How the Joy of the Lord saved my life (and more on the grace of God) // In Rest

Have you ever found yourself in the depths of despair, wondering if there’s a way out? I know that struggle all too well. 

Join me on this episode of the In Rest Podcast, as I share my deeply personal journey of battling depression and s ucidal ideation from a young age, and how I discovered an unshakeable joy through the strength and love God. 

This isn’t just about depression vs. happiness; it’s about finding stability, purpose, and resilience through faith, even in the most challenging times.

Explore the intertwining of purpose and faith as we reflect on Jesus' teachings and my own transformative experiences. From a rock-bottom moment of despair at age 16 to a renewed dedication to Jesus, I’ll reveal how working from a place of rest in God’s grace can lead to a life filled with joy. 

Obviously, Christian community and serving others practically make a big difference, so we touch on that too.

We also get practical with tips for anchoring yourself in God through daily spiritual practices. Overcome self-pity and the pitfalls of comparison by integrating the Word of God into your life through reading and prayer into your routine. 

This episode is an invitation to experience the divine delight of living well in Christ, embracing the joy and fulfillment that comes from a life rooted in faith and grace.

 Additional Music Credit:
Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/walz/library
License code: PB8YPXRQUDGQNOYC 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, what's up. It's Noah here for another episode of the In Rest podcast. Today we are going to talk about joy. I'm going to talk to you about a goal that I have, that is part of a project I've been trying to work on for many years and by many I mean like two and I'm going to talk about, you know, one of the practices you can do today to start experiencing more of the fulfillment that God has in store for you. So, without further ado, let's get to it. So let's talk about first a definition of joy, but before we do, I want to share a story with you.

Speaker 1: 0:44

So when I was 14 years old, I was struggling with depression. I was struggling with un-alive-ing thoughts. I was struggling with what they would call un-alive-ing ideation. Now, I'd started struggling with this a few years beforehand, but when I was 14 years old, I actually made my depression such a large theme, such a large part of my life, that it became almost intertwined with my identity. I made my sadness a part of who I was.

Speaker 1: 1:12

I remember one of the first graphics that I'd ever designed for myself. I think I made it in Microsoft Paint, or something you know you millennials might remember if you're listening those days when you would just mess around on Microsoft Paint. Well, I took a picture of myself and I put it onto Microsoft Paint and I actually put on this miserable failure. I made that my Facebook profile picture and I got people commenting saying you're not that. Blah, blah, blah. And partly I enjoyed the attention and partly, I think, I just straight up believed that that was part of who I was and I wanted to project that image to the people who knew me.

Speaker 1: 1:52

I'm a miserable failure and, interestingly enough, that title, that moniker, that idea, that theme, that concept of identity that kind of carried with me from that day until today. I mean, now it's 2024, many years later, and today I still, every once in a while, will struggle with this theme that I'm a miserable failure and part of that is a struggle with mental health. Part of that is a struggle with mental health, Part of that is a struggle with spiritual warfare, Some of that is struggling with an internal bent towards self-pity and some of that is just part of my wiring and my personality as being an achiever, being somebody who wants to do well and being someone who wants to do well for others to be a success in regards to being good, right, righteous, well-doing, whatever. So what's going on with that and why do I share that story? When talking about joy, it's not joyful. Well, the un-alive-ing ideation kind of landed on this, idea that I was worthless, that I was useless and that I didn't have a purpose for living life.

Speaker 1: 3:06

I remember the most significant time struggling with that was two years later. I was 16 years old. I was dating a girl and she lived another 10 or 15 minutes away from me. Maybe it was like 20 minutes, I don't know. Anyway, we lived the distance apart. I didn't know how to drive yet at this point. I got my driver's license that summer and my parents and my brother would kind of be that person in the car with me so I could drive there. But, bottom line, I couldn't get around by myself. And I remember having time with my girlfriend and then going home and then kind of basically gravitating back to this relationship as sort of being the center of my life.

Speaker 1: 3:47

I eventually stopped reading the Bible, I stopped reading devotional plans and eventually I stopped praying. I put aside not just my relational prayers of talking honestly and being open with God, but I also put aside my ritualistic prayers. I put aside my routine of praying and one part of my routine with praying was praying through the Lord's Prayer and once that went away, I remember waking up in the morning in the summer of 2012 and looking at my drop-down ceiling in my bedroom in the basement of my parents' home and thinking there is no reason for me to exist today, there's no purpose for me in my life, and that was the closest I think I ever got to um really consenting to the process of committing Sue E. Side, consenting to an attempt at Sue E. Side. There was other times where I I had a close call, but that was the closest I'd ever come to taking y owen life. And whenever I share that story, I think about what kept me from taking that step of committing Sue E. Side, what kept me from doing that.

Speaker 1: 4:59

And I think if I were to go back in time and I were to evaluate it all, I think the thing that kept me from committing Sue E. Side was joy. Now it's easy to get so obsessed with the concept of being happy that you lose out on the actual stability that is brought about by the joy of the Lord. The Bible tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. I believe it's in Nehemiah 8, verse 10.

