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Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. We believe you're going to have an awesome 2024, healthy, productive, and favor-filled. God bless you today and enjoy the message. Now, the joy that Jesus gave us is not dependent on what is going on around us. See, the joy that Jesus gave us is on the inside of us.
You see, God does his work on the inside of us. When you said yes to Jesus Christ, the outside didn't immediately change, but the inside did. You see, he put seeds on the inside of you. He gave you a new heart, a new start, the ability to take what he's put on the inside of you and make it come out of you. See, God's blessings change.
start on the inside, but they show up on the outside. You see, I have a lemon tree and when I got it and planted it, it had no lemons on it. It was a lemon tree, but it had no lemons, but I took care of it. I watered it. I fed it. I made sure that it was, you know, was in the right soil. I did everything I could to cultivate and develop the lemons and
And sure enough, that lemon tree that had no lemons on the outside produced them from the inside. So my lemon tree now has fruit that I can eat from. And do you know that's how joy works? Joy is inside of us, but we must cultivate it. We must tap into it.
Because there is fruit in there that we have to eat from if we are going to overcome the trials of life. You see, you may be in a trial. You may be in a difficulty. You may have lost a loved one. You may have a child who is wayward or far off.
And you feel sorrow. But do you know on the other side of that sorrow, parallel with that is joy? It's the fruit of joy that you can eat from. And it causes you to be strong. And it causes you to stand firm. And it causes you to overcome. And that's why joy is so important. In fact, the Israelites, when God brought them out of captivity —
from the oppression of the Pharaoh. It says in scripture that he brought them out with joy and led them forth in peace. You see, I believe what he was showing us was if you're going to come out of these dark places, if you're going to stand under the trials of life, you have to come out with joy.
You're going to have to use the joy to get you out of captivity, to get you out of those anxious thoughts, to get you out of that defeat and discouragement. Joy is the key of coming out. Joy is your key and it's inside of you, but it's like anything else. You have to tap into it. You have to develop it. You have to use it.
The Bible says in this world, you're going to have troubles. Jesus said that. He wasn't promising us that we weren't going to have troubles. But do you know what he said about those troubles? He says, here's the key. Be of good cheer. Be of good cheer because I have overcome the world. Be of good cheer for I have overcome. You know what he's saying? He's saying, brighten up. Brighten your face up. One scripture says, rejoice now.
In the Lord. And again, I say rejoice. Rejoice means to brighten. You see, there's a light on the inside of you, but you've got to flip it on. And the key to joy is this. I really believe this because some people just seem to have a different personality. They can just be more joyous where some people may be a little melancholy and they have to work on this. But the truth is in a trial, we all need this joy. We all need it.
So we must develop it. Listen, I didn't take my lemon tree and put it in the ground as soon as I needed lemons. I put it in the ground. I cultivated it. I did what it took so the lemons would come out. Then I could take them. Then I could use them. And see, when you need joy, you can't try to cultivate it right away. You have to know how to tap into it. The fruit has to already be there. Okay?
So I think every day we have to practice joy. We have to laugh in the face of adversity. We have to smile when there's nothing to smile about. You know, I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and she's been very discouraged. She's been very down.
She's having some difficulties with her daughter and is going through a divorce. And she has a young child. And you know as a mother in here, when your child's not doing good, it's hard for you to do good, right? I mean, you just worry. And I've watched her just get more discouraged and more discouraged. And now I see her health is being jeopardized. Because anxiety and stress will jeopardize our physical being.
And so I began to talk to her the other day because I thought, you know what? I've just watched day after day after day. You know, I just want to encourage her. So she, we've been friends forever. I've worked with her forever. We really love each other. So she knows me pretty well. But I walked in and I just started deciding that I was just going to make her laugh. You know, I was just going to bring the joy up in her. And so I was like, hey, can I see your teeth? She thought, what? What?
The next thing I know, I start seeing a little bit of her teeth. And I said, oh man, your teeth are beautiful. Look at your smile. I haven't seen you smile in a long time. And so I just start laughing and cracking up and I'm being so silly that she starts laughing.
