Breaking Free

510 Reconciliation of Evil Part III

Joy...the elusive fruit?

If Joy is necessary to make things happen in our life with The Lord, how do we obtain it? Paul's statement in II Corinthians 8:2 says we need Joy as part of the formula in order to achieve blessing; JOY + POVERTY = WEALTH. Most of us have some sort of poverty, or desperate need, and Paul says we need to add to it, Joy. How do we do that?

According to Paul, joy is a part of the fruit of the Spirit. So we need not try to make it happen, any more than we can make an apple grow on a tree.

My personal experience is borne out in John chapter two in the wedding at Cana of Galilee. Let's say that for the purpose of using the passage as a parable and analogy, that WINE = JOY, WATER = THE WORD, THE EMPTY VESSELS = US.

If we are honest, when we have some desperate need, joy is usually the furthest thing from us. Our emotions impinge upon us and try to wrestle our faith to the ground. We try to break through to peace and joy, but it does not work. Time for super-human power!

"And when the wine was all gone, the mother of Jesus said to Him, They have no more wine! Jesus said to her, Dear woman, what is that to you and to Me? What have we in common? LEAVE IT TO ME. My time to act is not come yet". Amp Bible. John 2: 3,4.

His mother told the servants to do whatever He says to do. That is important, we cannot make too narrow of a doctrine for our relationship with Jesus. It is a very personal thing, we must seek Him for ourselves and do whatever He says to do, now, this hour this day. We cannot live on what we got last month at some service or at some Bible study. It makes a good foundation, but we need fresh water daily.

Notice also that there were 6 (six) waterpots of stone. Six is the number for man, the flesh. That is where we are at this point in the process, just flesh, a mixed bag of emotions, empty.

Jesus said, (John 2:7) . Here you have the whole picture, Jesus said. Said what? It really does not matter, as long as you hear Him saying something! In the Old Testament, when the besieged Jews could hear from God through a prophet, they had the victory. They did not need to wait for the battle, they just needed the Word

Lets take a short detour from John 2 over to John 4.... we will return.

The Centurion told Jesus, "just say The Word and my son will be healed" Matthew 8:8. Look at John 4:46 at another desperate man. " So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had turned water into wine. And there was a certain royal official, whose son was lying ill in Capernaum. Having heard that Jesus had come back from Judea into Galilee, he went away to meet Him and began to beg Him to come down and cure his son, for he was lying at the point of death."

This desperate man had seen the miracle of water into wine, he had kept track of Jesus’ whereabouts, he went away to meet Him, and he begged. This man came to The Lord in his honesty. He did not try to look cool, with a bunch of faith, he begged. Then he listened.

The above actions are something I can do when I am desperate.

Jesus said two things to this man.

1. Stop looking for faith by feelings, and

2. Go in peace, your son will live.

The man put his trust in what Jesus said, and started home, apparently in Peace! (See the lesson on Peace- 04 Peace in the Stand series)

John 4:51-54 basically says that the man's son was healed the minute this father got the Peace. After that it was a past tense situation, he had been healed before the father could even see the evidence.

"And the God of Peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." Romans 16. I wonder if the father had any doubt on the way home? Probably so. But when one has heard The Master speak, faith cometh, by hearing and hearing the Word . Every other force must bow. When someone gives you His word He gives you His Name. It goes hand in hand.

Notice, healing the father's son, was the second miracle that Jesus performed. I wonder if it was necessary to do the first miracle in order to accomplish the second?

Anyway, let's get back to the first miracle....John 2.

So here we are desperate, emotions bouncing off the corners of our mind, trying to get a hold on faith, knowing that Joy is the answer, Peace is the goal, but what button do we push?

The empty vessels were filled with water. The empty me was filled with The Word. Verse 7 says "to the brim".

The Lord took it from there. He supernaturally turned the Word into Joy; the water into wine. Go ahead and fill your empty vessel.