You Can Ask God to Give You New Joy

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price… Seek the LORD while he may be found.”Isaiah 55:1, 6Seven hundred years after Isaiah, our Lord Jesus took up these words: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). This is something for you to do. How can you cultivate your joy in Jesus? You come to Him. It begins with believing, but it does not end there. Because you believe, you come. Ask, seek, knock—and you will receive.First, ask God to give you new joy in His people. Ask Him to forgive you for moaning and complaining and fault finding with His people. Ask Him to forgive you for loving the politics of the church more than the people of the church. Ask Him to give you eyes to see His redeeming work in the lives of other people and to rejoice in this.Second, ask God to give you new joy in His love. This is how David prayed when he longed for God to restore his soul: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Ps. 51:12).Third, ask God to give you new joy in His city. Ask Him to help you to see beyond the disappointments of your life right now. Remember that while there is a future that you don’t know in your city, there is a future that you do know in God’s city. Ask the Lord to give you joy in His city, and you will find that your joy grows in your city.Will you ask the Lord for new joy in His people, in His love, and in His city today?