July 5, 2024 • 59 mins
Have you ever found yourself in the depths of despair, wondering if there’s a way out? I know that struggle all too well.
Join me on this episode of the In Rest Podcast, as I share my deeply personal journey of battling depression and s ucidal ideation from a young age, and how I discovered an unshakeable joy through the strength and love God.
This isn’t just about depression vs. happiness; it’s about finding stability, purpose, and resilience through faith, even in the most challenging times.
Explore the intertwining of purpose and faith as we reflect on Jesus' teachings and my own transformative experiences. From a rock-bottom moment of despair at age 16 to a renewed dedication to Jesus, I’ll reveal how working from a place of rest in God’s grace can lead to a life filled with joy.
Obviously, Christian community and serving others practically make a big difference, so we touch on that too.
We also get practical with tips for anchoring yourself in God through daily spiritual practices. Overcome self-pity and the pitfalls of comparison by integrating the Word of God into your life through reading and prayer into your routine.
This episode is an invitation to experience the divine delight of living well in Christ, embracing the joy and fulfillment that comes from a life rooted in faith and grace.
Additional Music Credit:
Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/walz/library
License code: PB8YPXRQUDGQNOYC
Become a sponsor: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1863312/support
Links: https://beacons.ai/inrest
Instagram: @inrest.insta | https://www.instagram.com/inrest.insta/
Facebook: @inrestpodcast | https://www.fb.com/inrestinstitute
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@inrest
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what's up.
It's Noah here for anotherepisode of the In Rest podcast.
Today we are going to talkabout joy.
I'm going to talk to you abouta goal that I have, that is part
of a project I've been tryingto work on for many years and by
many I mean like two and I'mgoing to talk about, you know,
(00:21):
one of the practices you can dotoday to start experiencing more
of the fulfillment that God hasin store for you.
So, without further ado, let'sget to it.
So let's talk about first adefinition of joy, but before we
(00:42):
do, I want to share a storywith you.
So when I was 14 years old, Iwas struggling with depression.
I was struggling withun-alive-ing thoughts.
I was struggling with what theywould call un-alive-ing
ideation.
Now, I'd started strugglingwith this a few years beforehand
, but when I was 14 years old, Iactually made my depression
(01:02):
such a large theme, such a largepart of my life, that it became
almost intertwined with myidentity.
I made my sadness a part of whoI was.
I remember one of the firstgraphics that I'd ever designed
for myself.
I think I made it in MicrosoftPaint, or something you know you
millennials might remember ifyou're listening those days when
(01:24):
you would just mess around onMicrosoft Paint.
Well, I took a picture ofmyself and I put it onto
Microsoft Paint and I actuallyput on this miserable failure.
I made that my Facebook profilepicture and I got people
commenting saying you're notthat.
Blah, blah, blah.
And partly I enjoyed theattention and partly, I think, I
(01:46):
just straight up believed thatthat was part of who I was and I
wanted to project that image tothe people who knew me.
I'm a miserable failure and,interestingly enough, that title
, that moniker, that idea, thattheme, that concept of identity
that kind of carried with mefrom that day until today.
(02:06):
I mean, now it's 2024, manyyears later, and today I still,
every once in a while, willstruggle with this theme that
I'm a miserable failure and partof that is a struggle with
mental health.
Part of that is a struggle withmental health, Part of that is
a struggle with spiritualwarfare, Some of that is
(02:27):
struggling with an internal benttowards self-pity and some of
that is just part of my wiringand my personality as being an
achiever, being somebody whowants to do well and being
someone who wants to do well forothers to be a success in
regards to being good, right,righteous, well-doing, whatever.
(02:49):
So what's going on with thatand why do I share that story?
When talking about joy, it'snot joyful.
Well, the un-alive-ing ideationkind of landed on this, idea
that I was worthless, that I wasuseless and that I didn't have
a purpose for living life.
I remember the most significanttime struggling with that was
(03:10):
two years later.
I was 16 years old.
I was dating a girl and shelived another 10 or 15 minutes
away from me.
Maybe it was like 20 minutes, Idon't know.
Anyway, we lived the distanceapart.
I didn't know how to drive yetat this point.
I got my driver's license thatsummer and my parents and my
brother would kind of be thatperson in the car with me so I
(03:30):
could drive there.
But, bottom line, I couldn'tget around by myself.
And I remember having time withmy girlfriend and then going
home and then kind of basicallygravitating back to this
relationship as sort of beingthe center of my life.
I eventually stopped reading theBible, I stopped reading
devotional plans and eventuallyI stopped praying.
(03:53):
I put aside not just myrelational prayers of talking
honestly and being open with God, but I also put aside my
ritualistic prayers.
I put aside my routine ofpraying and one part of my
routine with praying was prayingthrough the Lord's Prayer and
once that went away, I rememberwaking up in the morning in the
(04:14):
summer of 2012 and looking at mydrop-down ceiling in my bedroom
in the basement of my parents'home and thinking there is no
reason for me to exist today,there's no purpose for me in my
life, and that was the closest Ithink I ever got to um really
(04:35):
consenting to the process ofcommitting Sue E.
Side, consenting to an attemptat Sue E.
Side.
There was other times where I Ihad a close call, but that was
the closest I'd ever come totaking y owen life.
And whenever I share that story, I think about what kept me
from taking that step ofcommitting Sue E.
(04:55):
Side, what kept me from doingthat.
And I think if I were to go backin time and I were to evaluate
it all, I think the thing thatkept me from committing Sue E.
Side was joy.
Now it's easy to get soobsessed with the concept of
being happy that you lose out onthe actual stability that is
(05:15):
brought about by the joy of theLord.
The Bible tells us that the joyof the Lord is our strength.
I believe it's in Nehemiah 8,verse 10.
And that word strength actuallyis derived from the Hebrew word
for the English word fortitude.
So the English word that wewould say strength can be used
in lots of differentconnotations.
Lots of different meanings canbe attached to the word strength
(05:39):
.
A lot of times when we thinkabout strength, we think about
Arnold Schwarzenegger, we thinkabout body builders, dudes that
can pick things up and put themdown Okay, we think about people
who are able to.
You know, um, yeah, like in theBourne movies, the Jason Bourne
movies, I think, um, there wasone that in the trailer you see
(06:00):
Jason Bourne take his blood,just one punch, boom and knock
out this guy in the trailer.
It's just awesome, you know.
Or you think about, um, you knowdifferent, different depictions
from movies like the MissionImpossible films, where, you
know, tom Cruise's characterjumps off of a building, lands
on the other side, grabbing theedge and pulling himself back up
(06:20):
, and that's an expression ofstrength.
We think about people who maybebullied us, people who
exemplified strength in apositive, healthy way, maybe a
father figure or, straight up,our dad, who was the strongest
person in our world.
Maybe there was some otherexample that comes to mind for
you.
I think about single moms, Ithink about dads who go into
(06:42):
situations where theiradrenaline is pumping and they
just rip a car door off of youknow, off of a vehicle accident
or whatever, and they just likego in and rescue somebody.
Those are all things that areconsistent with strength, you
know.
But like, when you think aboutthe strength of, say, like I
said, a single mom, when youthink about the strength of
(07:02):
someone who endures a lot ofsuffering, you're not thinking
about strength from theperspective of the ability to
bench press 225 pounds, althoughthat's pretty impressive.
It's really about the abilityto endure, and that's what the
joy of the Lord is.
The joy of the Lord is ourability to endure.
The joy of the Lord is ourfortitude against life's
(07:26):
sufferings.
You know, jesus mentions in John, chapter 16, verse 33, in this
world you will have trouble, buttake heart, for I have overcome
the world.
But before he says that hetalks about abiding in him and
having union and relationshipwith him, which then leads into
the byproduct of joy, that ourjoy would be complete and his
(07:52):
joy would be in us.
He says specifically in theorder I've told you these things
about abiding in his love,obeying his commands so that my
joy may be in you, so Jesus' ownpersonal joy may be in us his
love, obeying his commands.
So that my joy may be in you,so Jesus' own personal joy may
be in us, his disciples, andspecifically the 12 disciples,
or the 11 who happen to be there, and that my joy, or that your
(08:16):
joy, rather, would be complete.
Your joy, yours, the joy thatyou have, would be complete,
would be well-rounded, would beperfect, in a way, would be so
complete that nothing could takeit away.
And I remember fast forwarding.
Okay, so I'm 16 years old, I'min my basement, I'm looking at
(08:39):
the ceiling and I'm thinkingthere's no reason for me to
exist today.
And when I'm looking up at myceiling, there's this place in
me that is devoid of a reason,devoid of a purpose, devoid of
hope, because, from my angle andthe way that I'm wired, I have
(09:01):
a desire to go into the worldwith purpose.
When I walk around, like I walkwith intention, unless I don't
have any reason to be somewhere,in which case I'm going to
meander about, you know, like,if you see me at church, if you
see me, you know, walking downthe hall on my way to a meeting
or something like, or even justwalking into a building.
(09:22):
A lot of friends of mine orcoworkers would describe me as
Kramer, like the Seinfeldcharacter, as I would just like
burst into a door, slam it andbe like, hey, you know, because
I just, you know, I just, when Iwalk into places, I want to
walk into, walk into a space ormy world with purpose and
intention, and so my wiringattached my deepest sorrow to a
(09:46):
lack of purpose.
And all of us, especially as men, I think there's a desire to
have purpose for life, there's adesire to offer a strength to
the world and to the people thatwe love, so that our, our place
in this world has value.
You know, like, our, our valuein our own minds are, is
attached to what we can do, whatwe can, what we can perform and
(10:08):
the purpose that we serve inthat world.
You know, like, give me a manwho suffers all kinds of sorrow,
every tragedy under the underthe heavens and yet has purpose.
You see a man that canwithstand even more.
You give me a man with nopurpose, no sense of valuable
work, no sense of strength tooffer.
(10:30):
Even a man that is physicallyor mentally disabled, who has a
purpose can withstand anything.
But give me a man with nopurpose, give me a man with no
sense that he has something tooffer to the world, and you can
see a man who will crumble, aman who is devoid of hope,
(10:51):
because our future hope often issomehow factored into purpose.
Right, our purpose is factoredinto hope and vice versa.
And so when God saves us, whenhe rescues us, when he rescues a
person, when he rescues a woman, when he rescues a man, he's
rescuing us with purpose and hegives us purpose as part of our
(11:13):
identity.
When the prodigal son returnshome, a robe is put on him, a
signet ring is put on his fingerand, with that, purpose is
restored to him.
You know that he isreintegrated into the work of
the family business and he isrestored to relationship with
his father at the same time.
It's happening all at once, andso it's not that life is about
(11:36):
work, but work is a part of whatwe are, it's a part of what god
made us to do.
It's not not a bad thing.
And so here on the In Restpodcast, you know we want to
explore what does it look liketo work from a place of rest,
work and add value, from a placeof restored relationship with
the Father, you know, from aplace of right relationship with
(11:59):
God, which includes rest, whichincludes stopping.
And so here I am.
You know, I'm a 16-year-old boyand I'm looking up at my
ceiling and I have no reason tostopping.
And so here I am, you know, I'ma 16 year old boy and I'm
looking up at my ceiling and Ihave no reason to exist.
And I'm right, I'm this close,very, very close, to committing
Sue E.
Side.
Fast forward one year.
I'm 17 years old, I have beenbaptized by this point, I've
(12:21):
dedicated my life to Jesus andsomething shifts in me.
So, a year after having been inthe deepest, darkest place in my
life, a year goes by and I getto go on this youth trip with
other students who areChristians, who I've known for a
number of years, and we're allserving the poor and through
this week of outreach those ofus who are part of you know life
(12:44):
in Atlantic Canada.
