Category: Joy

How can I restore my joy?

“His mother said to the servants, ‘Whatever He says to you, do it.’” John 2:5

We learned in John 2:1-3 that releasing our problems to Jesus can restore our joy. Another way to restore our joy is seen in the next few verses.

While Jesus and His disciples attended a wedding banquet in Cana of Galilee, the unthinkable happened – the hosts ran out of wine (John 2:1-3). To the Jews, wine symbolized joy.  Running out of wine at a wedding banquet in the first century was so serious that lawsuits could be brought against you by the offended guests. The presence of wine stated that this was a special day and that all the guests were special guests.

Jesus’ mother informed Christ of the problem and He let her know that she was no longer in control (John 2:4). He was no longer under obligation to do what she wanted when she wanted it. He was now obligated to fully obey His heavenly Father not His earthly mother.

Inviting Jesus to the wedding banquet made it possible for the supply of joy to be renewed and refreshed. But the simple fact that Jesus was there did not bring the joy. It did not replenish the wine. To have your joy restored, you must be willing to do whatever Jesus tells you to do.

“His mother said to the servants, ‘Whatever He says to you, do it.’” (John 2:5). At that moment, Jesus ceased to be a guest and became the One who was in control of the whole wedding.  And at that moment, a miracle began to happen. It is easy for us to be willing to have Jesus as a guest in our lives, but are we willing to turn over the controls and “do whatever Jesus tells” us to do? Only then will we see Christ do miracles in our lives.

I greatly admire Mary because she is the mother of the Messiah. For those of us who respect her, it is important to listen to what she told the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

What does Jesus say to do to have everlasting life? He says, “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Have you made this decision to believe or trust in Christ alone to give you never-ending life? The moment you do, Christ gives you everlasting life and He comes to live inside of you through His Holy Spirit (cf. 7:37-39) so that His joy can fill your life to the brim!

“Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.” (John 2:6). The Jews would use the water in these stone water pots for purification. They would come to the pots and let water run over their hands. It wasn’t a matter of sanitation but of ceremony. It did nothing to clean them physically or to wash them spiritually. It was simply an outward show.

An outward show, then or now, has never been able to produce joy. Simply coming to church and going through the motions will not produce joy in your life. They will put you in the place where you can find joy and put you around the people who will help to enhance your joy. But if you hear God’s Word without doing His Word, you will become even more miserable than you were to begin with. If we say the prayers but refuse to listen to God’s Spirit as He speaks to us, then our prayers will only produce emotional and spiritual conflict in us. If we read the Bible with no intention of obeying it, then we will only provoke guilt within ourselves.

“Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the waterpots with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim.” (John 2:7).  The servants heard Jesus speak, and they responded in obedience. They began the process of filling the stone jars with water. Each of these jars held between 20 and 30 gallons of water, and there were six jars. That’s up to 180 gallons of water. It would have taken a lot of time and energy to accomplish this task. Trip after trip to the well to draw water and pour it into the jars. And we don’t know how far it was to the well. It would have been tempting to do a half-hearted job. After all, Jesus only said to “fill” the jars with water. He didn’t say how far to fill them. And “fill” is a word that can be interpreted in many ways depending on how hot it is and how late in the workday it is. Anything over half way is full, isn’t it? That’s what potato chip companies seem to think. But these men didn’t think so. When Jesus told them to fill the jars, they took Jesus’ words quite literally, and they filled them all the way “to the brim,” just shy of overflowing. This was more than enough to meet the need that this newly married couple had encountered.

Do we want God’s joy in our lives? (Pause) To receive that joy, we might even be willing to be obedient to God – to a certain extent, right? But are we willing for our obedience to reach all the way to the brim even when the obedience that Jesus asks for doesn’t make sense to us? Or when it requires more work than we had originally intended on giving? Or when it forces us to rearrange our priorities and our schedules like these servants had to do? You see, the amount of joy that we experience is in direct proportion to the amount of obedience that we give. The greater our obedience, the greater our supply of joy will be. Jesus said, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love… These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:10-11). When Jesus tells you to do something, never do it halfway because Jesus wants to give you joy to the full.

I don’t know where the brim is for you, but I know that to get there, you must do whatever He tells you to do even when it doesn’t make sense. Even when it is inconvenient or painful. It will require hard work. It won’t be easy. You must ask yourself, “How badly do I want the joy that God has to offer?”

Prayer: Lord Jesus, please forgive me for the many times I have treated You like a guest in my life, instead of the Lord of my life. You make it clear that wholehearted obedience to You will give us joy to the full. How easy it is for me to go through the motions without giving You my heart. Lord Jesus, You do nothing halfway and nor should I. The more I know You and what You have done for me, the more I want to serve You as a way of saying “thank You,” even if it does not make sense to me. Please take all that I have, including my obedience, and use it for Your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Releasing my problems to Jesus

“And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine.’” John 2:3

There is no such thing as a perfect wedding. There are always going to be problems – some of them small and some of them large. In John 2:1-11, Jesus and His disciples were attending “a wedding in Cana of Galilee” where Jesus’ mother, Mary, seemed to be the wedding coordinator (John 2:2). A big problem took place at this wedding celebration. “They ran out of wine.” (John 2:3a).