Speaker 1: 5:23

And that word strength actually is derived from the Hebrew word for the English word fortitude. So the English word that we would say strength can be used in lots of different connotations. Lots of different meanings can be attached to the word strength. A lot of times when we think about strength, we think about Arnold Schwarzenegger, we think about body builders, dudes that can pick things up and put them down Okay, we think about people who are able to. You know, um, yeah, like in the Bourne movies, the Jason Bourne movies, I think, um, there was one that in the trailer you see Jason Bourne take his blood, just one punch, boom and knock out this guy in the trailer. It's just awesome, you know.

Speaker 1: 6:07

Or you think about, um, you know different, different depictions from movies like the Mission Impossible films, where, you know, tom Cruise's character jumps off of a building, lands on the other side, grabbing the edge and pulling himself back up, and that's an expression of strength. We think about people who maybe bullied us, people who exemplified strength in a positive, healthy way, maybe a father figure or, straight up, our dad, who was the strongest person in our world. Maybe there was some other example that comes to mind for you. I think about single moms, I think about dads who go into situations where their adrenaline is pumping and they just rip a car door off of you know, off of a vehicle accident or whatever, and they just like go in and rescue somebody. Those are all things that are consistent with strength, you know. But like, when you think about the strength of, say, like I said, a single mom, when you think about the strength of someone who endures a lot of suffering, you're not thinking about strength from the perspective of the ability to bench press 225 pounds, although that's pretty impressive. It's really about the ability to endure, and that's what the joy of the Lord is. The joy of the Lord is our ability to endure. The joy of the Lord is our fortitude against life's sufferings.

Speaker 1: 7:27

You know, jesus mentions in John, chapter 16, verse 33, in this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome the world. But before he says that he talks about abiding in him and having union and relationship with him, which then leads into the byproduct of joy, that our joy would be complete and his joy would be in us. He says specifically in the order I've told you these things about abiding in his love, obeying his commands so that my joy may be in you, so Jesus' own personal joy may be in us his love, obeying his commands. So that my joy may be in you, so Jesus' own personal joy may be in us, his disciples, and specifically the 12 disciples, or the 11 who happen to be there, and that my joy, or that your joy, rather, would be complete. Your joy, yours, the joy that you have, would be complete, would be well-rounded, would be perfect, in a way, would be so complete that nothing could take it away.

Speaker 1: 8:32

And I remember fast forwarding. Okay, so I'm 16 years old, I'm in my basement, I'm looking at the ceiling and I'm thinking there's no reason for me to exist today. And when I'm looking up at my ceiling, there's this place in me that is devoid of a reason, devoid of a purpose, devoid of hope, because, from my angle and the way that I'm wired, I have a desire to go into the world with purpose. When I walk around, like I walk with intention, unless I don't have any reason to be somewhere, in which case I'm going to meander about, you know, like, if you see me at church, if you see me, you know, walking down the hall on my way to a meeting or something like, or even just walking into a building. A lot of friends of mine or coworkers would describe me as Kramer, like the Seinfeld character, as I would just like burst into a door, slam it and be like, hey, you know, because I just, you know, I just, when I walk into places, I want to walk into, walk into a space or my world with purpose and intention, and so my wiring attached my deepest sorrow to a lack of purpose.

Speaker 1: 9:47

And all of us, especially as men, I think there's a desire to have purpose for life, there's a desire to offer a strength to the world and to the people that we love, so that our, our place in this world has value. You know, like, our, our value in our own minds are, is attached to what we can do, what we can, what we can perform and the purpose that we serve in that world. You know, like, give me a man who suffers all kinds of sorrow, every tragedy under the under the heavens and yet has purpose. You see a man that can withstand even more. You give me a man with no purpose, no sense of valuable work, no sense of strength to offer. Even a man that is physically or mentally disabled, who has a purpose can withstand anything.

Speaker 1: 10:39

But give me a man with no purpose, give me a man with no sense that he has something to offer to the world, and you can see a man who will crumble, a man who is devoid of hope, because our future hope often is somehow factored into purpose. Right, our purpose is factored into hope and vice versa. And so when God saves us, when he rescues us, when he rescues a person, when he rescues a woman, when he rescues a man, he's rescuing us with purpose and he gives us purpose as part of our identity. When the prodigal son returns home, a robe is put on him, a signet ring is put on his finger and, with that, purpose is restored to him. You know that he is reintegrated into the work of the family business and he is restored to relationship with his father at the same time. It's happening all at once, and so it's not that life is about work, but work is a part of what we are, it's a part of what god made us to do. It's not not a bad thing.

Speaker 1: 11:42

And so here on the In Rest podcast, you know we want to explore what does it look like to work from a place of rest, work and add value, from a place of restored relationship with the Father, you know, from a place of right relationship with God, which includes rest, which includes stopping. And so here I am. You know, I'm a 16-year-old boy and I'm looking up at my ceiling and I have no reason to stopping. And so here I am, you know, I'm a 16 year old boy and I'm looking up at my ceiling and I have no reason to exist. And I'm right, I'm this close, very, very close, to committing Sue E. Side. Fast forward one year. I'm 17 years old, I have been baptized by this point, I've dedicated my life to Jesus and something shifts in me.

