Live Free with Josh Howerton - The Technique of Joy | Ep. 37 | Tuesday March 28, 2023

Episode Date: March 28, 2023

A little bit of joy goes a *long* way. It’s easy to get caught up in the flow and forget to acknowledge the things in your life that you’re grateful for. This episode comes with an eye-opening reminder about the joy you can find all around you and a challenge to take note of it as often as you can. Whether this practice comes easily to you or if it’s something you have to try harder at, you’ll discover that it makes a dramatic difference in your heart, soul, and mind. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive podcast. I'm Mike Bro. And you may be driving in your car right now on your way to work, on the way to school, or maybe you're on a walk, or you're working out, or you're sipping a cup of coffee, or getting ready for bed. I don't know what you're doing, but thanks for joining us today. And what we're doing, we're simply asking God to stick some wisdom, some truth, some hope, and some joy into our hearts as we walk through a little book of the Bible called Philippians. We're just doing it a few minutes every day. And I would say that joy, is at the heart of this little letter that's tucked in the back of the New Testament. Because all the way through the writer, a guy named Paul, talks about joy.

And I think we could all use a little more joy in our life. And we're just barely getting started with this. So if this is your first time, you are not far behind at all. But let me just quickly retrace our steps for the last two episodes. Paul starts this letter by telling them, it's so cool. He says, every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. And we challenged each other to come up with a list of people that we can say that. about. And then let them know every time I think about you, I give thanks to my God. And then he goes on

to say in verse four, whenever I pray, I make my request for all of you. And we encourage each other not only to take our stuff to God in prayer, but also to pray for the needs of other people as well. Whenever I pray, I make my request for all of you. And as you catch how he does this, he says, and I do it with joy. There's that powerful combination of gratitude and joy. I mean, somebody said, it's not joy that makes us grateful. It's gratitude that makes us joyful. I'm telling you, a heart of gratitude changes so much about your life. It sweeps away ugly stuff like entitlement and bitterness and anxiety and envy and greed.

It gets your eyes off yourself and onto the needs of other people and onto the goodness of God. And then Paul adds this in verse 5, for you have been my partners in spreading the good news about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. He's just saying, I am so grateful for you guys. I thank God for you. I pray for you every day. And whenever I do, it just fills me with joy because, you know, the truth is, you have been there for me. I know you got my back. You've been generous toward me.

You've been on mission with me. I never felt like I was in this by myself, for you have been my partners from the beginning. Now, if you're looking at the Bible right now, let's skip down to verse 7 as he continues this thought. He says, so it's just right. It's just right that I should feel as I do about all of you. For you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God,

both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the good news. God knows. He knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. You know, we pastors probably don't tell you enough how much we love you. I know that I speak for all my teammates and all the churches I'm a part of. If we were to write something to you, it would sound a lot like what Paul writes here

because we are so genuinely grateful for you. There is so much affection, so much fondness. I still can't believe that I get to do this full time with my life. And it's because of so many good people like you that I get to. You know, I've told you before that I regularly do my gratitude list by working through the ABC. So it just keeps me on track. I work through the letter A all the way through Z. I go through the first time, just attributes of God, good things about God, whether it's amazing, beautiful, caring, divine. Then I go back a second time I do things in life that I'm

thankful for, just whatever pops in my head. I've been thankful for zebras and xylophones a lot because there's not a whole lot when you get down the other list. And then I go back the third time I do people. I do people. And I can't tell you how many times when I do that, how the name of people from all the various churches I've been a part of in my life, pop into my mind. I'm talking people I haven't thought about in years. I mean, I even get a little choked up right now as I think about those people. I can think about countless volunteers, really close friends, those who've been so generous toward my family, those who mentored and coached my kids, leaders and strategic thinkers

who helped give life to like some crazy vision I had. or grandmas that prayed for me every day, humble people who served behind the scenes, people who came out of really, really dark lives to find the light of Jesus Christ, man, there is all my family. They have been my pardoners in spreading the good news of God's love because we are all in ministry together. The way so many of you go into places that the rest of us could never go and shine a light is just so inspiring.

I can remember we planted a church in Las Vegas. In fact, this church just turned 30 years old last week, such a great church. And I remember one time a guy in the church in Vegas came up to me, and he said, hey, I just won't let you know. I was baptized a couple of weeks ago. And my life is so radically different that it was years ago. He said, but I'm a dealer at Caesar's Palace.

I deal blackjack. And I got thinking, man, I probably need to find another job now that I'm a Christian. He said, then I got thinking about it. But you know what? I used to be on the other side of that table and be pretty despondent, losing everything I had. And now I'm on the other side dealing, talking to guys that are about to lose everything in their life.

And I can understand what they're going through. And he goes, I guess you could say, like I'm an undercover agent for God at the craps table. I said, man, you are. I'm so glad you're able to be where I can't be. And all of you are undercover agents, right? I can't be a light at your school. But man, you can.

I'm not in the corporate world, but some of you are. I'm not waiting tables and interacting with people, but some of you are. I don't have the chance to walk into an operating room and bring hope and healing to people. I'm not at home changing diapers. I'm not outframing houses with a crew. I'm not settling disputes in the courtroom. I'm not working in a factory. I'm not playing on a soccer team.

But you are. We are partners in spreading the good news of God's love. And I have to tell you, just like Paul said, you hold a special place in our hearts. And it floods my heart with joy. So let me ask you again today, who you're grateful for? Who's been a partner with you? Who is it that's lifted you up, encouraged you, comfort at you, text you at just the right time, challenged you, spoke truth to you, maybe talked you off the ledge or showed up at just the right time and just sat with you and just said the right thing or put an arm around your shoulder or made you laugh.

or helps you out with your kids or gave you a word of direction or maybe made you dinner or put gas in your car or prayed for you. I am so grateful for all those people in my life. And I'm going to find different ways to let them know. And I challenge you to do the exact same thing starting today. Again, very, very grateful for you. And thanks for letting me ramble on. See you next time. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital

ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.com.com. Church slash daily drive.