Maybe you are familiar withTidal Impact.
That was the event that I wenton with my friends and my youth
group.
And here I was, halfway throughthis event, standing by this
kitchen island, in this homelessshelter, and I'm serving with
my friends.
We're making like a pancakebreakfast or something and like
(13:05):
going out and serving andtalking to the, talking to the
guys that come in and, um,talking to the people, from any
background really, that show up.
There's a lot of people thatshowed and you know, I don't
know what I was doing.
I think it was like mixing uppancake batter, you know,
serving up bacon, whatever.
And at some point there was sortof this lull where people were
served and we were just sort ofwaiting for more people to show
(13:26):
up.
And I'm looking over the islandunit full of stuff.
We're looking at pancake batter, bowls and plates and forks and
stuff, all kinds of stuff.
And I see all of my friendsaround and the youth leaders
that brought us and the leadpastor that brought us along
with this trip and was the maindriver and everything.
I was seeing everybody in frontof us and something happens in
(13:46):
my soul, something clicks in myheart and I realized that I
finally understand somethingabout joy that I never
understood.
I received and had realized joy.
Joy was complete in a way.
You know, joy came to me and itwas a kind of joy that if you
(14:06):
could get an IV drip of it, youwould keep it forever.
And I remember thinking I wantto do this the rest of my life
and that summer instead of thesummer before it where I thought
maybe I'll take my own lifebecause I have no purpose the
following summer was the summerwhere I really started to
realize what my purpose was,which was to serve Jesus and
(14:27):
serve others along with otherpeople who are brothers and
sisters in Christ along with me.
So I had no community a yearago.
From that point.
I had no friends.
I had burned every bridge, myfamily relationships were
totaled and I felt there was nopurpose, no value for me to add,
even though I had lots of workto do at my summer job this
(14:49):
summer.
Instead, this summer that I hadthe year later, I have a
community around me.
I have Christ in me, I have apurpose to serve in this
community and to the people whoare outside in the outside world
.
And I've started to realizethis is what I wanted to do the
rest of my life and that waspart of God establishing me into
(15:11):
the purpose of my life.
When I started asking thequestion, do I have any reason
to exist?
A year before, I had no ideathat a year later, I would be
asking God what is your purposefor my life, with the assumption
that he had a hope and a planand a future for me.
And what happened there?
You know what was going on inthe middle of this stuff, you
(15:32):
know?
And was it about purpose, wasit about work, was it about
service?
Yeah, all those are factors, butI think that the thing that
kept me a year ago fromcommitting Sue E.
Side in that journey, and thething that launched me even
further in my walk with god ayear later, was joy.
It was a realization of joy,and one of the things that I
(15:53):
realized in my deepest, darkestmoment that that summer, as at
the age of 16, was that, eventhough I had essentially walked
away from my life with God, hisjoy endured inside of me
somewhere, somewhere.
This teeny, tiny seed of joywas inside, and all the darkness
(16:24):
that surrounded me and made itsway into me, and all of the
sins that I'd committed and allthe works that I'd been doing
that were against God, all theways that I'd forsaken him, he
had not forsaken me and his joywas in me, you know, and it was
a joy that gave me fortitude tolive Literally, and it was a joy
(16:44):
that gave me fortitude to liveliterally.
God's joy in me saved my lifeand kept me alive.
It was life support for me andI realized that.
(17:15):
You know, I realized a yearlater that that joy was becoming
even more developed because ofGod's work in me and his grace
working in and through me.
So what is joy?
What's the definition here thatwe need to living out a life of
completed joy, of a full joy, afullness of joy of developing,
growing increasingly more,greater joy.
(17:35):
How does a person live in hope?
Well, the Bible tells us Maythe God of hope fill you with
joy and peace as you trust inhim, so that, by the power of
the Holy Spirit, you'll overflowwith hope.
So what is joy?
Joy from the Greek word that'sused throughout the New
Testament, joy as kakha.
(17:57):
Okay, so if, if grace the wordthe, if grace, the Greek word
grace or gift is charis, thenjoy is from the same word.
Is chara.
Chara, you know, and chara islike, essentially, it's the idea
(18:21):
of it's part of the gift giving, exchange, okay, so, so from a
greek perspective, from a newtestament perspective, grace is
offered by god to humanitythrough jesus, by the power of
the holy spirit and accordingwith god, according to god's
plan of grace that was startedeven before the world began in
(18:42):
order that human beings might berescued from their death, from
sin and from shame.
And grace works into us, savesus and brings us into a position
of right relationship with Godthrough faith.
Our faith becomes a vehicle bywhich we live in relationship
(19:04):
with God.
Vehicle by which we live inrelationship with god.
Our trust and belief that whatjesus did for us not only
mattered but it mattered for us,our, our admonition, our
exception, our acceptance thatjesus death on the cross, his
resurrection and his ascensionestablished us in God as sons
(19:24):
and daughters, that grace, thatgift, when we receive it,
becomes joy to us.
Joy made complete is not justthe receiving of that love but
(19:47):
also the grasping of it, so thatit makes its way into us and
integrates into us.
Because that word, kara or joy,is just the completed form of
the word karis.
So if karis is the word grace,it's offered, then you could
imagine the Greek word kara orjoy is received.
Kara or joy is received.
It's grace received.
Kara is grace offered.
It's offered in a position ofoffering a gift.
(20:12):
Kara, is when you let yourhands be open and take hold of
the gift that is afforded to youthrough that grace is afforded
to you through that grace.
So joy is the integrating ofGod's grace into our lived
experience through faith andthrough the power of the Holy
(20:33):
Spirit.
Let me say that again.
Okay, joy, if I can say itagain, joy is I don't know how
to say it again.
It was really well articulatedthe first time.
I don't have another one in me,I can't do it.
But basically, joy is justreceiving grace and letting it
(20:53):
be integrated into our lifethrough faith in the power of
the Holy Spirit.
So joy is a fulfillment of thegrace-giving process.
It's the acceptance and thereception of God's love and
favor in your life and it'staking hold of it in an active
way.
You know like is like when youreally go after something to get
(21:17):
it and you receive it, you ripthat gift open.
It's kind of like when you wakeup on Christmas morning.
Maybe you remember being a kidwaking up Christmas morning.
You go down the steps.
You know, if you're amillennial like myself, you
didn't have, you know, aChristmas where you were
expecting a big, fat iPad oranything.
You were expecting like a bikeor something, I don't know.
(21:38):
Whatever you were expecting, Iremember at one point we
actually had our living roomupstairs, so.
So we had to wake up, get outof my bunk bed.
Okay, make my way to the otherside of the house, go down the
stairs.
Go to the other side of thehouse, go up the stairs where
the living room was and waitpatiently.
Wait for everybody to get up.
(21:59):
I probably got up five o'clockin the morning or something.
Everybody gets upstairs and myparents are like okay, go at it,
open up your presence.
And this thing, like this place, is just overloaded with gifts.
Okay, just so much abundance.
And we go into it and we justrip those gifts as hard as we
can.
Parents take pictures, much toour chagrin, because we just
want to focus on opening gifts.
(22:19):
But here we are, we open up thepresence and what's here left
with us except this joy.
God, wow, this is awesome.
Look at this gift that you gaveme.
This is so.
This is exactly what I wanted.
Oh, socks, that's here as well,you know.
And you move along with thatand you go to another gift that
you're really excited about.
You find a sled that you'regoing to use today, whatever.
And the next thing you know,you know you go from acting on
(22:43):
receiving to experiencinghappiness, which is really a
byproduct of grace.
Happiness for the Christian lifeis a byproduct of receiving
grace.
Happiness in the Christian lifeis a byproduct of receiving
grace.
And, uh, but that's what it.
(23:04):
That's what the, the greek wordor joy, is implicating.
That's what it.
That's what it's about.
So if you are going to look ata definition of joy, it's going
to be connected to receivinggrace from a christian
perspective.
So when we look at joy,sometimes we get so confused by
(23:25):
the western idea of the pursuitof happiness right that we think
about the three inalienablerights of humanity, which are
life, liberty and the pursuit ofhappiness that we get from the
Declaration of Independence.
Independence, but that AmericanWestern idea, which was partly
(23:47):
connected to Christianity,because a lot of the founding
fathers had at least been intouch with Christianity
religiously and perhaps, maybe,as dedicated people.
I mean, we don't know for surehow much of the Christian
message made it into their dailywalk, but we do know that they
were at least influenced by theChristian message, as well as
the French Enlightenment andother revolutionary ideas from
(24:11):
philosophy at that time.
So we kind of have this mix ofthe self-actualization
individual, you know, this sortof self-focused, self-oriented
idea of the pursuit of happiness, whereas each man, each human
being, has in him these threeinalienable rights, which are
the life, liberty and thepursuit of happiness.
(24:32):
But the thing is, is that froma biblical perspective, okay,
and from a Judeo-Romanperspective?
You know, those, those thevalues that we, that we see in
Jesus' day, versus the valuesthat he himself communicated,
what he said, they don't live inperfect congruence with what we
(24:52):
believe the Western idea of thepursuit of happiness actually
is.
Put in other words, god's joy isnot America's joy, is not
America's joy.
God's joy is not humanity'sself-actualization according to
his own ideas, standards andprocedures.
(25:13):
God's joy in us is theactualization and the
realization of God's purpose andwill in our life, through his
grace, received through faithand acted upon in love, in the
expression of love to God and toothers in the world.
That's happiness from God'sperspective.
And if we get that, we havemore joy than we have the
(25:39):
ability to receive.
We have more joy available insuch abundance that we have less
of a capacity to receive itthan there is abundance to
access so much access to joythrough living out God's life
for us that we don't even havethe capacity to receive it all.
It's like a joy that we justdon't have the ability to keep
(26:04):
inside because there's just notenough of us to hold all that
joy.
Like we're not living in ascarcity christianity that's not
the christianity that jesusoffers us.
We're not living in just arelease from judgment, which is
amazing, and that's that initself is so amazing but we're
released from judgment intojesus.
(26:26):
Life like we're released fromthe life of judgment into the
life of jesus like a life ofjudgment is essentially to live
as one who stands condemned.
The bible tells us john 3, 3,18, john 3, verse 18.
But those who do not believe,those who do not believe, are
already condemned because theydid not believe in God's one and
(26:49):
only son.
We stand condemned outside offaith, and so to live a life of
judgment is to live a life ofhopelessness, because the only
thing we have to look forward tois condemnation and death.
But we're released from thatcondemnation and death.
But we're released from thatcondemnation and death.
(27:09):
The Bible tells us there is nocondemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus, which meansthat anybody who is a Christian,
who really lives the life of aChristian, they have attainable,
accessible joy because they, atthe very least, have been
released from a life ofcondemnation.
Jesus literally tookcondemnation on your behalf so
that you could live outside ofcondemnation forever and you're
(27:33):
released from a life of judgmentand you're released into the
life of the Son of God.
Paul himself said I am crucifiedto the world and the world is
crucified to me.
It is no longer I who lives,but Christ who lives in me.
To live is Christ and to die isgain.
So what is he saying?
(27:54):
He's like?
Well, as I live my life here inthis physical planet, in this
material world, on this side ofthe return of Christ and the
renewal of all things, on thisside of God's plan for humanity,
I experience Christ and thelife of Christ as a son, just
like he is.
I live in the inheritance ofJesus today and I have nothing
(28:18):
better to look forward to thandeath or to the return of Jesus,
because at some point, when Iam reunited with the Lord, I
have nothing but gain to lookforward to, whereas the life
outside of Christ has nothingbut loss to look forward to.
It's lost today.
