A Prayer For Help To Keep Joy Alive Even When Facing Trials

As many of you know, one of my major responsibilities, along with my colleague Evelyn, is to write and produce these little 30-day meditation booklets each month that are distributed free of charge to folks in prison, in drug and alcohol treatment programs, at drop-in centers, and to anyone who has an interest really.  Many people read the meditations online at www.pihtoday.blotspot.com as well. Another colleague, Alayne, faithfully makes audio files of each meditation and adds graphics to the printed material.  During “usual times” volunteers come along and help us with the packaging and mailing of the booklets.

In reviewing some of the material we've written in past years I came across one meditation today whose title was, "Keeping Joy Alive."  There have been lots of things in the past year and more of this pandemic that have challenged our ability to keep joy alive each day, wouldn't you say?

God has a plan for this though, regardless of our circumstances.

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4

How can troubles be an opportunity for great joy?  When we allow our trust in the goodness of God to rise up larger than the troubles we face.  So many people in so many spots in life have proven the principle of keeping the good in focus to get through the challenging.

·      No parent of a young baby likes getting up in the middle of the night but the love of the little one is much stronger than the inconvenient interruption to their sleep.

·      Athletes - I'm thinking now of marathon runners - have hard times mid-race when their body would like to quit but they keep the finish line in focus and take the next step.

Keeping the goodness of God in focus in our hearts and minds will help us get through a tough moment.  Consider these true statements.

God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5

The Lord’s instruction is right; it makes our hearts glad. His commands shine brightly, and they give us light. Psalm 19:8

We don't have to understand all of God's ways in order to settle into the experience of God's goodness by letting His truth be our guide.  As we act correctly, we are promised that our hearts will be glad and we'll have even more light for the journey ahead.

I want to live in joy today, don't you?  Let's ask for God's help to do that.

Heavenly Father, we are coming to You today because we know that it's only when our daily living is rooted in You that we will find the joy our hearts seek. Jesus, You clearly told us how to experience joy today.

When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! John 15:10-11

Forgive us for living in pride and letting that rob us of our joy.  We too easily think we know more than we should or that others, even God, should do things our way.  Even if we don't say it out loud we often blame others around us for the discontent within us.

Help us today  to be mindful of our thoughts and our desires as well as our words and actions.  So much of what we do is rooted in what's under the surface and we too often neglect to deal with the hidden things of the heart. 

We want to get to know and then put Your principles into action in all our circumstances today.  We want Your truth to reshape how we think about things and what emotions we attach to events.  We welcome Your work in our hearts, Holy Spirit to teach us what we need to know and do in order to rest secure in God's goodness and to be able to relax and enjoy the day God is giving us.

The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

And so we bring our thoughts and prayers to focus on You God and along with the writer of this Psalm we affirm:

The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.  Psalm 28:7