Speaker 1: 12:25

So, a year after having been in the deepest, darkest place in my life, a year goes by and I get to go on this youth trip with other students who are Christians, who I've known for a number of years, and we're all serving the poor and through this week of outreach those of us who are part of you know life in Atlantic Canada. Maybe you are familiar with Tidal Impact. That was the event that I went on with my friends and my youth group. And here I was, halfway through this event, standing by this kitchen island, in this homeless shelter, and I'm serving with my friends. We're making like a pancake breakfast or something and like going out and serving and talking to the, talking to the guys that come in and, um, talking to the people, from any background really, that show up. There's a lot of people that showed and you know, I don't know what I was doing. I think it was like mixing up pancake batter, you know, serving up bacon, whatever.

Speaker 1: 13:21

And at some point there was sort of this lull where people were served and we were just sort of waiting for more people to show up. And I'm looking over the island unit full of stuff. We're looking at pancake batter, bowls and plates and forks and stuff, all kinds of stuff. And I see all of my friends around and the youth leaders that brought us and the lead pastor that brought us along with this trip and was the main driver and everything. I was seeing everybody in front of us and something happens in my soul, something clicks in my heart and I realized that I finally understand something about joy that I never understood. I received and had realized joy. Joy was complete in a way. You know, joy came to me and it was a kind of joy that if you could get an IV drip of it, you would keep it forever.

Speaker 1: 14:10

And I remember thinking I want to do this the rest of my life and that summer instead of the summer before it where I thought maybe I'll take my own life because I have no purpose the following summer was the summer where I really started to realize what my purpose was, which was to serve Jesus and serve others along with other people who are brothers and sisters in Christ along with me. So I had no community a year ago. From that point. I had no friends. I had burned every bridge, my family relationships were totaled and I felt there was no purpose, no value for me to add, even though I had lots of work to do at my summer job this summer. Instead, this summer that I had the year later, I have a community around me. I have Christ in me, I have a purpose to serve in this community and to the people who are outside in the outside world. And I've started to realize this is what I wanted to do the rest of my life and that was part of God establishing me into the purpose of my life.

Speaker 1: 15:12

When I started asking the question, do I have any reason to exist? A year before, I had no idea that a year later, I would be asking God what is your purpose for my life, with the assumption that he had a hope and a plan and a future for me. And what happened there? You know what was going on in the middle of this stuff, you know? And was it about purpose, was it about work, was it about service?

Speaker 1: 15:36

Yeah, all those are factors, but I think that the thing that kept me a year ago from committing Sue E. Side in that journey, and the thing that launched me even further in my walk with god a year later, was joy. It was a realization of joy, and one of the things that I realized in my deepest, darkest moment that that summer, as at the age of 16, was that, even though I had essentially walked away from my life with God, his joy endured inside of me somewhere, somewhere. This teeny, tiny seed of joy was inside, and all the darkness that surrounded me and made its way into me, and all of the sins that I'd committed and all the works that I'd been doing that were against God, all the ways that I'd forsaken him, he had not forsaken me and his joy was in me, you know, and it was a joy that gave me fortitude to live Literally, and it was a joy that gave me fortitude to live literally. God's joy in me saved my life and kept me alive. It was life support for me and I realized that. You know, I realized a year later that that joy was becoming even more developed because of God's work in me and his grace working in and through me.

Speaker 1: 17:20

So what is joy? What's the definition here that we need to living out a life of completed joy, of a full joy, a fullness of joy of developing, growing increasingly more, greater joy. How does a person live in hope? Well, the Bible tells us May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him, so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you'll overflow with hope. So what is joy? Joy from the Greek word that's used throughout the New Testament, joy as kakha. Okay, so if, if grace the word the, if grace, the Greek word grace or gift is charis, then joy is from the same word. Is chara. Chara, you know, and chara is like, essentially, it's the idea of it's part of the gift giving, exchange, okay, so, so from a greek perspective, from a new testament perspective, grace is offered by god to humanity through jesus, by the power of the holy spirit and according with god, according to god's plan of grace that was started even before the world began in order that human beings might be rescued from their death, from sin and from shame.

Speaker 1: 18:50

And grace works into us, saves us and brings us into a position of right relationship with God through faith. Our faith becomes a vehicle by which we live in relationship with God. Vehicle by which we live in relationship with god. Our trust and belief that what jesus did for us not only mattered but it mattered for us, our, our admonition, our exception, our acceptance that jesus death on the cross, his resurrection and his ascension established us in God as sons and daughters, that grace, that gift, when we receive it, becomes joy to us. Joy made complete is not just the receiving of that love but also the grasping of it, so that it makes its way into us and integrates into us. Because that word, kara or joy, is just the completed form of the word karis. So if karis is the word grace, it's offered, then you could imagine the Greek word kara or joy is received.

Speaker 1: 20:00

Kara or joy is received. It's grace received. Kara is grace offered. It's offered in a position of offering a gift. Kara, is when you let your hands be open and take hold of the gift that is afforded to you through that grace is afforded to you through that grace. So joy is the integrating of God's grace into our lived experience through faith and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let me say that again. Okay, joy, if I can say it again, joy is I don't know how to say it again. It was really well articulated the first time. I don't have another one in me, I can't do it. But basically, joy is just receiving grace and letting it be integrated into our life through faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. So joy is a fulfillment of the grace-giving process. It's the acceptance and the reception of God's love and favor in your life and it's taking hold of it in an active way.