Lost today to look forward tonothing but loss tomorrow, which
(28:42):
is why so many of the peoplethat we see who are living
outside of Christ, are living ina way that they're experiencing
a depression and an existentialsadness and sorrow that leads
nowhere but the end of thatsorrow in exchange for an even
greater one, a death that is ofa first order in exchange for a
(29:04):
second order, order in exchangefor a second order of death and
a loss.
That is one way, and it justevolves into an even worse kind
of death in the future, so thatthey just say let's eat, drink
and be merry, because this isall there is.
Yolo.
You only live once.
This is all we get.
Um, if you're gonna have anyjoy, you're gonna have it now,
you know.
And we're just going to keepdoing this tomorrow and the day
(29:27):
after that until we die, youknow, because we have no hope.
And so why is that allimportant with joy?
Well, it's like, dude, you haveso much joy affordable to you
if you were to realize youridentity in Jesus as a son or a
daughter of God.
You have so much more joy thanyou have the capacity to hold
(29:51):
and it's all available if youhave the relationship of father
and son, the relationship thatGod has made available to you
through Jesus, at the forefrontof your life.
Depression from a worldlyperspective perspective leads us
nowhere but more depression.
And if we were, if we are to beconformed to the pattern of
(30:11):
this world, then we are going todo the exact same things that
the people who are on theoutside of christ do all the
time, which is, give in to thethought of depression and
destitution and then give in towhatever pleasure that we have
available to us, because there'snothing to look forward to but
death, nothing to look forwardto but loss, even in mourning,
(30:33):
even at a Christian funeral.
Paul says in 1 Thessalonianslet us not mourn as those who
have no hope, but as those whodo have hope.
When we mourn today, we don'tstay mourning.
Listen, I can be in adepressive episode for six
months, but somewhere I knowit's going to be over.
Who do have hope, like when wemourn today, we don't stay
mourning Like.
Listen, I can be in adepressive episode for six
months, but like somewhere, Iknow it's going to be over.
I just know it.
And so the days that have comeafter my struggles with
(30:55):
depression, un-alive-ingthoughts, when they come again,
when those struggles withun-alive-ing thoughts come again
, I just remember, bro, likeJesus is the center of my life.
And this is not the end, all beall.
I have more to look forward to.
So, yeah, joy, what's a practiceto start taking this on today,
(31:22):
man, the Bible tells us, rejoicealways, pray, pray continually,
give thanks in allcircumstances.
You know I mentioned that alife of judgment um is one in
which we are lost and we staylost because we have not
accepted and received, throughfaith, the grace that god
affords us through jesus, thatgives us relationship with him.
(31:42):
If we, we live a life of lossfor everything, because of that
position, there's nothing reallyto look forward to.
But because of Jesus, becauseof what he did, because of what
the price that he paid, becauseof the step that he took to be
resurrected from the dead andbecause of the position that he
currently is now, we today, asfollowers of him, get to live a
(32:06):
life of hope, joy and peace.
The Bible tells us that thekingdom of God is not found in
eating and drinking.
These things are peripheral.
They're great and they're agift from God, but they're not
the point, even with regards toa standard of morality that
comes out of eating and drinking.
That's not the point, guys.
It's not about our behaviorsnow, it's about righteousness,
(32:31):
peace and joy in the holy spirit.
Righteousness, peace and joy inthe holy spirit that's the
kingdom of god righteousness,peace and joy in the holy spirit
.
And so, yeah, we're obeyingGod's commands because God is
literally working righteousnessinto us.
And what is righteousnessexcept love, you know.
(32:51):
And then once you haverighteousness in you, like if
you have love in you, at somepoint you have an experience of
wholeness, of peace, a sense ofinner serenity as a result of
that peace.
And then what comes, like joycome on, you're overwhelmed with
happiness because, like, yourlife is blessed.
(33:12):
So what else do we have to doexcept rejoice always, pray all
the time and give thanks, nomatter what circumstance we're
in, because we have a lot to bethankful for.
The bible says john 3, 16.
And for God, so loved.
In this way, god loved theworld right by raising up Jesus
on the cross to die for us,sending the son of man to die
(33:33):
for us on the cross, right ForGod, so in this way loved the
world that he gave his only onlybegotten son, that whoever
believes in him or believeth inhim will not perish, will not
die, will not end in a life ofloss and condemnation that's the
(33:56):
noah paraphrase but haveeternal life, have relationship
with god, where they know godand know the Son who he sent,
jesus, and live in union withhim, in oneness with him.
And so I'm adding, I'm kind ofputting in John 3, 16, some of
the truths that are laterrevealed in John, chapter 17,
(34:18):
which I would encourage you toread John chapter 17,.
The other Lord's prayer,chapter 3 of John, verse 17,
goes like this For God did notsend his son into the world to
condemn the world, but to savethe world through him.
(34:40):
Oh, there's so much I want toget into with that, but just
just like.
But like when?
What is your gut reaction tohearing that?
What is your knee-jerk reactionto hearing that god didn't send
jesus into this world tocondemn the world, but to save
the world?
But to restore the world, ifyou want to say like the greek
(35:03):
word for save, the g Greek word,sozo, where we get, you know,
our understanding of salvationin the New Testament really
means to restore something toright relationship, to wellness,
to health.
Like God sent Jesus into theworld.
You could literally say God didnot send Jesus into the world
to condemn the world to death,but rather to rescue the world
(35:25):
in order to give it life, toheal the world, to restore
humanity to right relationshipwith the father of love, to love
, to bring the world back tolove and life forever.
What's your reaction to that?
Because I don't know about you,man, but it's relief for me.
It it's relief and it's rest,and it's peace and it's joy.
(35:49):
So you know, but what's thepractice?
How do you rejoice always, praycontinually and give thanks in
all circumstances?
How do you keep these things,these reasons for joy, in front
of you all the time?
How do you keep your purpose infront of you all the time?
How do you really live out yourpurpose if you've got a lot to
think about?
Well, read the Word of God andget into it every single day of
(36:11):
your life and you will neverlose sight of what you can have
joy in.
If you are reading the Word ofGod for all it's worth and
really getting into it andreally understanding it and
really asking the Holy Spirit tohelp you grasp it, you'll never
lose reasons.
You'll never run out of ways torejoice, always, to pray and to
(36:35):
give thanks in everycircumstance of your life.
Psalm 23, my cup overflows.
You anoint my head with oil.
My cup overflows.
Surely, your goodness and lovewill follow me all the days of
my life, will pursue me, willchase after me all the days of
my life, and I will dwell in thehouse of the lord forever.
(36:58):
That's your future.
That's your present and yourfuture.
Your head is anointed with oil.
He, he's chosen you, he lovesyou, he's given you purpose,
he's given you an abundance oflove and grace, an extravagant
generosity, and he's literallychasing after you every day of
(37:19):
your life, with his goodness andhis loving kindness.
The Bible, even the biblicalwriters, had a hard time putting
into words God's faithful love,and so they literally made up a
word called chesed, which isloving kindness, in the Hebrew
texts.
God's loving kindness willpursue you.
His goodness and his lovingkindness, his chesed love, his
(37:44):
unyielding love, his love thatnever gives up on you, will
pursue you all the days of yourlife.
That's your present and in thefuture.
And even now, you're going todwell in the house of the Lord.
(38:05):
Even right now, you're part ofGod's household, even right now,
among your brothers and sistershere on earth, in the community
that God has given you.
You are in the household of theLord, you're part of his
kingdom, you're a part of hiskingdom, you're a part of his
family.
That's what you are, that'syour present and that's your
future.
(38:28):
I don't know who needs to hearthis today, but if you're in
Jesus, your present and yourfuture is the love of God and
his goodness for you that nevergives up and never leaves you
and will never, ever abandon you.
You have been abandoned before.
You felt love leave you before,but god's love, expressed to
(38:54):
you and demonstrated in j in thecross of Jesus, his love for
you, will never fail you and hewill never forsake you.
He'll never abandon you, hewill never leave you.
But how do I know that?
Well, jesus loves me.
(39:15):
This I know, for the Bibletells me so.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Jesus loves me.
This I know, for the Bibletells me so.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Jesus loves you.
Yes, I know, for the bibletells you so.
Listen, you want to get intojoy every day?
Read the word of god.
Richard foster, spiritualpractices guy I don't know what
you'd call him spiritualformation writer, I don't know
spiritual writer he wrote thatthe fruit of study okay is joy.
The result of studying the Wordof God is joy, you know, letting
(40:05):
God into your mind and yourheart, into your thinking.
It's joy.
Paul said.
I've learned the secret ofbeing content and it's through
Christ who strengthens me.
I can do everything.
Whether it's poverty, whetherit's humiliation, whether it's
shame, whether it's pain,whether it's getting hurt by
(40:26):
others, with betrayal by others,the suffering that I endure,
it's all possible because ofchrist in me who strengthens me.
And what is christ in youexcept joy?
If you take hold of christ, youhave joy.
And, like when you read thatpassage from that perspective,
when you read that passage fromthe perspective that jesus
(40:47):
formed in you is complete joyand it's had by getting into the
word of god.
Abiding in the word of god,obeying the word of god if you
obey his, the word of God,obeying the word of God If you
obey his commands, you show thatyou love him.
In obeying his commands, youare showing that you are his
disciple, that you really are anapprentice of Jesus and you
really are learning how tobecome more like Jesus, because
(41:13):
you are like Jesus in that Godhas made you his child, his son,
his daughter, with whom he isvery, very happy.
He's very, very happy with you,you know you just accepting
Jesus is enough for him to beoverwhelmed with delight over
you.
You know, as I mentioned, as aman throughout my life
(41:36):
developing as a boy, whateverthe emphasis has been on
performance, achieving, striving, trying to make myself not
worthless, never worthy, neverbeing able to become worthy I
always try to make myself notworthless.
I'm useless.
But if I work really hard,maybe I won't be useless and
(41:56):
then I'll have a place at thetable.
God says no, you are lovedalready.
You don't have to.
The only thing that you neededwas the vehicle of faith.
You already believe in me.
That's all I need tooverwhelmingly pour over you my
lavish love, which says you aremy beloved son, with whom I am
(42:18):
well pleased.
I'm proud of you, just the wayyou are.
Noah, I love you and I don'tknow where your name is
listening, but god is saying theexact same thing to you.
All I need is your faith, andso how do you stay in that truth
?
How do you stay in that it's?
We'll be reading the of God.
That's the only way that you'regoing to stay in that truth.
(42:40):
Read and pray, said John Wesley.
There is no other way.
Read and pray.
And that doesn't mean you haveto read the book cover to cover.
I would advise that you do,because it changed my life.
You know the context of meexperiencing complete joy was
reading through the Bible in thecontext of my everyday life, in
(43:05):
the order in which God providedit, like reading through the
scriptures in the context of mydaily, crazy high school life,
changed my life and completelyset me up to live a life of
fullness, significance, successand peace and worthiness, not
(43:27):
from a worldly Westernperspective, but from a true,
real, love-filled perspective.
I have had so many joys and I,as a 14 year old boy, had
entertained the thought of Sue E.
Side enough.
If I, as a 16 year old boy,would have given into the lie
that I was, I was not loved andthat I had no purpose, if I had
(43:52):
really truly committed Sue E.
Side in those days, I wouldn'thave experienced the
overwhelming joys that God hadyet to give me, and I would have
probably prevented a lot ofsuffering too.
I would have avoided pain andsorrow, but it would have been
at the great cost and loss ofthe opportunity to experience
(44:14):
God's overwhelming love and joyfor me in the midst of those
difficulties.
So where are you right now?
What do you need to do?
What verse do you need to read?
