Full of Joy
Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:24
When you were little, did you dream about how happy you would be some day when you grew up? Maybe you had thoughts about getting married and having the perfect family? Did you think about your dream home and the fancy cars you would drive? Your dreams could have included living in some exotic country doing a freelance job of some kind. Now that you have grown, have all your dreams been fulfilled or are you still waiting to live your life of joy?
Chances are you haven’t arrived yet, but don’t give up. There is still hope! In fact, Jesus promised that you could have fullness of joy right here and now. In the world we live in today, this may seem like an impossibility, but if Jesus made that promise, it has to be true!
The first thing to recognize is that joy and happiness are two different things. That is not to say that you cannot have both, but joy is something that takes place on the inside of a person while happiness is achieved in the external circumstances. To have joy in your life, you have to have the peace of God working in your heart every day.
In today’s key verse, Jesus said: When you ask or pray in Jesus’ name, you will receive. This is the reason that most people close each prayer with the phrase: “In Jesus name, Amen.” It is actually a signature you put on the end of your prayer because of the promise that Jesus, Himself made that you would receive when you pray that way. Jesus said that He gave us the authority to pray in His name so that we would be full of joy.
So that is quite an inclusive statement for Jesus to make. I’m sure we all have prayers that we prayed in Jesus name that were not answered in the way that we prayed for them to be. How is that possible when we prayed in Jesus’ name?
Well, James actually gives us some insight into how that can happen. He wrote in James 1:6-8 – But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
The key to answered prayer is faith, but the key to joy is the connection and the authority you have been given to use the name of Jesus when you talk to God in prayer. Your faith is grounded in the authority and power that you have been given to pray, in the name of Jesus. Now that is something to get excited about.
Today I want to encourage you to get full of God’s joy. Enter into the presence of God your Father in heaven through your authority to pray in the name of Jesus, His Son. Learn the promises God has made in His word for every circumstance that you are facing and then pray out those promises in Jesus Holy name. You have been given permission by Jesus, Himself to close each petition in His name. That is the name above every name and all other names must bow to the power and authority of His.
Today’s scripture reading: John 16:16-24
16 “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.”
17 Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?”
18 They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.”
19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’?
20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.
21 A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.
23“And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.
24Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
The Daily Dose 