Speaker 1: 21:13

You know like is like when you really go after something to get it and you receive it, you rip that gift open. It's kind of like when you wake up on Christmas morning. Maybe you remember being a kid waking up Christmas morning. You go down the steps. You know, if you're a millennial like myself, you didn't have, you know, a Christmas where you were expecting a big, fat iPad or anything. You were expecting like a bike or something, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 21:38

Whatever you were expecting, I remember at one point we actually had our living room upstairs, so. So we had to wake up, get out of my bunk bed. Okay, make my way to the other side of the house, go down the stairs. Go to the other side of the house, go up the stairs where the living room was and wait patiently. Wait for everybody to get up. I probably got up five o'clock in the morning or something.

Speaker 1: 22:01

Everybody gets upstairs and my parents are like okay, go at it, open up your presence. And this thing, like this place, is just overloaded with gifts. Okay, just so much abundance. And we go into it and we just rip those gifts as hard as we can. Parents take pictures, much to our chagrin, because we just want to focus on opening gifts.

Speaker 1: 22:19

But here we are, we open up the presence and what's here left with us except this joy. God, wow, this is awesome. Look at this gift that you gave me. This is so. This is exactly what I wanted. Oh, socks, that's here as well, you know. And you move along with that and you go to another gift that you're really excited about. You find a sled that you're going to use today, whatever. And the next thing you know, you know you go from acting on receiving to experiencing happiness, which is really a byproduct of grace.

Speaker 1: 22:50

Happiness for the Christian life is a byproduct of receiving grace. Happiness in the Christian life is a byproduct of receiving grace. And, uh, but that's what it. That's what the, the greek word or joy, is implicating. That's what it. That's what it's about. So if you are going to look at a definition of joy, it's going to be connected to receiving grace from a christian perspective.

Speaker 1: 23:21

So when we look at joy, sometimes we get so confused by the western idea of the pursuit of happiness right that we think about the three inalienable rights of humanity, which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that we get from the Declaration of Independence. Independence, but that American Western idea, which was partly connected to Christianity, because a lot of the founding fathers had at least been in touch with Christianity religiously and perhaps, maybe, as dedicated people. I mean, we don't know for sure how much of the Christian message made it into their daily walk, but we do know that they were at least influenced by the Christian message, as well as the French Enlightenment and other revolutionary ideas from philosophy at that time. So we kind of have this mix of the self-actualization individual, you know, this sort of self-focused, self-oriented idea of the pursuit of happiness, whereas each man, each human being, has in him these three inalienable rights, which are the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But the thing is, is that from a biblical perspective, okay, and from a Judeo-Roman perspective? You know, those, those the values that we, that we see in Jesus' day, versus the values that he himself communicated, what he said, they don't live in perfect congruence with what we believe the Western idea of the pursuit of happiness actually is.

Speaker 1: 24:57

Put in other words, god's joy is not America's joy, is not America's joy. God's joy is not humanity's self-actualization according to his own ideas, standards and procedures. God's joy in us is the actualization and the realization of God's purpose and will in our life, through his grace, received through faith and acted upon in love, in the expression of love to God and to others in the world. That's happiness from God's perspective. And if we get that, we have more joy than we have the ability to receive. We have more joy available in such abundance that we have less of a capacity to receive it than there is abundance to access so much access to joy through living out God's life for us that we don't even have the capacity to receive it all. It's like a joy that we just don't have the ability to keep inside because there's just not enough of us to hold all that joy. Like we're not living in a scarcity christianity that's not the christianity that jesus offers us. We're not living in just a release from judgment, which is amazing, and that's that in itself is so amazing but we're released from judgment into jesus.

Speaker 1: 26:26

Life like we're released from the life of judgment into the life of jesus like a life of judgment is essentially to live as one who stands condemned. The bible tells us john 3, 3, 18, john 3, verse 18. But those who do not believe, those who do not believe, are already condemned because they did not believe in God's one and only son. We stand condemned outside of faith, and so to live a life of judgment is to live a life of hopelessness, because the only thing we have to look forward to is condemnation and death. But we're released from that condemnation and death. But we're released from that condemnation and death. The Bible tells us there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, which means that anybody who is a Christian, who really lives the life of a Christian, they have attainable, accessible joy because they, at the very least, have been released from a life of condemnation. Jesus literally took condemnation on your behalf so that you could live outside of condemnation forever and you're released from a life of judgment and you're released into the life of the Son of God.

Speaker 1: 27:39

Paul himself said I am crucified to the world and the world is crucified to me. It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. To live is Christ and to die is gain. So what is he saying? He's like? Well, as I live my life here in this physical planet, in this material world, on this side of the return of Christ and the renewal of all things, on this side of God's plan for humanity, I experience Christ and the life of Christ as a son, just like he is. I live in the inheritance of Jesus today and I have nothing better to look forward to than death or to the return of Jesus, because at some point, when I am reunited with the Lord, I have nothing but gain to look forward to, whereas the life outside of Christ has nothing but loss to look forward to. It's lost today.