You don't need to read theBible cover to cover to
experience God's joy.
I'd advise you to do that, toread it all the way through.
It doesn't matter how long ittakes three years, four years,
(44:34):
five years, doesn't matter.
Just receive the whole counselof god for your life.
Read the bible every single day.
And you know what, if you'vejust got to start reading psalm
23 every day, just read it.
There's like I don't know sixverses like I think you can
handle that like you've got whatit takes, man, you've got what
it takes, lady, come on, getthat word out woman, Get that
(44:57):
word out, my guy, and startreading the Bible.
Okay.
Now there's other things withjoy that I didn't touch on.
I've had to take medication toovercome anxiety before.
I've had to go to 12 plus years, 13 years of counseling on and
off.
I've had to really lean onother people and develop an
(45:18):
interdependence with others thatI found very uncomfortable and
vulnerable.
I've listened to music that hashelped me in my really deep
depressions and sadnesses.
As life has gone on, even inthe last six months, I've had to
, you know, to get myself out ofa mental battle through music
or through friendship or throughconfession or through whatever.
(45:40):
I have had to pray againstspiritual warfare.
I've had to pray against Satan.
I know not everybody's on thatvein, even Christians.
You're like oh, that's for someother Christian that believes
in that kind of stuff.
Dude, it's real, sorry, it'sreal and the enemy is is just
happy to to make you feel likethe overwhelm you're
(46:01):
experiencing is all your fault.
It's not the enemy, the devilyour enemy.
He prowls around like a rovinglion looking for someone to
devour.
The devil is a predator and hehas emissaries and other spirits
under him who seek to underminethe work of god in your life.
Don't let him fight back.
(46:22):
Pray the truth of god into andover your life and the name of
jesus and the authority and thelove of god over you every
single day.
Be watchful, be mindful, besober-minded.
All those things were elementsfor me to overcome that.
But I had to overcome self-pityas well.
There were just straight upstuff that was my problem, that
(46:42):
I had to deal with.
I had to take ownership for,take extreme ownership over your
life and refuse to give in toself-pity, refuse to give in to
this idea of victimhood thatyou're forever a victim.
You're not.
You're not.
Listen, man.
I've endured horrible thingsfrom people and there are many
(47:04):
people that I know who haveendured things that are much
more horrendous than what I'veendured, even just by virtue of
some of the people I'veinteracted with, some of the
young women I've interacted within my life who have gotten to
know their suffering is double,a double portion on top of
anything I could have ever dealtwith, just by virtue of being a
woman in a very dark world.
(47:24):
And all of us have endured theloss of innocence, the loss of
friends and family members andpains beyond measure.
But, friends, don't give in tothe temptation of self-pity.
Don't do it.
It's not worth it.
Let Jesus rule over you andgive you this sense that you are
(47:46):
not bound to victimhood, You'rebound for victory because of
what Jesus has done in andthrough your life, and then take
steps to heal.
Don't ever give in to thebelief that you'll never be
healed, that you'll never beokay, that the anguish is my
whole life now, forever and ever.
There's lots of chronic painthat I've dealt with,
specifically with mental health,and I'm telling you, I know
(48:07):
that there's a day coming thatI'm not going to experience that
depression.
And there are times that I haveto admit, with respect to
everything I've already said,I've had to give in to the
reality that there are timeswhen I've mishandled my battle
with depression and I've let itovercome me when I should have
been ruling it.
And you're going to have thosedays, too, where you're going to
(48:29):
have to confess and say dang, Idid not handle this the way
that God wanted me to and I gavein.
And it's not guilt or shame,it's just a realization that
there's some work that you'vegot to do too, and I think
Oswald Chambers said thatself-pity or he wrote in my
utmost for his highest self-pityis one of the chief enemies of
the Christian life.
(48:49):
Don't give in.
Receive a complete revelationand restoration of self through
Christ.
Like I said, don't be conformedto the patterns of this world,
which will keep getting youright back into those same
patterns, scrolling social media, comparing yourself to other
people, losing your sense of joybecause the stories that you're
putting in front of you are theare counter, or the opposite,
(49:12):
are their counter, to what Godhas for you.
Even looking at Christianinfluencers on TikTok, instagram
and thinking my life couldnever be as good as theirs, my
relationship with God will neverbe like that.
Compare, compare.
Compare.
Comparison is the thief of joy,as they say.
Put the phone away, at leastfor some time.
You know, curate your socialmedia, whatever you gotta do,
(49:32):
but the fact is, if you're notintentional, you're gonna
conform to the pattern of thisworld again and again.
So resolve and commit today witha friend, with yourself.
Write it down whatever is gonnabe most motivating to you.
I had to do this yesterday,last night you know it's almost
midnight I'm talking to my bestbud one of my best buds on a
(49:54):
call on Discord and I'm like yo,I gotta commit that I'm gonna
do this, this and this this week, um, and we're gonna pray for
each other.
We're gonna, we're gonna fast,we're gonna pray for each other
and it's gonna happen.
So, wherever you are today, ifthere's one step, one practice
that you can do today to get youinto joy more and to have more
(50:18):
of that fulfillment of thatpurpose and desire that God has
for you and coming intoalignment with it, taking hold
of that joy, experiencing moreof that fortitude, it's studying
the Word, and you can do thatthrough the Bible Project.
You can do that through theBible app on your phone.
You can do that through thePause app, which is an amazing
resource provided by the Wild atHeart team in Colorado.
(50:41):
You can read books, you know,like the Bible Captivating Wild
at Heart, by John and StaceyEldridge, or so John Eldridge
for Wild at Heart, staceyEldridge and John Eldridge for
Captivating, you know.
Read other books, like, youknow, atomic Habits, which I
(51:01):
don't even think is a Christianbook, but like read a different
story that gives you a narrativethat God is telling, which is
that you are not bound tovictimhood, you are bound for
victory in Christ.
So thank you for listening tothe super long podcast episode.
I did not plan on having it bethis long, but I gotta tell you,
like your battle, whatever itmight be, or the friend but
(51:24):
maybe a friend.
You know you're listening tothis and you're like this just
not all of this is resonatingwith me.
I understand I gotta get in theword and everything, but, um,
maybe you have a friend whoreally needs to hear this and
maybe you, maybe, maybe you havesome tools in your toolbox now
and some of the conversationsthat you have with them where
you can say hey, I know thatyou're struggling a lot.
I just want to sit with you andlisten, I want to hear your
(51:45):
story and I want to pray for youand I just want you to know
that you're not bound tovictimhood.
You're not a slave.
You're a son or a daughter.
You're loved, you're delightedin um, whatever, uh, but
whatever battle you have infront of you, whether that's
yours or it's for a person inyour life, or you're praying
through a son or daughter, aspouse um, victimhood is not
(52:09):
your future and, in christ, it'snot theirs either.
God willing, he has a plan towork into them, if they will
receive it, and he has a planfor you.
The bible tells us I know it'sout of context.
People say this verse is out ofcontext all the time.
But with respect to jeremiah29's original context, which is
(52:30):
that of jeremiah the prophetspeaking to an exiled people uh,
those who would be at one time,very soon, exiled to Babylon,
where God was, you know, goingto outpour his judgment and
wrath on them for their sins hecommunicates something of grace,
not just to them, but to ustoday.
That is this I know the plansthat I have for you, declares
(52:53):
the Lord.
Plans to prosper you and not toharm you.
Declares the Lord Plans toprosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and afuture.
My friends, god's intent for youis not to stay condemned, not
to be condemned at all.
Just like for his people,israel at that time, his intent
is to bring you into arestoration, to bring you a
better relationship with him, tobring you hope and a future.
(53:13):
That's plan, for I know theplans I have for you.
He knows them and he declaresit to you now not to harm you
but to prosper you, meaning toexcel, exceed you in wisdom,
exceed you in joy.
That comes from him, from hisstandpoint, not from this weird
(53:34):
western self-actualizationstandpoint, but from a realizing
your God-given identitystandpoint as a person who is
part of the household of God.
He has a plan for your life.
God loves you so, so much.
So I pray that you'd be blessed.
I pray that you would have arealization of joy, true joy, in
(53:55):
your life and that you wouldexperience just divine delight,
as you delight in the divinethrough study, through
confession, through time withother Christians, through
service.
Lots of things to do to getmore joy, but study the word,
serve others, study the word,serve others and just sit in his
(54:20):
love for you sometime, you know, sit in his love for you.
Pray and say God, what is thetruth that you have for me today
, whether it's hard to hear orit's easy to hear, what do I
need to know?
Help me to sit in that truthtoday and just listen, just
listen.
You know, just listen.
Let your self-pity and all theother thoughts, even when they
(54:41):
start to flood your mind, justsay God, I'm just going to
listen.
He's with you and he loves you.
Thank you for enjoying the InRest podcast with me today.
I pray that it was a joy to youtoday and that it brought about
joy in your life.
I'm really grateful for you.
I hope that you can be gratefuleven more for the relationship
that you have with God.
(55:01):
I pray that you would alsoconnect with this community.
I'm releasing the In Restcommunity very soon, which is a
free community for all of thosewho want to experience more of
God every day, who want toexperience more of rest, more of
joy, more purpose, more purposefrom God's perspective, people
(55:23):
who really just want to livewell in Christ, who want to live
well and love others well inJesus.
I what the In Rest Communityis all about.
It's a free community alsogoing to be revealing an a, an
unleashing, releasing a paidcommunity platform called the
den, which is essentially forthose who really want to live
(55:43):
boldly and courageously asfollowers of jesus christ, who
are empowered and encouraged,who want to go through group
coaching, who want to experiencemore of what god has for them
for their present and theirfuture, uh, and want to overcome
their past you know, reallywant to go deep on that.
I'm revealing and releasinggroup coaching as well.
There's going to beopportunities for one-to-one
(56:03):
coaching.
There's a book coming outthat's going to explore more of
these concepts about joy, truejoy, happiness from a biblical
perspective and the fundamentalsthereof.
So I'm really looking forwardto releasing all that because I
really want to add value to myother friends in the faith who
just really need moreencouragement in this season.
And, in addition to that, Ihave a website, or I'm going to
(56:26):
have a website that's going tohave more resources on it.
If you're listening to this onSpotify, I'd really be blessed
if you were to rate this podcastas five stars, because it'll
get that, get the word out formore people of what it could
look like to live a moreintegrated life with Jesus life
lived well, loving others wellin Jesus and thriving in Christ,
(56:46):
living their best in Christ.
In addition, uh, if you'rewatching this on YouTube, I'm
really proud of you because thiswas an hour long.
So if you had it open on a tabor something, but you or you
were watching it the full waythrough, um, hey, thanks, you
know, I I'm really, I'm reallyjazzed that you would be, um,
you would have the endurance towatch this all the way through.
(57:07):
Would you leave a like?
Would you leave a comment?
Would you subscribe?
That would really help.
Hit the like button, like thebell icon, so that you can be
notified if there is anotherepisode that's come up, share
this with someone, go back andlisten to another part of the
(57:27):
episode again if it's helpful.
And you know, there's going tobe so many more resources.
There's going to be a blogwhere guest writers are going to
share about their experience,and I'm just so excited for the
future of this platform.
I really want God to just useit.
You know, and that was one ofmy commitments last night with
my best buddy.
One of my best buds was hey,I'm going to focus more on I
est because I want to see peopleblessed, which rhymed, but I
(57:49):
didn't mean it to.
Okay, so anyway, thank you somuch for listening or watching
the In Rest podcast with NoahJames Wiebe.
That's me.
Please leave a comment, send aDM in the @inrestinsta okay, the
Instagram account or theFacebook page at In Rest
Institute or facebook.
com In Rest Institute.
