed, not because I
have to, but because no, no, no.
I must because this is a lifethat God has given me.
I must because ther e arepeople th at are depending on me
t.
I must because God has made itpossible for me to get up, and
it is an insult and a spit inhis face for me to refuse a life
(09:59):
he's called me to live androlling over and surrender to
death.
Rather I should.
I should surrender in death toself and say no, no, no.
I don't care how difficult it isgoing to be, I don't care how
many failures it's going to take, I don't care how much effort
it's going to be on my part.
I'm going to get up.
I'm going to spend time withthat friend.
I'm going to be honest andconfess my sins.
(10:20):
I'm going to show up, and I'mgoing to show up in a way that's
present even when I, even whennothing in me has the strength
to do it.
I'm going to be the best momthat I can be.
I'm going to be the best dadthat I can be.
I'm going to be the best spousethat I can be.
No, not because it's theeasiest thing and not because my
kids are spouse deserving, butbecause this is the life that
God wants me to live and that myfriend is tapping into.
(10:42):
Joy that is choosing joy,because joy happens when we A
obey, obey, and joy happens whenwe tap into the life of Christ.
We tap into the kind of lifethat he lived, and he lived a
kind of life of resilience.
He lived the kind of life thatdepended on his father's
strength and not on his own.
He lived a life of constantwillingness to surrender to
(11:05):
God's purpose for his life.
Submit to God's will, even whenGod's will involved difficulty.
When I was going through some ofthe most difficult seasons of
depression I had ever sufferedas a teenager, one of the things
that I had to hold on tothrough the difficulties I was
experiencing the toxicrelationships I was still
experiencing, the negativeself-talk and the suicidal
(11:27):
ideation I was struggling with.
The thing that kept me goingwas believing, as a 16 year old,
that no, god wants to restoreme.
God is going to restore me andI can get up today with
gratitude because, in my presentmoment, god has given me the
strength to stand and to gothrough the difficulties I'm
(11:47):
feeling and he's given me afuture to look forward to, and
that's what kept me going.
That's what was so life-savingto me, this truth from God's
word that his intention for mewas good, that his heart for me
was good and that the futureahead of me was good.
And so that's what it meanswhen Paul is talking in Romans,
chapter 12.
I think it's actually verse 12,romans 12-12, when he says
(12:08):
rejoice and hope, be patient andaffliction, be faithful in
prayer, and so tapping into joy.
The reason why it's sodifficult, the reason why
choosing joy is so hard, isbecause it's not a choice of
vain happiness in the midst ofsorrow, it is true, surrender to
(12:29):
the purposes of the interestsof God in your life when you
have nothing left in you.
So that's why, that's why it'sso difficult.
And is there hope for you?
Absolutely there is, becauseGod does in fact have a purpose
and a desire for your life thatis better than you could ever
imagine, and I'm praying thatyou tap into that.
I pray that this episode hasbeen encouraging to you.
I want you to understand that,at the end of all this, the
(12:50):
choosing joy is attainable foryou and for me because of the
finished work of Christ on thecross in his resurrection, and
that life and death to the worldand death to your flesh, death
to that thing in you that justkind of wants to roll over and
die and give up.
That's attainable, thatstrength is attainable to you
today, in the name of Jesus andthe devil who comes to steal and
(13:14):
to kill and to destroy.
The one who does not need youto buy into a big fat lie, who
only needs to take a tiny littlelie that says no, maybe it's
not worth it, maybe you shouldgive up, maybe you should blank.
He does not have the final wordon your life.
He does not have a right todefine or direct you.
If you have put your trust inJesus Christ as your Savior and
(13:35):
your Lord and your leader andyour friend, jesus is the one
who defines you and directs you.
So don't give in to the beliefthat your life is no longer
worth living.
Don't give in to the beliefthat your failures are the
things that have defined you.
Don't give in to the beliefthat says you need to give up.
You don't need to give up, itis not too late.
It is never too late.
(13:56):
There's no story that Godcannot rewrite.
There is no life that Godcannot save.
There is nothing impossible forhim.