Speaker 1: 28:36

Lost today to look forward to nothing but loss tomorrow, which is why so many of the people that we see who are living outside of Christ, are living in a way that they're experiencing a depression and an existential sadness and sorrow that leads nowhere but the end of that sorrow in exchange for an even greater one, a death that is of a first order in exchange for a second order, order in exchange for a second order of death and a loss. That is one way, and it just evolves into an even worse kind of death in the future, so that they just say let's eat, drink and be merry, because this is all there is. Yolo. You only live once. This is all we get. Um, if you're gonna have any joy, you're gonna have it now, you know. And we're just going to keep doing this tomorrow and the day after that until we die, you know, because we have no hope. And so why is that all important with joy? Well, it's like, dude, you have so much joy affordable to you if you were to realize your identity in Jesus as a son or a daughter of God. You have so much more joy than you have the capacity to hold and it's all available if you have the relationship of father and son, the relationship that God has made available to you through Jesus, at the forefront of your life.

Speaker 1: 30:02

Depression from a worldly perspective perspective leads us nowhere but more depression. And if we were, if we are to be conformed to the pattern of this world, then we are going to do the exact same things that the people who are on the outside of christ do all the time, which is, give in to the thought of depression and destitution and then give in to whatever pleasure that we have available to us, because there's nothing to look forward to but death, nothing to look forward to but loss, even in mourning, even at a Christian funeral. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians let us not mourn as those who have no hope, but as those who do have hope. When we mourn today, we don't stay mourning. Listen, I can be in a depressive episode for six months, but somewhere I know it's going to be over. Who do have hope, like when we mourn today, we don't stay mourning Like. Listen, I can be in a depressive episode for six months, but like somewhere, I know it's going to be over. I just know it. And so the days that have come after my struggles with depression, un-alive-ing thoughts, when they come again, when those struggles with un-alive-ing thoughts come again, I just remember, bro, like Jesus is the center of my life. And this is not the end, all be all. I have more to look forward to.

Speaker 1: 31:12

So, yeah, joy, what's a practice to start taking this on today, man, the Bible tells us, rejoice always, pray, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances. You know I mentioned that a life of judgment um is one in which we are lost and we stay lost because we have not accepted and received, through faith, the grace that god affords us through jesus, that gives us relationship with him. If we, we live a life of loss for everything, because of that position, there's nothing really to look forward to. But because of Jesus, because of what he did, because of what the price that he paid, because of the step that he took to be resurrected from the dead and because of the position that he currently is now, we today, as followers of him, get to live a life of hope, joy and peace.

Speaker 1: 32:10

The Bible tells us that the kingdom of God is not found in eating and drinking. These things are peripheral. They're great and they're a gift from God, but they're not the point, even with regards to a standard of morality that comes out of eating and drinking. That's not the point, guys. It's not about our behaviors now, it's about righteousness, peace and joy in the holy spirit. Righteousness, peace and joy in the holy spirit that's the kingdom of god righteousness, peace and joy in the holy spirit. And so, yeah, we're obeying God's commands because God is literally working righteousness into us. And what is righteousness except love, you know. And then once you have righteousness in you, like if you have love in you, at some point you have an experience of wholeness, of peace, a sense of inner serenity as a result of that peace. And then what comes, like joy come on, you're overwhelmed with happiness because, like, your life is blessed. So what else do we have to do except rejoice always, pray all the time and give thanks, no matter what circumstance we're in, because we have a lot to be thankful for.

Speaker 1: 33:23

The bible says john 3, 16. And for God, so loved. In this way, god loved the world right by raising up Jesus on the cross to die for us, sending the son of man to die for us on the cross, right For God, so in this way loved the world that he gave his only only begotten son, that whoever believes in him or believeth in him will not perish, will not die, will not end in a life of loss and condemnation that's the noah paraphrase but have eternal life, have relationship with god, where they know god and know the Son who he sent, jesus, and live in union with him, in oneness with him. And so I'm adding, I'm kind of putting in John 3, 16, some of the truths that are later revealed in John, chapter 17, which I would encourage you to read John chapter 17,. The other Lord's prayer, chapter 3 of John, verse 17, goes like this For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Oh, there's so much I want to get into with that, but just just like. But like when?

Speaker 1: 34:48

What is your gut reaction to hearing that? What is your knee-jerk reaction to hearing that god didn't send jesus into this world to condemn the world, but to save the world? But to restore the world, if you want to say like the greek word for save, the g Greek word, sozo, where we get, you know, our understanding of salvation in the New Testament really means to restore something to right relationship, to wellness, to health. Like God sent Jesus into the world. You could literally say God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn the world to death, but rather to rescue the world in order to give it life, to heal the world, to restore humanity to right relationship with the father of love, to love, to bring the world back to love and life forever. What's your reaction to that? Because I don't know about you, man, but it's relief for me. It it's relief and it's rest, and it's peace and it's joy. So you know, but what's the practice?

Speaker 1: 35:53

How do you rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances? How do you keep these things, these reasons for joy, in front of you all the time? How do you keep your purpose in front of you all the time? How do you really live out your purpose if you've got a lot to think about? Well, read the Word of God and get into it every single day of your life and you will never lose sight of what you can have joy in. If you are reading the Word of God for all it's worth and really getting into it and really understanding it and really asking the Holy Spirit to help you grasp it, you'll never lose reasons. You'll never run out of ways to rejoice, always, to pray and to give thanks in every circumstance of your life.