You know, so I began to just brighten her. I began to encourage her joy. See, I was simply changing the atmosphere in her mind. I was simply changing that so that she would be opened up to what God wants to say to her. So funny because
Okay, y'all, I'm going to just admit something. Sometimes when I talk to you guys, like I got this light that's shining in my eye. I'm trying to think of what I'm supposed to say. I'm being all serious. And I see sometimes when I watch myself, I'm all crouched up like this and I'm talking to y'all.
And I think, I got to stop that. How can I stop that? And I told Joel, I said, I don't mean to, because I'm such a happy person. And I, but I just all of a sudden start frowning, trying to, and Joel said, oh, it's going to take you a year to stop that if you start practicing right now. Hello, Mr. Encouragement. So I read that if you put a pencil in your mouth between your teeth,
That it makes the sides of your mouth go up. You know, there's studies that say if you'll change your facial expressions, it does something to you emotionally. So what I've started doing was sitting in my computer with a pencil in my mouth. So I can just be smiling all the time. So I thought about that and I had took two pencils with me when I was talking to my friend. And I said, I said, look at this and put pencil in my mouth. I said, look how it makes me smile. I said, put this pencil in your mouth. I said, I washed it.
We're both standing there looking at each other with pencils in our mouths. But can I tell you, the atmosphere changed. The joy came. The blessing came. The problems seemed to be smaller. You see, the joy was there to be her strength. And I began to tell her about the promises of God and the goodness of God, the things that really produced that joy. And I said, you know, you're worried about your child.
And that's certainly understandable. But I want to explain something to you that I truly believe. Your child, your daughter, what she's going through right now, God has given her the grace to go through it. God has given her the grace to go through it. He hasn't given you the grace that she has. He's given you the grace to help her through it.
But you can't help her through it with a long face. You can't help her through it with discouragement. God wants you to stir up your joy. He wants you to bring a sense of happiness and joy and elation to her life. Elevate and push that joy up for her and for yourself. Do you know when you push joy up, it signals victory?
It's like when a guy runs and he wins the race, the first thing he does is throws his hand up. It's because he has victory. We need to change our posture and let the joy come out in our life. We need to put a pencil if necessary because God works through our joy. He brought them out with joy because he knew they needed the strength to go on. They didn't even know all the things they were going to face.
But if they could go out with joy, if they could tap into that joy, that joy would be there for them, would be their strength. So I want to encourage every one of us today to practice joy every day. Look at what your face is saying. What is it signaling to your body and your mind?
What are you thinking about? The kingdom of God starts within us and it flows out of us. And that's what brings the blessing. So I encourage you, don't let life's difficulties push your joy down. You push your joy up because it signals victory. Amen. Amen. He's an awesome God. God has put a specific dream in your heart. Maybe it's a dream for a better career.
A blessing that enables you to bless others, to be in a healthy, loving relationship, to launch your own business or ministry endeavor. We all have dreams, but sometimes setbacks and opposition can rob us of our dreams. So how do you make your dreams a reality?
One way you know it's a God-given dream is you can't accomplish it on your own. We never thought we'd be having church in a former basketball arena, but this is what can happen when you take the limits off of God. When you believe what God put in your heart, that's when He steps in and makes ways where you never saw ways. I'd love to send you my newest book, It's Time to Dream Again. It'll help you to hold on to what God promised and not get discouraged by how impossible it looks or how long it's taking.
You are closer than you think. God's working behind the scenes right now. Stay in faith. You're going to see the greatness of God bring your dreams to pass.
As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any amount to the ministry this month, Joel and Victoria would like to send you this dream-releasing, life-affirming book, It's Time to Dream Again. You might sense that your dreams have been buried, but with this book, you'll see that they are actually a hidden treasure just waiting to be uncovered and come to life.
God's plan for you is significant. His dreams for you are beyond what you could imagine. Don't wait another day. It's time to dream again. This book will help you gain a fresh perspective for your dreams and to believe for everything God has put in your heart. Victoria and I pray for you and your family every day. Thank you so much for your prayer and support. Your generosity is making a difference around the world.
Remember, you can watch the services live online every Sunday. Download the daily podcast or our YouTube channel. Listen on Sirius XM. We will keep you encouraged and inspired. But until we meet again, may the Lord bless you and keep you. Be sure to request your copy of It's Time to Dream Again today. Visit joelostein.com or call 888-567-JOEL.
