Where Is My Joy?

“I’m having trouble finding joy, mainly because I just feel
like my prayers haven’t been answered. I pray to be a better Christian, but my
introspection is getting worse. I start to be afraid that maybe there is not a
God answering my prayers, and all my joy disappears. I’ve read How to
Maintain Joy and the article on introspection in How to Be Free from
Bitterness, but I still feel empty. I am praying for help, but I still feel
like I am going downhill. I just want my joy to return.”

Dear Friend,

Reading something is not the same as applying it. If you
have read the article on introspection, you know from experience and from the
article that introspection is accusatory and a downer. The devil is the
accuser. The Holy Spirit is the convicter. You are asking for what you are
getting when you introspect. It is not a godly practice. When you are tempted
to introspect, turn from it like any other temptation. Come into God’s presence
as Isaiah did in chapter 6.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on
a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above
him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces,
with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were
calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth
is full of his glory.’ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and
thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. ‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I
am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean
lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’ Then one of the
seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs
from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched
your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’ Then I heard the
voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I
said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” (Isaiah 6:1-8).

Here is the sequence: 1) the Presence, 2) conviction of sin
(not accusation), 3) confession of sin, 4) forgiveness of sin, 5) ready to go.

All of these happened in quick succession. If Isaiah had
been introspecting, he would never have been ready to go.

Here is an exercise.

1.    
Read Ephesians 1 and 2.

2.    
Write down in order everything the believer has
in Christ.

3.    
Ask yourself the question, “True or false?”

4.    
Thank God for each of these truths that
you have and are in Christ.

5.    
Keep on thanking God.

6.    
Pay no attention to your feelings. Bad feelings
are the result of believing the liar, Satan. Good feelings are the result
of believing God. Thank God!

In the Lord Jesus Christ,

Jim Wilson