Speaker 1: 36:38

Psalm 23, my cup overflows. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely, your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, will pursue me, will chase after me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the lord forever. That's your future. That's your present and your future. Your head is anointed with oil. He, he's chosen you, he loves you, he's given you purpose, he's given you an abundance of love and grace, an extravagant generosity, and he's literally chasing after you every day of your life, with his goodness and his loving kindness.

Speaker 1: 37:22

The Bible, even the biblical writers, had a hard time putting into words God's faithful love, and so they literally made up a word called chesed, which is loving kindness, in the Hebrew texts. God's loving kindness will pursue you. His goodness and his loving kindness, his chesed love, his unyielding love, his love that never gives up on you, will pursue you all the days of your life. That's your present and in the future. And even now, you're going to dwell in the house of the Lord. Even right now, you're part of God's household, even right now, among your brothers and sisters here on earth, in the community that God has given you. You are in the household of the Lord, you're part of his kingdom, you're a part of his kingdom, you're a part of his family. That's what you are, that's your present and that's your future.

Speaker 1: 38:28

I don't know who needs to hear this today, but if you're in Jesus, your present and your future is the love of God and his goodness for you that never gives up and never leaves you and will never, ever abandon you. You have been abandoned before. You felt love leave you before, but god's love, expressed to you and demonstrated in j in the cross of Jesus, his love for you, will never fail you and he will never forsake you. He'll never abandon you, he will never leave you. But how do I know that? Well, jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.

Speaker 2: 39:22

Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.

Speaker 1: 39:43

Jesus loves you. Yes, I know, for the bible tells you so. Listen, you want to get into joy every day? Read the word of god. Richard foster, spiritual practices guy I don't know what you'd call him spiritual formation writer, I don't know spiritual writer he wrote that the fruit of study okay is joy.

Speaker 1: 40:01

The result of studying the Word of God is joy, you know, letting God into your mind and your heart, into your thinking. It's joy. Paul said. I've learned the secret of being content and it's through Christ who strengthens me. I can do everything. Whether it's poverty, whether it's humiliation, whether it's shame, whether it's pain, whether it's getting hurt by others, with betrayal by others, the suffering that I endure, it's all possible because of christ in me who strengthens me. And what is christ in you except joy? If you take hold of christ, you have joy. And, like when you read that passage from that perspective, when you read that passage from the perspective that jesus formed in you is complete joy and it's had by getting into the word of god.

Speaker 1: 40:54

Abiding in the word of god, obeying the word of god if you obey his, the word of God, obeying the word of God If you obey his commands, you show that you love him. In obeying his commands, you are showing that you are his disciple, that you really are an apprentice of Jesus and you really are learning how to become more like Jesus, because you are like Jesus in that God has made you his child, his son, his daughter, with whom he is very, very happy. He's very, very happy with you, you know you just accepting Jesus is enough for him to be overwhelmed with delight over you. You know, as I mentioned, as a man throughout my life developing as a boy, whatever the emphasis has been on performance, achieving, striving, trying to make myself not worthless, never worthy, never being able to become worthy I always try to make myself not worthless. I'm useless. But if I work really hard, maybe I won't be useless and then I'll have a place at the table.

Speaker 1: 41:58

God says no, you are loved already. You don't have to. The only thing that you needed was the vehicle of faith. You already believe in me. That's all I need to overwhelmingly pour over you my lavish love, which says you are my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. I'm proud of you, just the way you are.

Speaker 1: 42:21

Noah, I love you and I don't know where your name is listening, but god is saying the exact same thing to you. All I need is your faith, and so how do you stay in that truth? How do you stay in that it's? We'll be reading the of God. That's the only way that you're going to stay in that truth.

Speaker 1: 42:40

Read and pray, said John Wesley. There is no other way. Read and pray. And that doesn't mean you have to read the book cover to cover. I would advise that you do, because it changed my life.

Speaker 1: 42:55

You know the context of me experiencing complete joy was reading through the Bible in the context of my everyday life, in the order in which God provided it, like reading through the scriptures in the context of my daily, crazy high school life, changed my life and completely set me up to live a life of fullness, significance, success and peace and worthiness, not from a worldly Western perspective, but from a true, real, love-filled perspective. I have had so many joys and I, as a 14 year old boy, had entertained the thought of Sue E. Side enough. If I, as a 16 year old boy, would have given into the lie that I was, I was not loved and that I had no purpose, if I had really truly committed Sue E. Side in those days, I wouldn't have experienced the overwhelming joys that God had yet to give me, and I would have probably prevented a lot of suffering too. I would have avoided pain and sorrow, but it would have been at the great cost and loss of the opportunity to experience God's overwhelming love and joy for me in the midst of those difficulties.

Speaker 1: 44:18

So where are you right now? What do you need to do? What verse do you need to read? You don't need to read the Bible cover to cover to experience God's joy. I'd advise you to do that, to read it all the way through. It doesn't matter how long it takes three years, four years, five years, doesn't matter. Just receive the whole counsel of god for your life. Read the bible every single day. And you know what, if you've just got to start reading psalm 23 every day, just read it.

Speaker 1: 44:46

There's like I don't know six verses like I think you can handle that like you've got what it takes, man, you've got what it takes, lady, come on, get that word out woman, Get that word out, my guy, and start reading the Bible.