(58:10):
I would really really love toconnect with you and be praying
for you.
So you know, if you have aprayer request or if you want to
come into agreement with whatyou've heard today, just you
know, in the comments, just typeamen, I receive this.
I want more God.
I want more of you, lord, justyou know, leave a quick prayer
just to really participate andtake action, and I think it
might help with just engaging,you know.
So, in any case, this has beenNoah James Wiebe with In Rest
(58:34):
Podcast podcast.
Jesus really does love you andhe cares about you, and I know
that because his word testifiesto it and he died for you for a
reason.
So I just hope you know justhow much you're loved by God and
how much he has for you.
(58:55):
So Jesus loves you.
You have a great day and seeyou next time.
Hey, what's up.
It's Noah here for anotherepisode of the In Rest podcast.
Today we are going to talkabout joy.
I'm going to talk to you abouta goal that I have, that is part
of a project I've been tryingto work on for many years and by
many I mean like two and I'mgoing to talk about, you know,
(00:21):
one of the practices you can dotoday to start experiencing more
of the fulfillment that God hasin store for you.
So, without further ado, let'sget to it.
So let's talk about first adefinition of joy, but before we
(00:42):
do, I want to share a storywith you.
So when I was 14 years old, Iwas struggling with depression.
I was struggling withun-alive-ing thoughts.
I was struggling with what theywould call un-alive-ing
ideation.
Now, I'd started strugglingwith this a few years beforehand
, but when I was 14 years old, Iactually made my depression
(01:02):
such a large theme, such a largepart of my life, that it became
almost intertwined with myidentity.
I made my sadness a part of whoI was.
I remember one of the firstgraphics that I'd ever designed
for myself.
I think I made it in MicrosoftPaint, or something you know you
millennials might remember ifyou're listening those days when
(01:24):
you would just mess around onMicrosoft Paint.
Well, I took a picture ofmyself and I put it onto
Microsoft Paint and I actuallyput on this miserable failure.
I made that my Facebook profilepicture and I got people
commenting saying you're notthat.
Blah, blah, blah.
And partly I enjoyed theattention and partly, I think, I
(01:46):
just straight up believed thatthat was part of who I was and I
wanted to project that image tothe people who knew me.
I'm a miserable failure and,interestingly enough, that title
, that moniker, that idea, thattheme, that concept of identity
that kind of carried with mefrom that day until today.
(02:06):
I mean, now it's 2024, manyyears later, and today I still,
every once in a while, willstruggle with this theme that
I'm a miserable failure and partof that is a struggle with
mental health.
Part of that is a struggle withmental health, Part of that is
a struggle with spiritualwarfare, Some of that is
(02:27):
struggling with an internal benttowards self-pity and some of
that is just part of my wiringand my personality as being an
achiever, being somebody whowants to do well and being
someone who wants to do well forothers to be a success in
regards to being good, right,righteous, well-doing, whatever.
(02:49):
So what's going on with thatand why do I share that story?
When talking about joy, it'snot joyful.
Well, the un-alive-ing ideationkind of landed on this, idea
that I was worthless, that I wasuseless and that I didn't have
a purpose for living life.
I remember the most significanttime struggling with that was
(03:10):
two years later.
I was 16 years old.
I was dating a girl and shelived another 10 or 15 minutes
away from me.
Maybe it was like 20 minutes, Idon't know.
Anyway, we lived the distanceapart.
I didn't know how to drive yetat this point.
I got my driver's license thatsummer and my parents and my
brother would kind of be thatperson in the car with me so I
(03:30):
could drive there.
But, bottom line, I couldn'tget around by myself.
And I remember having time withmy girlfriend and then going
home and then kind of basicallygravitating back to this
relationship as sort of beingthe center of my life.
I eventually stopped reading theBible, I stopped reading
devotional plans and eventuallyI stopped praying.
(03:53):
I put aside not just myrelational prayers of talking
honestly and being open with God, but I also put aside my
ritualistic prayers.
I put aside my routine ofpraying and one part of my
routine with praying was prayingthrough the Lord's Prayer and
once that went away, I rememberwaking up in the morning in the
(04:14):
summer of 2012 and looking at mydrop-down ceiling in my bedroom
in the basement of my parents'home and thinking there is no
reason for me to exist today,there's no purpose for me in my
life, and that was the closest Ithink I ever got to um really
(04:35):
consenting to the process ofcommitting Sue E.
Side, consenting to an attemptat Sue E.
Side.
There was other times where I Ihad a close call, but that was
the closest I'd ever come totaking y owen life.
And whenever I share that story, I think about what kept me
from taking that step ofcommitting Sue E.
(04:55):
Side, what kept me from doingthat.
And I think if I were to go backin time and I were to evaluate
it all, I think the thing thatkept me from committing Sue E.
Side was joy.
Now it's easy to get soobsessed with the concept of
being happy that you lose out onthe actual stability that is
(05:15):
brought about by the joy of theLord.
The Bible tells us that the joyof the Lord is our strength.
I believe it's in Nehemiah 8,verse 10.
And that word strength actuallyis derived from the Hebrew word
for the English word fortitude.
So the English word that wewould say strength can be used
in lots of differentconnotations.
Lots of different meanings canbe attached to the word strength
(05:39):
.
A lot of times when we thinkabout strength, we think about
Arnold Schwarzenegger, we thinkabout body builders, dudes that
can pick things up and put themdown Okay, we think about people
who are able to.
You know, um, yeah, like in theBourne movies, the Jason Bourne
movies, I think, um, there wasone that in the trailer you see
(06:00):
Jason Bourne take his blood,just one punch, boom and knock
out this guy in the trailer.
It's just awesome, you know.
Or you think about, um, you knowdifferent, different depictions
from movies like the MissionImpossible films, where, you
know, tom Cruise's characterjumps off of a building, lands
on the other side, grabbing theedge and pulling himself back up
(06:20):
, and that's an expression ofstrength.
We think about people who maybebullied us, people who
exemplified strength in apositive, healthy way, maybe a
father figure or, straight up,our dad, who was the strongest
person in our world.
Maybe there was some otherexample that comes to mind for
you.
I think about single moms, Ithink about dads who go into
(06:42):
situations where theiradrenaline is pumping and they
just rip a car door off of youknow, off of a vehicle accident
or whatever, and they just likego in and rescue somebody.
Those are all things that areconsistent with strength, you
know.
But like, when you think aboutthe strength of, say, like I
said, a single mom, when youthink about the strength of
(07:02):
someone who endures a lot ofsuffering, you're not thinking
about strength from theperspective of the ability to
bench press 225 pounds, althoughthat's pretty impressive.
It's really about the abilityto endure, and that's what the
joy of the Lord is.
The joy of the Lord is ourability to endure.
The joy of the Lord is ourfortitude against life's
(07:26):
sufferings.
You know, jesus mentions in John, chapter 16, verse 33, in this
world you will have trouble, buttake heart, for I have overcome
the world.
But before he says that hetalks about abiding in him and
having union and relationshipwith him, which then leads into
the byproduct of joy, that ourjoy would be complete and his
(07:52):
joy would be in us.
He says specifically in theorder I've told you these things
about abiding in his love,obeying his commands so that my
joy may be in you, so Jesus' ownpersonal joy may be in us his
love, obeying his commands.
So that my joy may be in you,so Jesus' own personal joy may
be in us, his disciples, andspecifically the 12 disciples,
or the 11 who happen to be there, and that my joy, or that your
(08:16):
joy, rather, would be complete.
Your joy, yours, the joy thatyou have, would be complete,
would be well-rounded, would beperfect, in a way, would be so
complete that nothing could takeit away.
And I remember fast forwarding.
Okay, so I'm 16 years old, I'min my basement, I'm looking at
(08:39):
the ceiling and I'm thinkingthere's no reason for me to
exist today.
And when I'm looking up at myceiling, there's this place in
me that is devoid of a reason,devoid of a purpose, devoid of
hope, because, from my angle andthe way that I'm wired, I have
(09:01):
a desire to go into the worldwith purpose.
When I walk around, like I walkwith intention, unless I don't
have any reason to be somewhere,in which case I'm going to
meander about, you know, like,if you see me at church, if you
see me, you know, walking downthe hall on my way to a meeting
or something like, or even justwalking into a building.
(09:22):
A lot of friends of mine orcoworkers would describe me as
Kramer, like the Seinfeldcharacter, as I would just like
burst into a door, slam it andbe like, hey, you know, because
I just, you know, I just, when Iwalk into places, I want to
walk into, walk into a space ormy world with purpose and
intention, and so my wiringattached my deepest sorrow to a
(09:46):
lack of purpose.
And all of us, especially as men, I think there's a desire to
have purpose for life, there's adesire to offer a strength to
the world and to the people thatwe love, so that our, our place
in this world has value.
You know, like, our, our valuein our own minds are, is
attached to what we can do, whatwe can, what we can perform and
(10:08):
the purpose that we serve inthat world.
You know, like, give me a manwho suffers all kinds of sorrow,
every tragedy under the underthe heavens and yet has purpose.
You see a man that canwithstand even more.
You give me a man with nopurpose, no sense of valuable
work, no sense of strength tooffer.
(10:30):
Even a man that is physicallyor mentally disabled, who has a
purpose can withstand anything.
But give me a man with nopurpose, give me a man with no
sense that he has something tooffer to the world, and you can
see a man who will crumble, aman who is devoid of hope,
(10:51):
because our future hope often issomehow factored into purpose.
Right, our purpose is factoredinto hope and vice versa.
And so when God saves us, whenhe rescues us, when he rescues a
person, when he rescues a woman, when he rescues a man, he's
rescuing us with purpose and hegives us purpose as part of our
(11:13):
identity.
When the prodigal son returnshome, a robe is put on him, a
signet ring is put on his fingerand, with that, purpose is
restored to him.
You know that he isreintegrated into the work of
the family business and he isrestored to relationship with
his father at the same time.
It's happening all at once, andso it's not that life is about
(11:36):
work, but work is a part of whatwe are, it's a part of what god
made us to do.
It's not not a bad thing.
And so here on the In Restpodcast, you know we want to
explore what does it look liketo work from a place of rest,
work and add value, from a placeof restored relationship with
the Father, you know, from aplace of right relationship with
(11:59):
God, which includes rest, whichincludes stopping.
And so here I am.
You know, I'm a 16-year-old boyand I'm looking up at my
ceiling and I have no reason tostopping.
And so here I am, you know, I'ma 16 year old boy and I'm
looking up at my ceiling and Ihave no reason to exist.
And I'm right, I'm this close,very, very close, to committing
Sue E.
Side.
Fast forward one year.
I'm 17 years old, I have beenbaptized by this point, I've
(12:21):
dedicated my life to Jesus andsomething shifts in me.
So, a year after having been inthe deepest, darkest place in my
life, a year goes by and I getto go on this youth trip with
other students who areChristians, who I've known for a
number of years, and we're allserving the poor and through
this week of outreach those ofus who are part of you know life
(12:44):
in Atlantic Canada.
Maybe you are familiar withTidal Impact.
That was the event that I wenton with my friends and my youth
group.
And here I was, halfway throughthis event, standing by this
kitchen island, in this homelessshelter, and I'm serving with
my friends.
We're making like a pancakebreakfast or something and like
(13:05):
going out and serving andtalking to the, talking to the
guys that come in and, um,talking to the people, from any
background really, that show up.
There's a lot of people thatshowed and you know, I don't
know what I was doing.
I think it was like mixing uppancake batter, you know,
serving up bacon, whatever.
And at some point there was sortof this lull where people were
served and we were just sort ofwaiting for more people to show
(13:26):
up.
