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John 16:20-24
Prayer guarantees the fullness of joy. When you sow into prayers (even in the time of affliction), you will receive a bountiful harvest of joy.
‘For His anger is but for a moment, His favour is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning’ (Psalm 30:5).
What is joy?
It is one of the nine attributes of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). It is one of the distinguishing features of the kingdom of God (Rom. 14:17).
Joy is supernaturally rooted in God and it remains our strength, even in the midst of trials… The joy of the Lord is your strength!
Jesus simply told His disciples the truth, and the same goes thus to everyone who wants to follow Him:
‘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’.
This means that sometimes, you might experience weeping, persecution and lamentation for the sake of righteousness.
While the world around you rejoices, you will be in a state of sorrow, but be of good cheer…He will give you beauty for ashes, oil of joy for mourning, garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (Isaiah 61:3).
‘A woman, when she is in labour, 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’.
Here, the Lord gave a scenario of a travailing woman who experiences labour pain. This is a picture of everyone committed to prayer, who sincerely carries a genuine, heartfelt heavenly burden, and they can only be relieved when the vision or mandate given to them is delivered.
‘…for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children’ (Isaiah 66:8).
‘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’.
You might have been thrown into a state of confusion at this season of your life. Maybe your situation is even helpless and you have no one to cry unto… He said, ‘but I will see you again… and your heart will rejoice…’.
When you develop capacity in the place of prayer, no one can take away your God-given inheritance. No devil can steal your joy!
‘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’.
It is the Lord’s desire that we cultivate a cordial relationship with the Father. He is ever willing to reveal the Father to us. He wants us to have a direct link to the Father, through His name.
‘Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full’.
In James 4:1-3, the Word of the Lord revealed to us that most of our prayers are made to suite our own purpose, not the purpose of God.
‘You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures’.
This is the reason why some prayer requests never get to the presence of God. As far as the Lord is concerned, we have made no connection (contact) with our heavenly Father in His name. Our faith in the name of Jesus is also strategic to having our needs met.
3 things we are expected to do in the place of prayer:
Ask, and it will be given to you!
Seek, and you will find!
Knock, and it will be opened to you! (Matt. 7:7).
As you embark on this kind of spiritual exercise, your joy will know no bounds! Your prayer will command bountiful harvest.
PASTOR NATHANIEL SADELA
Resident Pastor
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