Speaker 1: 45:02

Okay. Now there's other things with joy that I didn't touch on. I've had to take medication to overcome anxiety before. I've had to go to 12 plus years, 13 years of counseling on and off. I've had to really lean on other people and develop an interdependence with others that I found very uncomfortable and vulnerable. I've listened to music that has helped me in my really deep depressions and sadnesses. As life has gone on, even in the last six months, I've had to, you know, to get myself out of a mental battle through music or through friendship or through confession or through whatever.

Speaker 1: 45:40

I have had to pray against spiritual warfare. I've had to pray against Satan. I know not everybody's on that vein, even Christians. You're like oh, that's for some other Christian that believes in that kind of stuff. Dude, it's real, sorry, it's real and the enemy is is just happy to to make you feel like the overwhelm you're experiencing is all your fault. It's not the enemy, the devil your enemy. He prowls around like a roving lion looking for someone to devour. The devil is a predator and he has emissaries and other spirits under him who seek to undermine the work of god in your life. Don't let him fight back. Pray the truth of god into and over your life and the name of jesus and the authority and the love of god over you every single day. Be watchful, be mindful, be sober-minded. All those things were elements for me to overcome that.

Speaker 1: 46:38

But I had to overcome self-pity as well. There were just straight up stuff that was my problem, that I had to deal with. I had to take ownership for, take extreme ownership over your life and refuse to give in to self-pity, refuse to give in to this idea of victimhood that you're forever a victim. You're not. You're not. Listen, man. I've endured horrible things from people and there are many people that I know who have endured things that are much more horrendous than what I've endured, even just by virtue of some of the people I've interacted with, some of the young women I've interacted with in my life who have gotten to know their suffering is double, a double portion on top of anything I could have ever dealt with, just by virtue of being a woman in a very dark world. And all of us have endured the loss of innocence, the loss of friends and family members and pains beyond measure. But, friends, don't give in to the temptation of self-pity. Don't do it. It's not worth it. Let Jesus rule over you and give you this sense that you are not bound to victimhood, You're bound for victory because of what Jesus has done in and through your life, and then take steps to heal. Don't ever give in to the belief that you'll never be healed, that you'll never be okay, that the anguish is my whole life now, forever and ever.

Speaker 1: 48:01

There's lots of chronic pain that I've dealt with, specifically with mental health, and I'm telling you, I know that there's a day coming that I'm not going to experience that depression. And there are times that I have to admit, with respect to everything I've already said, I've had to give in to the reality that there are times when I've mishandled my battle with depression and I've let it overcome me when I should have been ruling it. And you're going to have those days, too, where you're going to have to confess and say dang, I did not handle this the way that God wanted me to and I gave in. And it's not guilt or shame, it's just a realization that there's some work that you've got to do too, and I think Oswald Chambers said that self-pity or he wrote in my utmost for his highest self-pity is one of the chief enemies of the Christian life. Don't give in. Receive a complete revelation and restoration of self through Christ.

Speaker 1: 48:58

Like I said, don't be conformed to the patterns of this world, which will keep getting you right back into those same patterns, scrolling social media, comparing yourself to other people, losing your sense of joy because the stories that you're putting in front of you are the are counter, or the opposite, are their counter, to what God has for you. Even looking at Christian influencers on TikTok, instagram and thinking my life could never be as good as theirs, my relationship with God will never be like that. Compare, compare. Compare. Comparison is the thief of joy, as they say. Put the phone away, at least for some time. You know, curate your social media, whatever you gotta do, but the fact is, if you're not intentional, you're gonna conform to the pattern of this world again and again.

Speaker 1: 49:39

So resolve and commit today with a friend, with yourself. Write it down whatever is gonna be most motivating to you. I had to do this yesterday, last night you know it's almost midnight I'm talking to my best bud one of my best buds on a call on Discord and I'm like yo, I gotta commit that I'm gonna do this, this and this this week, um, and we're gonna pray for each other. We're gonna, we're gonna fast, we're gonna pray for each other and it's gonna happen. So, wherever you are today, if there's one step, one practice that you can do today to get you into joy more and to have more of that fulfillment of that purpose and desire that God has for you and coming into alignment with it, taking hold of that joy, experiencing more of that fortitude, it's studying the Word, and you can do that through the Bible Project. You can do that through the Bible app on your phone. You can do that through the Pause app, which is an amazing resource provided by the Wild at Heart team in Colorado.

Speaker 1: 50:41

You can read books, you know, like the Bible Captivating Wild at Heart, by John and Stacey Eldridge, or so John Eldridge for Wild at Heart, stacey Eldridge and John Eldridge for Captivating, you know. Read other books, like, you know, atomic Habits, which I don't even think is a Christian book, but like read a different story that gives you a narrative that God is telling, which is that you are not bound to victimhood, you are bound for victory in Christ. So thank you for listening to the super long podcast episode. I did not plan on having it be this long, but I gotta tell you, like your battle, whatever it might be, or the friend but maybe a friend. You know you're listening to this and you're like this just not all of this is resonating with me.

Speaker 1: 51:29

I understand I gotta get in the word and everything, but, um, maybe you have a friend who really needs to hear this and maybe you, maybe, maybe you have some tools in your toolbox now and some of the conversations that you have with them where you can say hey, I know that you're struggling a lot. I just want to sit with you and listen, I want to hear your story and I want to pray for you and I just want you to know that you're not bound to victimhood. You're not a slave. You're a son or a daughter. You're loved, you're delighted in um, whatever, uh, but whatever battle you have in front of you, whether that's yours or it's for a person in your life, or you're praying through a son or daughter, a spouse um, victimhood is not your future and, in christ, it's not theirs either. God willing, he has a plan to work into them, if they will receive it, and he has a plan for you.

