MAINTAIN YOUR JOY IN
JEHOVAH’S SERVICE
“Always rejoice in the Lord Once more I will say, Rejoice!”—PHILIPPIANS 4:4.
JAMES, a 70-year-old Christian living in Sierra Leone, had worked hard all his life. Imagine his joy when he had finally saved up enough money to purchase a modest four-room house! Some time after James and his family moved in, however, civil war broke out in that country, and their home was burned to the ground. They lost their house, but did not lose their joy. Why not?
2) James and his family kept their minds focused, not on what they had lost but on what yet remained. James explains “Even during the time of horror, we held meetings, read the Bible, prayed together, and shared what little we had with others. We were able to main-tain our joy because we focused on the wonderful rela-tionship we have with Jehovah.” By counting their bless-ings, the greatest of which is having a close personal relationship with Jehovah, these faithful Christians were able to “continue to rejoice.” (2 Corinthians 13:11) Of course, their distressing circum-stances were not easy to endure. But they did not cease to rejoice in Jehovah.
1, 2. How were one brother and his family able to maintain their
joy despite losing everything they owned?
3.The early Christians encountered trials comparable to those experienced by James and his family. Yet, the apostle Paul wrote these words to Hebrew Christians: “[You] joy-fully took the plundering of your belong-ings.” Paul then explained the source of their joy: “Knowing you yourselves have a better and an abiding possession.” (Hebrews 10:34) Yes, those first-century Christians had a pow-erful hope. They confidently looked forward to receiving something that could not be plundered—the unfadable “crown of life” in God’s heavenly Kingdom. (Revelation 2:10) Today, our Christian hope—be it heavenly or earthly—can help us to maintain our joy even when we face adversities.
3. How did some early Christians maintain theirjoy?
“Rejoice in the Hope”
3) The apostle Paul encouraged fellow be-lievers in Rome to “rejoice in the hope” of everlasting life. (Romans 12:12) That was timely advice for the Romans. Less than a de-cade after Paul wrote to them, they came un-der severe persecution, and some were tor-tured to death by order of Emperor Nero. Their faith that God would give them the promised crown of life undoubtedly sus-tained them in their suffering. What of us to-day?
4)As Christians, we too expect to be per-secuted. (2 Timothy 3:12) Further, we realize that “time and unforeseen occurrence” befall us all. (Ecclesiastes 9:11) An accident can take the life of someone we love. A fatal illness can strike down a parent or a close friend. Unless we keep our Kingdom hope clearly in focus, we may be endangered spiritually when such trials occur. Accordingly, we do well to ask ourselves, ‘Do I “.rejoice in the hope”? How often do I take the time to meditate on it? Is the coming Paradise real to me? Do I see my self there? Am I as eager for the end of the present system of things to come as I was when I first learned the truth?’ This last question deserves serious thought. Why? Because if we are in good health, earn a comfortable living, and live in a part of the earth that is more or less unaffected by war, food short. age, or natural disasters, we could—at least for the moment—lose sight of the pressing need for God’s new world to come.
4, 5. (a) Why was Paul’s advice to “rejoice in the hope” so timely for the Romans? (b) What might
cause a Christian to lose sight of his hope?
6.Paul further counseled the Romans to “endure under tribulation.” (Romans 12:12) Paul was no stranger to tribulation. Once, he saw in a vision a man who invited him to “step over into Macedonia” to help people there to learn about Jehovah. (Acts 16:9) At that, Paul, together with Luke, Silas, and Tim-othy, set sail for Europe. What awaited those zealous missionaries? Tribulation! After they had preached in the Macedonian city of Phi-lippi, Paul and Silas were flogged and thrown into prison. Clearly, some citizens of Philip-pi were not merely indifferent to the King-dom message—they were bitterly opposed. Did this turn of events cause the zealous mis-sionaries to lose their joy? No. After they had been beaten and thrown into prison, “about the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were praying and praising God witht “ song.” (Acts16:25, 26) Of course, the pain from the beat-ing gave Paul and Silas no joy, but that is not what the two missionaties focused on. Their thoughts were centered on Jehovah and the ways in which he was blessing them . By joy-fully ‘enduring under tribülàtion,’ Paul and Silas served as fine examples for their broth-ers in Philippi and elsewhere.
6. (a) When Paul and Silas suffered tribulation, on what did they focus their thoughts? (b) How can the example of Paul and Silas encourage us today?
7. Paul wrote: “Persevere in prayer.” (Ro-mans 12:12) Do you pray when you have anxious moments? What do you pray about? Likely you mention your specific problem and ask for Jehovah’s help. But you can also include expressions of thanksgiving for the blessings you enjoy. When problems arise, re-flecting on Jehovah’s goodness in his deal-ings with us helps us to “rejoice in the hope.” David, whose life was far from trouble free, wrote: “Many things you yourself have done, 0 Jehovah my God, even your wonderful works and your thoughts toward us; there is none to be compared to you. Were I inclined to tell and speak of them, they have become more numerous than I can recount.” (Psalm 40:5) If, like David, we regularly meditate on the blessings that we receive from Jehovah, we will find it impossible not to be joyful.