And I'm looking over the islandunit full of stuff.
We're looking at pancake batter, bowls and plates and forks and
stuff, all kinds of stuff.
And I see all of my friendsaround and the youth leaders
that brought us and the leadpastor that brought us along
with this trip and was the maindriver and everything.
I was seeing everybody in frontof us and something happens in
(13:46):
my soul, something clicks in myheart and I realized that I
finally understand somethingabout joy that I never
understood.
I received and had realized joy.
Joy was complete in a way.
You know, joy came to me and itwas a kind of joy that if you
(14:06):
could get an IV drip of it, youwould keep it forever.
And I remember thinking I wantto do this the rest of my life
and that summer instead of thesummer before it where I thought
maybe I'll take my own lifebecause I have no purpose the
following summer was the summerwhere I really started to
realize what my purpose was,which was to serve Jesus and
(14:27):
serve others along with otherpeople who are brothers and
sisters in Christ along with me.
So I had no community a yearago.
From that point.
I had no friends.
I had burned every bridge, myfamily relationships were
totaled and I felt there was nopurpose, no value for me to add,
even though I had lots of workto do at my summer job this
(14:49):
summer.
Instead, this summer that I hadthe year later, I have a
community around me.
I have Christ in me, I have apurpose to serve in this
community and to the people whoare outside in the outside world
.
And I've started to realizethis is what I wanted to do the
rest of my life and that waspart of God establishing me into
(15:11):
the purpose of my life.
When I started asking thequestion, do I have any reason
to exist?
A year before, I had no ideathat a year later, I would be
asking God what is your purposefor my life, with the assumption
that he had a hope and a planand a future for me.
And what happened there?
You know what was going on inthe middle of this stuff, you
(15:32):
know?
And was it about purpose, wasit about work, was it about
service?
Yeah, all those are factors, butI think that the thing that
kept me a year ago fromcommitting Sue E.
Side in that journey, and thething that launched me even
further in my walk with god ayear later, was joy.
It was a realization of joy,and one of the things that I
(15:53):
realized in my deepest, darkestmoment that that summer, as at
the age of 16, was that, eventhough I had essentially walked
away from my life with God, hisjoy endured inside of me
somewhere, somewhere.
This teeny, tiny seed of joywas inside, and all the darkness
(16:24):
that surrounded me and made itsway into me, and all of the
sins that I'd committed and allthe works that I'd been doing
that were against God, all theways that I'd forsaken him, he
had not forsaken me and his joywas in me, you know, and it was
a joy that gave me fortitude tolive Literally, and it was a joy
(16:44):
that gave me fortitude to liveliterally.
God's joy in me saved my lifeand kept me alive.
It was life support for me andI realized that.
(17:15):
You know, I realized a yearlater that that joy was becoming
even more developed because ofGod's work in me and his grace
working in and through me.
So what is joy?
What's the definition here thatwe need to living out a life of
completed joy, of a full joy, afullness of joy of developing,
growing increasingly more,greater joy.
(17:35):
How does a person live in hope?
Well, the Bible tells us Maythe God of hope fill you with
joy and peace as you trust inhim, so that, by the power of
the Holy Spirit, you'll overflowwith hope.
So what is joy?
Joy from the Greek word that'sused throughout the New
Testament, joy as kakha.
(17:57):
Okay, so if, if grace the wordthe, if grace, the Greek word
grace or gift is charis, thenjoy is from the same word.
Is chara.
Chara, you know, and chara islike, essentially, it's the idea
(18:21):
of it's part of the gift giving, exchange, okay, so, so from a
greek perspective, from a newtestament perspective, grace is
offered by god to humanitythrough jesus, by the power of
the holy spirit and accordingwith god, according to god's
plan of grace that was startedeven before the world began in
(18:42):
order that human beings might berescued from their death, from
sin and from shame.
And grace works into us, savesus and brings us into a position
of right relationship with Godthrough faith.
Our faith becomes a vehicle bywhich we live in relationship
(19:04):
with God.
Vehicle by which we live inrelationship with god.
Our trust and belief that whatjesus did for us not only
mattered but it mattered for us,our, our admonition, our
exception, our acceptance thatjesus death on the cross, his
resurrection and his ascensionestablished us in God as sons
(19:24):
and daughters, that grace, thatgift, when we receive it,
becomes joy to us.
Joy made complete is not justthe receiving of that love but
(19:47):
also the grasping of it, so thatit makes its way into us and
integrates into us.
Because that word, kara or joy,is just the completed form of
the word karis.
So if karis is the word grace,it's offered, then you could
imagine the Greek word kara orjoy is received.
Kara or joy is received.
It's grace received.
Kara is grace offered.
It's offered in a position ofoffering a gift.
(20:12):
Kara, is when you let yourhands be open and take hold of
the gift that is afforded to youthrough that grace is afforded
to you through that grace.
So joy is the integrating ofGod's grace into our lived
experience through faith andthrough the power of the Holy
(20:33):
Spirit.
Let me say that again.
Okay, joy, if I can say itagain, joy is I don't know how
to say it again.
It was really well articulatedthe first time.
I don't have another one in me,I can't do it.
But basically, joy is justreceiving grace and letting it
(20:53):
be integrated into our lifethrough faith in the power of
the Holy Spirit.
So joy is a fulfillment of thegrace-giving process.
It's the acceptance and thereception of God's love and
favor in your life and it'staking hold of it in an active
way.
You know like is like when youreally go after something to get
(21:17):
it and you receive it, you ripthat gift open.
It's kind of like when you wakeup on Christmas morning.
Maybe you remember being a kidwaking up Christmas morning.
You go down the steps.
You know, if you're amillennial like myself, you
didn't have, you know, aChristmas where you were
expecting a big, fat iPad oranything.
You were expecting like a bikeor something, I don't know.
(21:38):
Whatever you were expecting, Iremember at one point we
actually had our living roomupstairs, so.
So we had to wake up, get outof my bunk bed.
Okay, make my way to the otherside of the house, go down the
stairs.
Go to the other side of thehouse, go up the stairs where
the living room was and waitpatiently.
Wait for everybody to get up.
(21:59):
I probably got up five o'clockin the morning or something.
Everybody gets upstairs and myparents are like okay, go at it,
open up your presence.
And this thing, like this place, is just overloaded with gifts.
Okay, just so much abundance.
And we go into it and we justrip those gifts as hard as we
can.
Parents take pictures, much toour chagrin, because we just
want to focus on opening gifts.
(22:19):
But here we are, we open up thepresence and what's here left
with us except this joy.
God, wow, this is awesome.
Look at this gift that you gaveme.
This is so.
This is exactly what I wanted.
Oh, socks, that's here as well,you know.
And you move along with thatand you go to another gift that
you're really excited about.
You find a sled that you'regoing to use today, whatever.
And the next thing you know,you know you go from acting on
(22:43):
receiving to experiencinghappiness, which is really a
byproduct of grace.
Happiness for the Christian lifeis a byproduct of receiving
grace.
Happiness in the Christian lifeis a byproduct of receiving
grace.
And, uh, but that's what it.
(23:04):
That's what the, the greek wordor joy, is implicating.
That's what it.
That's what it's about.
So if you are going to look ata definition of joy, it's going
to be connected to receivinggrace from a christian
perspective.
So when we look at joy,sometimes we get so confused by
(23:25):
the western idea of the pursuitof happiness right that we think
about the three inalienablerights of humanity, which are
life, liberty and the pursuit ofhappiness that we get from the
Declaration of Independence.
Independence, but that AmericanWestern idea, which was partly
(23:47):
connected to Christianity,because a lot of the founding
fathers had at least been intouch with Christianity
religiously and perhaps, maybe,as dedicated people.
I mean, we don't know for surehow much of the Christian
message made it into their dailywalk, but we do know that they
were at least influenced by theChristian message, as well as
the French Enlightenment andother revolutionary ideas from
(24:11):
philosophy at that time.
So we kind of have this mix ofthe self-actualization
individual, you know, this sortof self-focused, self-oriented
idea of the pursuit of happiness, whereas each man, each human
being, has in him these threeinalienable rights, which are
the life, liberty and thepursuit of happiness.
(24:32):
But the thing is, is that froma biblical perspective, okay,
and from a Judeo-Romanperspective?
You know, those, those thevalues that we, that we see in
Jesus' day, versus the valuesthat he himself communicated,
what he said, they don't live inperfect congruence with what we
(24:52):
believe the Western idea of thepursuit of happiness actually
is.
Put in other words, god's joy isnot America's joy, is not
America's joy.
God's joy is not humanity'sself-actualization according to
his own ideas, standards andprocedures.
(25:13):
God's joy in us is theactualization and the
realization of God's purpose andwill in our life, through his
grace, received through faithand acted upon in love, in the
expression of love to God and toothers in the world.
That's happiness from God'sperspective.
And if we get that, we havemore joy than we have the
(25:39):
ability to receive.
We have more joy available insuch abundance that we have less
of a capacity to receive itthan there is abundance to
access so much access to joythrough living out God's life
for us that we don't even havethe capacity to receive it all.
It's like a joy that we justdon't have the ability to keep
(26:04):
inside because there's just notenough of us to hold all that
joy.
Like we're not living in ascarcity christianity that's not
the christianity that jesusoffers us.
We're not living in just arelease from judgment, which is
amazing, and that's that initself is so amazing but we're
released from judgment intojesus.
(26:26):
Life like we're released fromthe life of judgment into the
life of jesus like a life ofjudgment is essentially to live
as one who stands condemned.
The bible tells us john 3, 3,18, john 3, verse 18.
But those who do not believe,those who do not believe, are
already condemned because theydid not believe in God's one and
(26:49):
only son.
We stand condemned outside offaith, and so to live a life of
judgment is to live a life ofhopelessness, because the only
thing we have to look forward tois condemnation and death.
But we're released from thatcondemnation and death.
But we're released from thatcondemnation and death.
(27:09):
The Bible tells us there is nocondemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus, which meansthat anybody who is a Christian,
who really lives the life of aChristian, they have attainable,
accessible joy because they, atthe very least, have been
released from a life ofcondemnation.
Jesus literally tookcondemnation on your behalf so
that you could live outside ofcondemnation forever and you're
(27:33):
released from a life of judgmentand you're released into the
life of the Son of God.
Paul himself said I am crucifiedto the world and the world is
crucified to me.
It is no longer I who lives,but Christ who lives in me.
To live is Christ and to die isgain.
So what is he saying?
(27:54):
He's like?
Well, as I live my life here inthis physical planet, in this
material world, on this side ofthe return of Christ and the
renewal of all things, on thisside of God's plan for humanity,
I experience Christ and thelife of Christ as a son, just
like he is.
I live in the inheritance ofJesus today and I have nothing
(28:18):
better to look forward to thandeath or to the return of Jesus,
because at some point, when Iam reunited with the Lord, I
have nothing but gain to lookforward to, whereas the life
outside of Christ has nothingbut loss to look forward to.
It's lost today.
Lost today to look forward tonothing but loss tomorrow, which
(28:42):
is why so many of the peoplethat we see who are living
outside of Christ, are living ina way that they're experiencing
a depression and an existentialsadness and sorrow that leads
nowhere but the end of thatsorrow in exchange for an even
greater one, a death that is ofa first order in exchange for a
(29:04):
second order, order in exchangefor a second order of death and
a loss.
That is one way, and it justevolves into an even worse kind
of death in the future, so thatthey just say let's eat, drink
and be merry, because this isall there is.
Yolo.
You only live once.
This is all we get.
Um, if you're gonna have anyjoy, you're gonna have it now,
you know.
And we're just going to keepdoing this tomorrow and the day
(29:27):
after that until we die, youknow, because we have no hope.