And even those lies, even thosesituations, even those lives
that are broken and ruined, thatthreaten to cause us to doubt
and give up on our faith, eventhose things are things that we
can overcome in our thought,life and in our faith.
(14:18):
When we say truly, witheverything we've got, no, no, no
.
God has a greater story and heis greater than all of the
things that I'm seeing in thedeep, dark reality of this world
.
There is nothing that canseparate you from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus.
There is nothing that can keepyou from being more than a
conqueror through Jesus, wholoved you on the cross.
I'm sorry for wagging my fingerat you, but that's the truth.
(14:39):
The truth is you are.
If you're, if you're a memberof the family of God, if you're
a son or daughter of His, you'reapproved of, you're loved, you
have a future, you have thepower to live the life that God
has called you to live, and Iwant to help you Now.
Here's the thing.
Okay, that's what this podcastis all about.
(15:00):
Keep listening to more of theseepisodes, because that's what
this is all about, but the factis, my prayer for you, my desire
for you is that you would beable to learn the secret.
And now it's not really asecret, it's not really, like
you know, a hidden mystery.
All it is is the truth.
Understand the truth that youcan, through Christ, who
strengthens you, go through allof those things Because he's
(15:25):
with you and he loves you andhe's walking with you to bring
you through this and redeem allof these difficulties in your
life.
There are times there's waste oftime in your life that you feel
like is irredeemable.
There's difficulties in yourlife that you feel are
irredeemable.
There's people in your life whoyou're maybe struggling with,
wondering if they'reirredeemable Relationships, your
(15:45):
finances, whatever it is.
But the fact is, god has a way.
God can make a way.
God can do all things.
You put your trust in Him.
If you say God, I need you, I'mgonna trust you.
I'm gonna give up, live thelife you call me to live.
Help me, help me walk with youthrough this.
(16:06):
Through Christ, you can do allthose things Because he's the
one who strengthens you.
So thank you for listening tothis episode of the InRest
Podcast If you want to have someassistance, some genuine,
tested, experienced wisdomintroduced into your life, if
you want someone to comealongside you and walk you
(16:28):
through a process ofimplementing the truths of the
gospel into your day-to-day life.
If you want someone to help youovercome some of these lies that
you're struggling with anddevelop a real strategy,
effective strategy for not onlydeveloping a rule of life, a way
of walking with Jesus every day, but also a strategy for
overcoming some of these mentalhealth issues that you're
struggling with, or even justfinding hope in the midst of
(16:51):
these difficulties that you'reexperiencing.
I would love to be a part ofthat story.
My name's Noah.
I'm the host of the InRestPodcast, but I'm also the owner
and proprietor of the InRestInstitute.
I exist to help other peoplelive their best in Christ and,
if you'd like to meet it, be acoach in your life to bring you
through a process and to leadyou through a process and guide
(17:11):
you through a process in whichyou are able to take on the
truths of the gospel for you andfor your life and for your
future.
I would love to be a part ofthat.
If you want to DM me atinrestinsta on Instagram, or
send me a message on theFacebook page facebookcom inrest
podcast or even just leave acomment and say Coach, I would
love to reach out to you and getback to you and have a little
(17:34):
bit of a conversation with youabout what it might look like
for me to come alongside you inthis journey of integrating the
truths of the gospel into yourday-to-day life.
In the meantime, jesus lovesyou and I love you too, and I
pray that you would trust inJesus more fully than you ever
have before and you'd live thelife that he's called you to
live.
Thank you again so much.
Don't forget to follow,subscribe, leave a comment,
(17:56):
leave a review.
If you're listening to this onSpotify, watching on YouTube or
any other platform, please makesure you interact with me.
I'd love to get in touch withyou, but also leave a 5-star
review or like or subscribe orsomething or comment.
I would love to interact and Iwould love to hear of your
engagement, and that wouldreally help podcast a lot and
get this message out to otherpeople who might need to know
(18:17):
that life is worth living andthat the life that God has for
you is worth living.
Again, thank you.
Jesus loves you.
God bless, bye.
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