Speaker 1: 52:21

The bible tells us I know it's out of context. People say this verse is out of context all the time. But with respect to jeremiah 29's original context, which is that of jeremiah the prophet speaking to an exiled people uh, those who would be at one time, very soon, exiled to Babylon, where God was, you know, going to outpour his judgment and wrath on them for their sins he communicates something of grace, not just to them, but to us today. That is this I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Declares the Lord Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Speaker 1: 53:05

My friends, god's intent for you is not to stay condemned, not to be condemned at all. Just like for his people, israel at that time, his intent is to bring you into a restoration, to bring you a better relationship with him, to bring you hope and a future. That's plan, for I know the plans I have for you. He knows them and he declares it to you now not to harm you but to prosper you, meaning to excel, exceed you in wisdom, exceed you in joy. That comes from him, from his standpoint, not from this weird western self-actualization standpoint, but from a realizing your God-given identity standpoint as a person who is part of the household of God. He has a plan for your life. God loves you so, so much.

Speaker 1: 53:47

So I pray that you'd be blessed. I pray that you would have a realization of joy, true joy, in your life and that you would experience just divine delight, as you delight in the divine through study, through confession, through time with other Christians, through service. Lots of things to do to get more joy, but study the word, serve others, study the word, serve others and just sit in his love for you sometime, you know, sit in his love for you. Pray and say God, what is the truth that you have for me today, whether it's hard to hear or it's easy to hear, what do I need to know? Help me to sit in that truth today and just listen, just listen. You know, just listen. Let your self-pity and all the other thoughts, even when they start to flood your mind, just say God, I'm just going to listen. He's with you and he loves you. Thank you for enjoying the In Rest podcast with me today. I pray that it was a joy to you today and that it brought about joy in your life. I'm really grateful for you. I hope that you can be grateful even more for the relationship that you have with God. I pray that you would also connect with this community.

Speaker 1: 55:06

I'm releasing the In Rest community very soon, which is a free community for all of those who want to experience more of God every day, who want to experience more of rest, more of joy, more purpose, more purpose from God's perspective, people who really just want to live well in Christ, who want to live well and love others well in Jesus. I what the In Rest Community is all about. It's a free community also going to be revealing an a, an unleashing, releasing a paid community platform called the den, which is essentially for those who really want to live boldly and courageously as followers of jesus christ, who are empowered and encouraged, who want to go through group coaching, who want to experience more of what god has for them for their present and their future, uh, and want to overcome their past you know, really want to go deep on that. I'm revealing and releasing group coaching as well. There's going to be opportunities for one-to-one coaching. There's a book coming out that's going to explore more of these concepts about joy, true joy, happiness from a biblical perspective and the fundamentals thereof. So I'm really looking forward to releasing all that because I really want to add value to my other friends in the faith who just really need more encouragement in this season. And, in addition to that, I have a website, or I'm going to have a website that's going to have more resources on it.

Speaker 1: 56:29

If you're listening to this on Spotify, I'd really be blessed if you were to rate this podcast as five stars, because it'll get that, get the word out for more people of what it could look like to live a more integrated life with Jesus life lived well, loving others well in Jesus and thriving in Christ, living their best in Christ. In addition, uh, if you're watching this on YouTube, I'm really proud of you because this was an hour long. So if you had it open on a tab or something, but you or you were watching it the full way through, um, hey, thanks, you know, I I'm really, I'm really jazzed that you would be, um, you would have the endurance to watch this all the way through. Would you leave a like? Would you leave a comment? Would you subscribe? That would really help. Hit the like button, like the bell icon, so that you can be notified if there is another episode that's come up, share this with someone, go back and listen to another part of the episode again if it's helpful.

Speaker 1: 57:28

And you know, there's going to be so many more resources. There's going to be a blog where guest writers are going to share about their experience, and I'm just so excited for the future of this platform. I really want God to just use it. You know, and that was one of my commitments last night with my best buddy. One of my best buds was hey, I'm going to focus more on I est because I want to see people blessed, which rhymed, but I didn't mean it to.

Speaker 1: 57:50

Okay, so anyway, thank you so much for listening or watching the In Rest podcast with Noah James Wiebe. That's me. Please leave a comment, send a DM in the @inrestinsta okay, the Instagram account or the Facebook page at In Rest Institute or facebook. com In Rest Institute. I would really really love to connect with you and be praying for you.

Speaker 1: 58:14

So you know, if you have a prayer request or if you want to come into agreement with what you've heard today, just you know, in the comments, just type amen, I receive this. I want more God. I want more of you, lord, just you know, leave a quick prayer just to really participate and take action, and I think it might help with just engaging, you know. So, in any case, this has been Noah James Wiebe with In Rest Podcast podcast. Jesus really does love you and he cares about you, and I know that because his word testifies to it and he died for you for a reason. So I just hope you know just how much you're loved by God and how much he has for you. So Jesus loves you. You have a great day and see you next time.