Wednesday's Big Idea: A Full Measure of Joy

I've been very busy and was sick, so it's good to be back. It's hard to express how good our Wednesday prayer times are and recently they've seem to go one more step beyond. There is a palpable feeling of growth and movement forward - not that the past has been stagnant or static, just there is a renewed vigor as we're ramping up after the summer.

Our springboard verses were John 17:13-19 and the theme that seemed to permeate all of the prayers if not overtly, then as a subtext was joy. The key passage is this one: "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them."

Jesus prays for the disciples just before he is to be taken away to be imprisoned, tortured, mocked and executed. One of his parting prayers for them that he deemed vital before his crucifixion was that the joy within Christ - all of it, the full measure - would be in them. In the very darkest hour, in the time of despair Jesus knew that they needed to be filled with the joy within him. His joy was one of obedience, one of hearing the Father say "well done, my good and faithful servant." Echoes of Christ's baptism must have been replaying in his ear, the Father saying "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."

This is the joy Christ wished to impart to the disciples and I believe that the full measure of joy is for us as well. So our prayer today is for joy, and not only for us but for all. It is a fruit of the spirit, it is gift from God and it is ours to receive, if only we hold out our hands and receive it.