And so why is that allimportant with joy?
Well, it's like, dude, you haveso much joy affordable to you
if you were to realize youridentity in Jesus as a son or a
daughter of God.
You have so much more joy thanyou have the capacity to hold
(29:51):
and it's all available if youhave the relationship of father
and son, the relationship thatGod has made available to you
through Jesus, at the forefrontof your life.
Depression from a worldlyperspective perspective leads us
nowhere but more depression.
And if we were, if we are to beconformed to the pattern of
(30:11):
this world, then we are going todo the exact same things that
the people who are on theoutside of christ do all the
time, which is, give in to thethought of depression and
destitution and then give in towhatever pleasure that we have
available to us, because there'snothing to look forward to but
death, nothing to look forwardto but loss, even in mourning,
(30:33):
even at a Christian funeral.
Paul says in 1 Thessalonianslet us not mourn as those who
have no hope, but as those whodo have hope.
When we mourn today, we don'tstay mourning.
Listen, I can be in adepressive episode for six
months, but somewhere I knowit's going to be over.
Who do have hope, like when wemourn today, we don't stay
mourning Like.
Listen, I can be in adepressive episode for six
months, but like somewhere, Iknow it's going to be over.
I just know it.
And so the days that have comeafter my struggles with
(30:55):
depression, un-alive-ingthoughts, when they come again,
when those struggles withun-alive-ing thoughts come again
, I just remember, bro, likeJesus is the center of my life.
And this is not the end, all beall.
I have more to look forward to.
So, yeah, joy, what's a practiceto start taking this on today,
(31:22):
man, the Bible tells us, rejoicealways, pray, pray continually,
give thanks in allcircumstances.
You know I mentioned that alife of judgment um is one in
which we are lost and we staylost because we have not
accepted and received, throughfaith, the grace that god
affords us through jesus, thatgives us relationship with him.
(31:42):
If we, we live a life of lossfor everything, because of that
position, there's nothing reallyto look forward to.
But because of Jesus, becauseof what he did, because of what
the price that he paid, becauseof the step that he took to be
resurrected from the dead andbecause of the position that he
currently is now, we today, asfollowers of him, get to live a
(32:06):
life of hope, joy and peace.
The Bible tells us that thekingdom of God is not found in
eating and drinking.
These things are peripheral.
They're great and they're agift from God, but they're not
the point, even with regards toa standard of morality that
comes out of eating and drinking.
That's not the point, guys.
It's not about our behaviorsnow, it's about righteousness,
(32:31):
peace and joy in the holy spirit.
Righteousness, peace and joy inthe holy spirit that's the
kingdom of god righteousness,peace and joy in the holy spirit
.
And so, yeah, we're obeyingGod's commands because God is
literally working righteousnessinto us.
And what is righteousnessexcept love, you know.
(32:51):
And then once you haverighteousness in you, like if
you have love in you, at somepoint you have an experience of
wholeness, of peace, a sense ofinner serenity as a result of
that peace.
And then what comes, like joycome on, you're overwhelmed with
happiness because, like, yourlife is blessed.
(33:12):
So what else do we have to doexcept rejoice always, pray all
the time and give thanks, nomatter what circumstance we're
in, because we have a lot to bethankful for.
The bible says john 3, 16.
And for God, so loved.
In this way, god loved theworld right by raising up Jesus
on the cross to die for us,sending the son of man to die
(33:33):
for us on the cross, right ForGod, so in this way loved the
world that he gave his only onlybegotten son, that whoever
believes in him or believeth inhim will not perish, will not
die, will not end in a life ofloss and condemnation that's the
(33:56):
noah paraphrase but haveeternal life, have relationship
with god, where they know godand know the Son who he sent,
jesus, and live in union withhim, in oneness with him.
And so I'm adding, I'm kind ofputting in John 3, 16, some of
the truths that are laterrevealed in John, chapter 17,
(34:18):
which I would encourage you toread John chapter 17,.
The other Lord's prayer,chapter 3 of John, verse 17,
goes like this For God did notsend his son into the world to
condemn the world, but to savethe world through him.
(34:40):
Oh, there's so much I want toget into with that, but just
just like.
But like when?
What is your gut reaction tohearing that?
What is your knee-jerk reactionto hearing that god didn't send
jesus into this world tocondemn the world, but to save
the world?
But to restore the world, ifyou want to say like the greek
(35:03):
word for save, the g Greek word,sozo, where we get, you know,
our understanding of salvationin the New Testament really
means to restore something toright relationship, to wellness,
to health.
Like God sent Jesus into theworld.
You could literally say God didnot send Jesus into the world
to condemn the world to death,but rather to rescue the world
(35:25):
in order to give it life, toheal the world, to restore
humanity to right relationshipwith the father of love, to love
, to bring the world back tolove and life forever.
What's your reaction to that?
Because I don't know about you,man, but it's relief for me.
It it's relief and it's rest,and it's peace and it's joy.
(35:49):
So you know, but what's thepractice?
How do you rejoice always, praycontinually and give thanks in
all circumstances?
How do you keep these things,these reasons for joy, in front
of you all the time?
How do you keep your purpose infront of you all the time?
How do you really live out yourpurpose if you've got a lot to
think about?
Well, read the Word of God andget into it every single day of
(36:11):
your life and you will neverlose sight of what you can have
joy in.
If you are reading the Word ofGod for all it's worth and
really getting into it andreally understanding it and
really asking the Holy Spirit tohelp you grasp it, you'll never
lose reasons.
You'll never run out of ways torejoice, always, to pray and to
(36:35):
give thanks in everycircumstance of your life.
Psalm 23, my cup overflows.
You anoint my head with oil.
My cup overflows.
Surely, your goodness and lovewill follow me all the days of
my life, will pursue me, willchase after me all the days of
my life, and I will dwell in thehouse of the lord forever.
(36:58):
That's your future.
That's your present and yourfuture.
Your head is anointed with oil.
He, he's chosen you, he lovesyou, he's given you purpose,
he's given you an abundance oflove and grace, an extravagant
generosity, and he's literallychasing after you every day of
(37:19):
your life, with his goodness andhis loving kindness.
The Bible, even the biblicalwriters, had a hard time putting
into words God's faithful love,and so they literally made up a
word called chesed, which isloving kindness, in the Hebrew
texts.
God's loving kindness willpursue you.
His goodness and his lovingkindness, his chesed love, his
(37:44):
unyielding love, his love thatnever gives up on you, will
pursue you all the days of yourlife.
That's your present and in thefuture.
And even now, you're going todwell in the house of the Lord.
(38:05):
Even right now, you're part ofGod's household, even right now,
among your brothers and sistershere on earth, in the community
that God has given you.
You are in the household of theLord, you're part of his
kingdom, you're a part of hiskingdom, you're a part of his
family.
That's what you are, that'syour present and that's your
future.
(38:28):
I don't know who needs to hearthis today, but if you're in
Jesus, your present and yourfuture is the love of God and
his goodness for you that nevergives up and never leaves you
and will never, ever abandon you.
You have been abandoned before.
You felt love leave you before,but god's love, expressed to
(38:54):
you and demonstrated in j in thecross of Jesus, his love for
you, will never fail you and hewill never forsake you.
He'll never abandon you, hewill never leave you.
But how do I know that?
Well, jesus loves me.
(39:15):
This I know, for the Bibletells me so.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Jesus loves me.
This I know, for the Bibletells me so.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Jesus loves you.
Yes, I know, for the bibletells you so.
Listen, you want to get intojoy every day?
Read the word of god.
Richard foster, spiritualpractices guy I don't know what
you'd call him spiritualformation writer, I don't know
spiritual writer he wrote thatthe fruit of study okay is joy.
The result of studying the Wordof God is joy, you know, letting
(40:05):
God into your mind and yourheart, into your thinking.
It's joy.
Paul said.
I've learned the secret ofbeing content and it's through
Christ who strengthens me.
I can do everything.
Whether it's poverty, whetherit's humiliation, whether it's
shame, whether it's pain,whether it's getting hurt by
(40:26):
others, with betrayal by others,the suffering that I endure,
it's all possible because ofchrist in me who strengthens me.
And what is christ in youexcept joy?
If you take hold of christ, youhave joy.
And, like when you read thatpassage from that perspective,
when you read that passage fromthe perspective that jesus
(40:47):
formed in you is complete joyand it's had by getting into the
word of god.
Abiding in the word of god,obeying the word of god if you
obey his, the word of God,obeying the word of God If you
obey his commands, you show thatyou love him.
In obeying his commands, youare showing that you are his
disciple, that you really are anapprentice of Jesus and you
really are learning how tobecome more like Jesus, because
(41:13):
you are like Jesus in that Godhas made you his child, his son,
his daughter, with whom he isvery, very happy.
He's very, very happy with you,you know you just accepting
Jesus is enough for him to beoverwhelmed with delight over
you.
You know, as I mentioned, as aman throughout my life
(41:36):
developing as a boy, whateverthe emphasis has been on
performance, achieving, striving, trying to make myself not
worthless, never worthy, neverbeing able to become worthy I
always try to make myself notworthless.
I'm useless.
But if I work really hard,maybe I won't be useless and
(41:56):
then I'll have a place at thetable.
God says no, you are lovedalready.
You don't have to.
The only thing that you neededwas the vehicle of faith.
You already believe in me.
That's all I need tooverwhelmingly pour over you my
lavish love, which says you aremy beloved son, with whom I am
(42:18):
well pleased.
I'm proud of you, just the wayyou are.
Noah, I love you and I don'tknow where your name is
listening, but god is saying theexact same thing to you.
All I need is your faith, andso how do you stay in that truth
?
How do you stay in that it's?
We'll be reading the of God.
That's the only way that you'regoing to stay in that truth.
(42:40):
Read and pray, said John Wesley.
There is no other way.
Read and pray.
And that doesn't mean you haveto read the book cover to cover.
I would advise that you do,because it changed my life.
You know the context of meexperiencing complete joy was
reading through the Bible in thecontext of my everyday life, in
(43:05):
the order in which God providedit, like reading through the
scriptures in the context of mydaily, crazy high school life,
changed my life and completelyset me up to live a life of
fullness, significance, successand peace and worthiness, not
(43:27):
from a worldly Westernperspective, but from a true,
real, love-filled perspective.
I have had so many joys and I,as a 14 year old boy, had
entertained the thought of Sue E.
Side enough.
If I, as a 16 year old boy,would have given into the lie
that I was, I was not loved andthat I had no purpose, if I had
(43:52):
really truly committed Sue E.
Side in those days, I wouldn'thave experienced the
overwhelming joys that God hadyet to give me, and I would have
probably prevented a lot ofsuffering too.
I would have avoided pain andsorrow, but it would have been
at the great cost and loss ofthe opportunity to experience
(44:14):
God's overwhelming love and joyfor me in the midst of those
difficulties.
So where are you right now?
What do you need to do?
What verse do you need to read?
You don't need to read theBible cover to cover to
experience God's joy.
I'd advise you to do that, toread it all the way through.
It doesn't matter how long ittakes three years, four years,
(44:34):
five years, doesn't matter.
Just receive the whole counselof god for your life.
Read the bible every single day.
And you know what, if you'vejust got to start reading psalm
23 every day, just read it.
There's like I don't know sixverses like I think you can
handle that like you've got whatit takes, man, you've got what
it takes, lady, come on, getthat word out woman, Get that
(44:57):
word out, my guy, and startreading the Bible.
Okay.
Now there's other things withjoy that I didn't touch on.
I've had to take medication toovercome anxiety before.
I've had to go to 12 plus years, 13 years of counseling on and
off.
