Fighting for Joy in God with Scripture
Fighting for Joy in God with Scripture
"The preservation of our joy in God takes work. It is a fight. Our
adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, and he has an
insatiable appetite to destroy one thing: the joy of faith. But the
Holy Spirit has given us a sword called the Word of God for the defense
of our joy" (John Piper, Desiring God, 123).
The Importance of Scripture[1]
The Word of God revives us: Psalm 19:7.
The Word of God is our life: Deuteronomy 32:46-47
����� Our physical life depends upon God's word:
����������He created
us by His word: Psalm 33:6 and Hebrews 11:3
����������He keeps us in
existence by His word: Hebrews 1:3
�����Our spiritual life depends upon God's
word:
����������We are born
again by God's word: James 1:18 and 1 Peter 1:23
����������We go on living
spiritually by God's word: Matthew
4:4
The word of God causes faith: Romans 10:17 and John 20:31.
�����Faith produces joy: Romans 15:13 and
Philippians 1:25.
�����Thus, the Scriptures also bring us joy: Psalm
19:8
�����Further, the Scriptures should be our joy:
Psalm 1:2 and Psalm 119.
God gives His Spirit through His Word: Galatians 3:2 and Romans 8:5.
The word of God gives hope: Romans 15:4 and Psalm 78:5, 7.
The word of God makes us free: Psalm 119:45 and John 8:32
The word of God makes us wise: Psalm 19:7-8 and 119:98.
�����Wisdom brings joy: Proverbs 3:13.
The word of God gives assurance: 1 John 5:13
The word of God overcomes the evil one: Ephesians 6:17
Meditating on the Scriptures with Faith Unlocks its
Benefits[2]
Meditating on God's word is the way we proceed from merely knowing about
God to actually knowing God more deeply. We must "turn each truth that
we learn about God into matter for meditation before God, leading to
prayer and praise to God" writes J.I. Packer in Knowing God. In this
way
we will experience the benefits of Scripture listed above and thus win
our fight for joy in God.
To meditate we must:
1. Know Scripture (this means having much of it memorized and being
familiar with it as a whole).
2. Call Scripture to mind and think about what it means--ponder it and
dwell upon it.
3. Compare Scripture with Scripture, seeing how things fit together.
4. Apply God's word to ourselves and our everyday situations.
5. This will lead to acting upon God's word. Acting upon God's word
means conforming our behavior to be in accordance with His word, and also
praising and worshiping and rejoicing in God for what we learn about Him
and His ways. Scripture should not only affect our actions; it should
also ignite our affections.
6. We are to meditate on God's word constantly: Joshua 1:8 and Psalm
1:2.
As we come to know God more fully through His word we will:
1. Have a greater passion for God.
2. Have greater thoughts and therefore affections of God.
3. Have greater boldness for God.
4. Have a greater satisfaction in God.
Challenge: Meditate on Psalm 1 and the effects it says that
delight in God's word will have in us.
Acknowledgments
1. The following is an outline of chapter 5 in Desiring God by John
Piper, called "Scripture: The Kindling of Christian Hedonism."
2. The information in this section is largely from Knowing God by
J.I. Packer.
Go back to Contend for the Faith.
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