Add to My Prayer List August 31, 2015

¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 
John 15:11 ESV

Christ's joy in us.  God's happiness indwelling His children.  And not just a tiny bit o' joy, but a fullness of joy unlike anything this world can give.  Why then do so many Christians lack this joy?  There are a myriad of answers to this question, but perhaps it is because we don't think we deserve it, therefore we fail to pray for it.

We pray for healing.
¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.  
James 5:15 ESV

We pray for wisdom.
⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. James 1:5 ESV

We pray for strength against temptation.
⁴¹ "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  Matthew 26:41 ESV

The list could go on.  How about praying for joy?  As today's verse shows, God wants us to have joy.  He has given us joy.  That joy is full and complete.  But so many of us don't live in that joy.  Don't display that joy to others.

I am a worrier.  I am a what-might-go-wronger.  The stock market is down 10%- there goes the retirement.  A parent is angry- gonna' be a law suit.  That floor creak- must be a foundation issue.  These types of thought patterns rob me of joy.  They keep me from realizing the inner peace and contentment God wishes for His children.

God has given joy.  I must make a conscious decision whether or not to accept it.  Since it does not come naturally for me, it must be an object of prayer. God wants us to feel His joy.  It is there for the asking.


¹⁴ And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1 John 5:14,15 ESV