REAL joy!

The key to experiencing JOY is maintaining close fellowship with the Lord. Whenever we allow sin to enter into our lives, we experience not only the consequences of our sin but worst of all, the loss of fellowship with Him and it’s corresponding JOY. The Bible offers specific instructions to restoring fellowship with Him.

1 Jn. 1:4-10 “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you,”

1. Recognize the loss of fellowship with the Lord. Stop lying to yourself that everything is OK.

“that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:”

2. Return to those disciplines which made fellowship possible. Improve your communication with him through prayer and Bible study.

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,”

3. Remember the purpose of The Cross of Christ was to restore the fellowship with mankind which was stolen by sin’s curse. Claim that forgiveness which you obtained the day you got saved.

“and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

4. REPENT. Acknowledge your sin and turn away from it.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

LESSON:

5. Resolve in your heart and mind to NEVER return to that which affected your fellowship with Him. There’s not a sin that will ever feel as good as REAL joy!

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

~Mike