July 2001

GOD'S GARDEN PATHWAY TO JOY
by Jean LeStourgeon

PREPARING THE GARDEN
My father was an amateur gardener. We lived in Maine and after the snow had melted and the ground had thawed, sometime hopefully by the end of April, my Dad would make preparations for our summer garden. He hauled in a truckload of manure and spread it over the surface of our garden spot. Then he would get out the rotor tiller and break up the hardened ground, working the manure into the soil and preparing it to receive the multitude of different flower and vegetable seeds he loved to plant. He was always experimenting with something new. One year it was eggplants, another year it was brussel sprouts. I loved that about my dad. I inherited my love for plants and gardening from my father, but for many years I just could not make a plant grow. Everything I bought died. Then I had a novel idea. I began reading and learning about the various and sundry conditions that are necessary for the production of mature and beautiful plants. What a difference it makes when you follow the directions. With the right effort applied in the right places you get great results.

The fruits of the spirit are that way as well. Our heavenly Father is the Master Gardener and He has given us instructions for producing mature, beautiful fruit in our spiritual gardens. Unlike plants, which have different requirements - some need sun, others need shade, some like a lot of water, others like it dry, and some grow in sandy soil, while others like dark, rich soil. All of God's children require the same conditions to grow into maturity and produce the fruits of the spirit. We all need our roots to be planted deeply in the soil of God's word, we all need to remain connected to the vine who is Christ and we all need the Holy Spirit to continually work in and around our roots, digging weeds, pruning back unproductive growth, and watering and fertilizing us with the revelation of God's truth.

WHY JOY?
Why should we single out joy, there are at least 8 other fruits of the spirit we could discuss: Love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. All the fruits are beautiful, all are necessary, and all are promised to grow on the branch that abides in the vine of Christ. But joy is a reward - it is for us. Joy is the impartation of the pleasure of God into the heart of the believer. It is like God taking His watering can and filling us up with His own pleasure. Joy is the exceeding gladness we experience when we are abiding in Jesus. Joy is the sense of satisfaction you get in knowing that God is pleased with you because of Christ. Joy is your enthusiasm, which flows from the privilege of serving the Living God. To experience joy is to find your pleasure in the Lord. Without joy, our work becomes burdensome, our wellsprings become dry, and our attitudes become dull.

THE PROMISE OF JOY
The promise of joy is all throughout the Bible. God specifically laid out a plan so that each of us could know His joy. John 15:10-11 is the key, which unlocks the gate, and will lead us down the pathway of understanding to God's garden of joy. "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." Jesus said if you do these things: Obey my commands, remain in my love, then my joy will be in you. Jesus longed for us to know His joy. So much so that He prayed to His heavenly Father about it the night before He was crucified. In John 17, Jesus prayed to His heavenly Father that the full measure of His joy be in His disciples. Our confidence lies in this: The Father always hears the prayers of His son and answers them because they are in perfect harmony. They are one in spirit and purpose.

THE JOY OF CHRIST
We see right away that the joy that God promises us is really Christ's joy, which is imparted to us if we obey His commands. In what did Christ find His pleasure? Hebrews 12:2 tells us "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Christ's joy was the reward; it was part of the prize of doing His Father's will. Christ's holy passion was doing the work that He came to do, not His way, but in perfect harmony with the Father. In John 5:30 Jesus says, "By myself I can do nothing;...for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me." All of Christ's life, all of His energy was consumed in doing His Father's will and joy was the fruit of that life's work. Joy is the fruit that results from being one with God and doing His work, His way.

OUR SOURCE OF JOY
Now the fruit of joy, like all the spiritual fruits, grows from the imperishable seed, which is the Spirit of Christ that was deposited in us by the Holy Spirit when we committed our life to Christ. Nothing can steal that seed away. But, just having the seed deposited into the soil of our heart does not guarantee that we will produce blue ribbon fruit. The conditions must be right. If we follow God's instructions we can be confident of receiving God's blessing. God does not withhold His blessings from those who earnestly seek Him and long for what he longs for. We can be confident that if we obey His commands, and remain in His love then we will know the joy of Christ personally. Our source of joy is Christ. The more unity we experience with Christ, the more we will experience His joy.

THE CONDITIONS OF JOY
In Isaiah 56:6-7 God gives His children Israel instructions for tending their spiritual joy gardens.

6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant-7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.

Our Father God has provided a way for us to have life and to have life more abundantly through His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ promises us a harvest of His joy if we obey His commands and remain in His love. These words from Isaiah tell us God the Father abundantly blesses all who hold fast to His covenant, all who bind themselves to Him in service, and all who love His name and worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

In this month's ChristianDiscipleship.com's Weekly Studies you will have an opportunity to study the provisions God made for you to experience a joy filled life. In How Shall We Live, you will find an article on the Joy Robbers, the weeds and thorns that grow up in our hearts and choke out the joy of the Lord, and what to do about them. In Book Works you will read a review on the popular book The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson, which beautifully illustrates the blessing of holding fast to God's covenant. In Walking the Talk you will be encouraged by a testimony from a friend of Jean's who learned the importance of being in relationship with God versus doing for God. Find out how this sister in Christ's joy was robbed away and then restored to her.

May your joy be made complete as you seek God's will, God's way, by the power of God's Holy Spirit.

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