To the Jewish people, wine symbolized joy. Running out of wine at a wedding banquet in the first century was so serious that lawsuits could be brought against you by the offended guests. The presence of wine stated that this was a special day and that all the guests were special guests.

I can imagine that the bride was getting pretty anxious about this time! I can hear her saying to her mother, “My wedding day is not supposed to be like this! I’m supposed to be filled with joy. But instead, I’m worried about what everyone is going to say or do when they discover that we have run out of wine.”

Maybe you have had similar thoughts. “My marriage is not supposed to be the mess that it is. Parenting isn’t supposed to be filled with so much stress. Christianity is not supposed to be like this. I’m supposed to be overflowing with joy – or so I’ve heard – but nothing seems to be going right. My joy is gone.” You may not know where your joy went. You just woke up one morning, and the supply had been completely drained. Some things have come along that you didn’t anticipate that have stolen your joy. Maybe some people have come into your life, and by their attitudes or actions, they have depleted your joy. Perhaps you have overbooked your schedule and lost your joy as a result. Sometimes we can lose our joy because of sin in our lives.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, may have been the one responsible for coordinating this wedding feast. It would have been embarrassing for her to admit that she had not planned on enough wine. Embarrassing or not, she was willing to admit that there was a need. She said to Jesus, “They have no wine” (John 2:3b). That’s what we have to do too. We have to admit that there is a need – that we are running out of joy. It may be because of our own choices or the choices of others, it does not matter. What matters is that we admit that there is a problem because then we can do something about it.

That’s what Mary did. When she realized that there was a problem, she took the problem to Jesus. She said to Him, “They have no wine.” (John 2:3b). She didn’t try to solve it in her own strength. The fact that Mary came to Jesus indicates she believed He could resolve the problem. This tells us that Jesus is concerned with the everyday things in life that we face. This family may not have exhibited a lot of wisdom in how they planned for the wedding celebration, but the wisest thing that they could have ever done was to invite Jesus. The very presence of Jesus at this wedding opened the possibility to a miracle.

And you know something? Jesus is also here with us today. The Bible tells us that He died for our sins…was buried… and on the third day He rose from the dead (I Corinthians 15:3-6). He is alive today and His power is available to everyone who believes in Him. With Jesus’ presence in our lives, there is enough power to resolve whatever problem you may be facing and build a life that is filled with joy.

When Mary came to Jesus and communicated the problem to Him, His response toward her may seem a little cold and harsh to us in the twenty-first century. “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.’ ” (John 2:4). Literally, Jesus says, “What to Me and to you, woman?” This may seem disrespectful to our modern ears to address one’s mother as “woman,” but this was an acceptable term in that day (cf. John 19:26; 20:15).

There may be times when we bring our requests to God for what we think would bring joy into our lives – but God’s response seems cold and harsh. It seems like the windows of heaven are closed. But the response that Jesus gave to Mary was to let her know that she was no longer in control. He was no longer under obligation to do what she wanted when she wanted it. He was now obligated to fully obey His heavenly Father not His earthly mother.

When it comes to asking God to do certain things in our lives, God is under no obligation to do things our way or in our time. He commands us; we do not command Him. God knows better than we ever could what will bring us the most joy and when is the most beneficial time for Him to answer our requests. God does miracles and He answers prayers, but He does it in His time and in His way.

There is one prayer that Jesus will always answer with a “yes” as soon as that prayer is offered up to Him. That is the prayer for forgiveness. After King David had sinned against God, he prayed to Him, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” (Psalm 51:1-2). Notice that David did not ask God to forgive him according to David’s goodness or righteousness, but according to God’s “lovingkindness” and “the multitude of” His “tender mercies.” That is called grace – receiving what we do not deserve.

As believers in Jesus, we still sin after we are saved from hell (I John 1:8, 10), but all God asks us to do when we do sin is “confess our sins” to Him “and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9). Confessing our sins restores our fellowship or closeness with God after we have sinned against Him.

If you do not have Jesus in your life, the Bible invites you to believe or trust in Him alone for His unlimited forgiveness of all your sins – past, present, and future. “All the prophets say it is true that all who believe in Jesus will be forgiven of their sins through Jesus’ name.” (Acts 10:43; cf. Colossians 2:13-14). He will then come to live inside of you and fill you with His joy (Romans 8:11; 15:13; Galatians 2:20).

If your joy is gone, or if you have never found joy because you are living a life that is contrary to what God says, then come to Jesus as you are. He will work the miracle of forgiveness. He will fill you with His joy.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, I come to You now as a broken cistern that is deplete of any joy. I have stubbornly insisted on living my life my way instead of Yours. Instead of turning to You to restore my joy, I have continued down a path that dishonors and hurts You. Most of my problems I have brought on myself through my foolish and selfish decisions. I am deeply sorry for all the pain I have caused to You and to those close to me. Please forgive me my Lord and my God. Thank You for washing away my sin and restoring Your joy in my life. I release my problems to You. I give everyone one and everything to You, my Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.