Message Recap
Teaching Pastor Megan Marshman continued our series, Overlfow: 9 Traits of a Spirit-filled Life, with a teaching about joy. She began by reminding us that love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are all marks of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, not the fruit of our efforts. When we struggle with one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, we actually struggle with them all. There is one fruit with multiple facets. In order for us to bear the fruit of the Spirirt, we must submit to the Spirirt.
Where is it?
When we choose to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit fills the hole in our hearts and begins a work. The fruit of the Spirit starts in the heart. Therefore when we look at the fruit, we really have to look beyond the fruit or lack thereof and look at the heart; what is going on in there? This is when spiritual disciplines can be helpful to draw us into an understanding of what is going on in our hearts.
What is it?
The fruit of the Spirit is the work of the Spirit. Joy is the deep abiding sense of gladness and contentment from God's promises and presence. Elizabeth Elliott said, "Joy is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God." Joy is the deep abiding sense of gladness and contentment because we can hang out in the place of God's promised presence forever.
How can we overflow with it?
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." To rejoice in God is not to pretend to be happy but to remember God's faithfulness and all that He has done. Rejoicing in God will cultivate joy. We can do this in honest prayer and by expressing gratitude.