I've had to really lean onother people and develop an
(45:18):
interdependence with others thatI found very uncomfortable and
vulnerable.
I've listened to music that hashelped me in my really deep
depressions and sadnesses.
As life has gone on, even inthe last six months, I've had to
, you know, to get myself out ofa mental battle through music
or through friendship or throughconfession or through whatever.
(45:40):
I have had to pray againstspiritual warfare.
I've had to pray against Satan.
I know not everybody's on thatvein, even Christians.
You're like oh, that's for someother Christian that believes
in that kind of stuff.
Dude, it's real, sorry, it'sreal and the enemy is is just
happy to to make you feel likethe overwhelm you're
(46:01):
experiencing is all your fault.
It's not the enemy, the devilyour enemy.
He prowls around like a rovinglion looking for someone to
devour.
The devil is a predator and hehas emissaries and other spirits
under him who seek to underminethe work of god in your life.
Don't let him fight back.
(46:22):
Pray the truth of god into andover your life and the name of
jesus and the authority and thelove of god over you every
single day.
Be watchful, be mindful, besober-minded.
All those things were elementsfor me to overcome that.
But I had to overcome self-pityas well.
There were just straight upstuff that was my problem, that
(46:42):
I had to deal with.
I had to take ownership for,take extreme ownership over your
life and refuse to give in toself-pity, refuse to give in to
this idea of victimhood thatyou're forever a victim.
You're not.
You're not.
Listen, man.
I've endured horrible thingsfrom people and there are many
(47:04):
people that I know who haveendured things that are much
more horrendous than what I'veendured, even just by virtue of
some of the people I'veinteracted with, some of the
young women I've interacted within my life who have gotten to
know their suffering is double,a double portion on top of
anything I could have ever dealtwith, just by virtue of being a
woman in a very dark world.
(47:24):
And all of us have endured theloss of innocence, the loss of
friends and family members andpains beyond measure.
But, friends, don't give in tothe temptation of self-pity.
Don't do it.
It's not worth it.
Let Jesus rule over you andgive you this sense that you are
(47:46):
not bound to victimhood, You'rebound for victory because of
what Jesus has done in andthrough your life, and then take
steps to heal.
Don't ever give in to thebelief that you'll never be
healed, that you'll never beokay, that the anguish is my
whole life now, forever and ever.
There's lots of chronic painthat I've dealt with,
specifically with mental health,and I'm telling you, I know
(48:07):
that there's a day coming thatI'm not going to experience that
depression.
And there are times that I haveto admit, with respect to
everything I've already said,I've had to give in to the
reality that there are timeswhen I've mishandled my battle
with depression and I've let itovercome me when I should have
been ruling it.
And you're going to have thosedays, too, where you're going to
(48:29):
have to confess and say dang, Idid not handle this the way
that God wanted me to and I gavein.
And it's not guilt or shame,it's just a realization that
there's some work that you'vegot to do too, and I think
Oswald Chambers said thatself-pity or he wrote in my
utmost for his highest self-pityis one of the chief enemies of
the Christian life.
(48:49):
Don't give in.
Receive a complete revelationand restoration of self through
Christ.
Like I said, don't be conformedto the patterns of this world,
which will keep getting youright back into those same
patterns, scrolling social media, comparing yourself to other
people, losing your sense of joybecause the stories that you're
putting in front of you are theare counter, or the opposite,
(49:12):
are their counter, to what Godhas for you.
Even looking at Christianinfluencers on TikTok, instagram
and thinking my life couldnever be as good as theirs, my
relationship with God will neverbe like that.
Compare, compare.
Compare.
Comparison is the thief of joy,as they say.
Put the phone away, at leastfor some time.
You know, curate your socialmedia, whatever you gotta do,
(49:32):
but the fact is, if you're notintentional, you're gonna
conform to the pattern of thisworld again and again.
So resolve and commit today witha friend, with yourself.
Write it down whatever is gonnabe most motivating to you.
I had to do this yesterday,last night you know it's almost
midnight I'm talking to my bestbud one of my best buds on a
(49:54):
call on Discord and I'm like yo,I gotta commit that I'm gonna
do this, this and this this week, um, and we're gonna pray for
each other.
We're gonna, we're gonna fast,we're gonna pray for each other
and it's gonna happen.
So, wherever you are today, ifthere's one step, one practice
that you can do today to get youinto joy more and to have more
(50:18):
of that fulfillment of thatpurpose and desire that God has
for you and coming intoalignment with it, taking hold
of that joy, experiencing moreof that fortitude, it's studying
the Word, and you can do thatthrough the Bible Project.
You can do that through theBible app on your phone.
You can do that through thePause app, which is an amazing
resource provided by the Wild atHeart team in Colorado.
(50:41):
You can read books, you know,like the Bible Captivating Wild
at Heart, by John and StaceyEldridge, or so John Eldridge
for Wild at Heart, staceyEldridge and John Eldridge for
Captivating, you know.
Read other books, like, youknow, atomic Habits, which I
(51:01):
don't even think is a Christianbook, but like read a different
story that gives you a narrativethat God is telling, which is
that you are not bound tovictimhood, you are bound for
victory in Christ.
So thank you for listening tothe super long podcast episode.
I did not plan on having it bethis long, but I gotta tell you,
like your battle, whatever itmight be, or the friend but
(51:24):
maybe a friend.
You know you're listening tothis and you're like this just
not all of this is resonatingwith me.
I understand I gotta get in theword and everything, but, um,
maybe you have a friend whoreally needs to hear this and
maybe you, maybe, maybe you havesome tools in your toolbox now
and some of the conversationsthat you have with them where
you can say hey, I know thatyou're struggling a lot.
I just want to sit with you andlisten, I want to hear your
(51:45):
story and I want to pray for youand I just want you to know
that you're not bound tovictimhood.
You're not a slave.
You're a son or a daughter.
You're loved, you're delightedin um, whatever, uh, but
whatever battle you have infront of you, whether that's
yours or it's for a person inyour life, or you're praying
through a son or daughter, aspouse um, victimhood is not
(52:09):
your future and, in christ, it'snot theirs either.
God willing, he has a plan towork into them, if they will
receive it, and he has a planfor you.
The bible tells us I know it'sout of context.
People say this verse is out ofcontext all the time.
But with respect to jeremiah29's original context, which is
(52:30):
that of jeremiah the prophetspeaking to an exiled people uh,
those who would be at one time,very soon, exiled to Babylon,
where God was, you know, goingto outpour his judgment and
wrath on them for their sins hecommunicates something of grace,
not just to them, but to ustoday.
That is this I know the plansthat I have for you, declares
(52:53):
the Lord.
Plans to prosper you and not toharm you.
Declares the Lord Plans toprosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and afuture.
My friends, god's intent for youis not to stay condemned, not
to be condemned at all.
Just like for his people,israel at that time, his intent
is to bring you into arestoration, to bring you a
better relationship with him, tobring you hope and a future.
(53:13):
That's plan, for I know theplans I have for you.
He knows them and he declaresit to you now not to harm you
but to prosper you, meaning toexcel, exceed you in wisdom,
exceed you in joy.
That comes from him, from hisstandpoint, not from this weird
(53:34):
western self-actualizationstandpoint, but from a realizing
your God-given identitystandpoint as a person who is
part of the household of God.
He has a plan for your life.
God loves you so, so much.
So I pray that you'd be blessed.
I pray that you would have arealization of joy, true joy, in
(53:55):
your life and that you wouldexperience just divine delight,
as you delight in the divinethrough study, through
confession, through time withother Christians, through
service.
Lots of things to do to getmore joy, but study the word,
serve others, study the word,serve others and just sit in his
(54:20):
love for you sometime, you know, sit in his love for you.
Pray and say God, what is thetruth that you have for me today
, whether it's hard to hear orit's easy to hear, what do I
need to know?
Help me to sit in that truthtoday and just listen, just
listen.
You know, just listen.
Let your self-pity and all theother thoughts, even when they
(54:41):
start to flood your mind, justsay God, I'm just going to
listen.
He's with you and he loves you.
Thank you for enjoying the InRest podcast with me today.
I pray that it was a joy to youtoday and that it brought about
joy in your life.
I'm really grateful for you.
I hope that you can be gratefuleven more for the relationship
that you have with God.
(55:01):
I pray that you would alsoconnect with this community.
I'm releasing the In Restcommunity very soon, which is a
free community for all of thosewho want to experience more of
God every day, who want toexperience more of rest, more of
joy, more purpose, more purposefrom God's perspective, people
(55:23):
who really just want to livewell in Christ, who want to live
well and love others well inJesus.
I what the In Rest Communityis all about.
It's a free community alsogoing to be revealing an a, an
unleashing, releasing a paidcommunity platform called the
den, which is essentially forthose who really want to live
(55:43):
boldly and courageously asfollowers of jesus christ, who
are empowered and encouraged,who want to go through group
coaching, who want to experiencemore of what god has for them
for their present and theirfuture, uh, and want to overcome
their past you know, reallywant to go deep on that.
I'm revealing and releasinggroup coaching as well.
There's going to beopportunities for one-to-one
(56:03):
coaching.
There's a book coming outthat's going to explore more of
these concepts about joy, truejoy, happiness from a biblical
perspective and the fundamentalsthereof.
So I'm really looking forwardto releasing all that because I
really want to add value to myother friends in the faith who
just really need moreencouragement in this season.
And, in addition to that, Ihave a website, or I'm going to
(56:26):
have a website that's going tohave more resources on it.
If you're listening to this onSpotify, I'd really be blessed
if you were to rate this podcastas five stars, because it'll
get that, get the word out formore people of what it could
look like to live a moreintegrated life with Jesus life
lived well, loving others wellin Jesus and thriving in Christ,
(56:46):
living their best in Christ.
In addition, uh, if you'rewatching this on YouTube, I'm
really proud of you because thiswas an hour long.
So if you had it open on a tabor something, but you or you
were watching it the full waythrough, um, hey, thanks, you
know, I I'm really, I'm reallyjazzed that you would be, um,
you would have the endurance towatch this all the way through.
(57:07):
Would you leave a like?
Would you leave a comment?
Would you subscribe?
That would really help.
Hit the like button, like thebell icon, so that you can be
notified if there is anotherepisode that's come up, share
this with someone, go back andlisten to another part of the
(57:27):
episode again if it's helpful.
And you know, there's going tobe so many more resources.
There's going to be a blogwhere guest writers are going to
share about their experience,and I'm just so excited for the
future of this platform.
I really want God to just useit.
You know, and that was one ofmy commitments last night with
my best buddy.
One of my best buds was hey,I'm going to focus more on I
est because I want to see peopleblessed, which rhymed, but I
(57:49):
didn't mean it to.
Okay, so anyway, thank you somuch for listening or watching
the In Rest podcast with NoahJames Wiebe.
That's me.
Please leave a comment, send aDM in the @inrestinsta okay, the
Instagram account or theFacebook page at In Rest
Institute or facebook.
com In Rest Institute.
(58:10):
I would really really love toconnect with you and be praying
for you.
So you know, if you have aprayer request or if you want to
come into agreement with whatyou've heard today, just you
know, in the comments, just typeamen, I receive this.
I want more God.
I want more of you, lord, justyou know, leave a quick prayer
just to really participate andtake action, and I think it
might help with just engaging,you know.
So, in any case, this has beenNoah James Wiebe with In Rest
(58:34):
Podcast podcast.
Jesus really does love you andhe cares about you, and I know
that because his word testifiesto it and he died for you for a
reason.
So I just hope you know justhow much you're loved by God and
how much he has for you.
(58:55):
So Jesus loves you.
You have a great day and seeyou next time.
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.