7. Why should our prayers include thanksgiving?
Keep a Positive Spirit
8Jesus encourages his followers to keep a positive spirit when they meet with various trials. He says: “Happy are you when people reproach you and persecute you and lying-ly say every sort of wicked thing against you for my sake.” (Matthew 5:11) What reason do we have for happiness under such circum-stances? Our ability to withstand opposition is proof that Jehovah’s spirit is upon us. The apostle Peter told fellow Christians in his day: “If you are being reproached for the name of Christ, you are happy, because the spirit of glory, even the spirit of God, is resting upon you.”(l Peter 4:13, 14) By means of his spirit, Jehovah will also help us to endure and, as a result, to maintain our joy.
8. What helps a Christian to stay happy when un-dergoing persecution?
9. Even when we are in the direst of cir-cumstances, we can find reasons to rejoice. A Christian named Adolf found that to be so. He lives in a country where the work of Jeho-vah’s Witnesses was banned for many years. Adolf and several of his companions were ar-rested and sentenced to serve long prison terms because they refused to renounce their Bible-based beliefs. Prison life was hard, but like Paul and Silas, Adolf and his compan-ions found reasons to give thanks to God. Their prison experience, they noted, helped them to strengthen their faith and to develop valuable Christian qualities, such as generos-ity, empathy, and brotherly affection. For ex-ample, when a prisoner received a package from home, he shared its contents with fel-low believers, who viewed these extra provi-sions as coming from Jehovah, the ultimate Giver of “every good gift and every perfect present.” Such acts of kindness brought joy both to the giver and to the recipients. So the very experience that was intended to break their faith actually made them stronger spin-tually!—James 1:17; Acts 20:35.
9. What helped some brothers to find reasons for joy when in prison for their faith?
10. Ella, who also lives in a country where the Kingdom work was long banned, was ar-rested for sharing her Christian hope with others. For eight months, she was subjected to relentless interrogation. When final-ly brought to trial, she was handed a ten-year sentence in a prison where theme were no oth-er worshipers of Jehovah. Ella was only 24 years of age at the time.
11 Of course, Ella did not look forward to spending most of her young adulthood in a prison cell. But since she could not change her situation, she decided to change her viewpoint. Accordingly, she began to view the prison as her own personal witnessing territory. “There was so much preaching to do,” she says, “that the years passed very quickly.” After more than five years, Ella was interrogated again. Realizing that prison bars had not destroyed her faith, her interrogators told her: “We cannot release you; you have not changed.” “But I have changed!” was El-la’s firm reply. “I am in better spirits now than when I first went to prison, and my faith is much stronger than before!” And she added: “If you do not want to release me, I will stay until Jehovah sees fit to deliver me.” Five and a half years of confinement had not robbed Ella of her joy! She learned to be satisfied in whatever circumstances she found herself. Can you learn something from her example? -Hebrews 13:5.
10, 11. How did a sister handle relentless interroga-hon followed by a long prison term?
12 Do not conclude that Ella possesses some unusual gift that allows her to face such chal-lenges. Referring to the period of interroga-tion that she underwent in the months be-fore she received her sentence, Ella admits: “I remember my teeth chattering, and I felt like a frightened sparrow.” However, Ella has strong faith in Jehovah. She has learned to put her trust in him. (Proverbs 3:5-7) As a re-sult, God is more real to her than before. She explains: “Every time I entered the interroga-tion room, I felt peace come over me. The more terrifying the situation, the deeper the peace became.” Jehovah was the source of that peace. The apostle Paul explains: “Do not be anxious over anything, but in every-thing by prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God; and the peace of God that ex-cels all thought will guard your hearts and your mental powers by means of Christ Je-sus. “—Philippians 4:6, 7.
12. What can bring peace of mind to a Christian in difficult circumstances?
13 Ella, who has since been released, main-tained her joy despite hardship. She did this, not in her own strength, but in the strength that Jehovah provided her. The same was true of the apostle Paul, who wrote: “Most gladly, therefore, will I rather boast as re-spects my weaknesses that the power of the Christ may like a tent remain over me. For when I am weak, then I am powerful.” -2Corinthians 12:9, 10.
13. What assures us that if tribulation comes our way, we will have the strength to endure?
14. The pressures you personaly face to- day may be somewhat different from those we have here considered. Still, whatever form they take, pressures are difficult to cope with. For example, your employer may be very crit-ical of your work—far more so than of the work of employees who belong to other reli-gious faiths. It may not be possible for you to look for other employment. How might you maintain your joy? Recall Adolf and his com-panions, whose prison experience taught them to develop vital qualifies. If you make a sincere effort to satisfy your employer—even one who is “hard to please”—you will devel-op such Christian qualities as endurance and long-suffering. (1 Peter 2:18) Furthermore, you may well become more valuable as an employee, which may increase your chanc-es of obtaining more satisfying employment some day. Let us now discuss some other ways in which we can maintain our joy in Je-hovah’s service.
14. Illustrate how a Christian could take a posi-tive view of a trying situation and what the result might be.
Simplifying Leads to Joy
15 You may have little choice in the type of secular work you do or about where you work, but there may be other aspects of your life over which you can exercise some con-trol. Consider the following experience.
16 A Christian couple invited an elder to their home for a meal. In the course of the evening, the brother and his wife con-fided that of late they had been feeling over-whelmed by the pressures of life. Although they both had demanding full-time jobs, they were not in a position to look for other work. They wondered how long they would be able to cope.
17 When asked for advice, the elder re-sponded, “Simplify.” How? The husband and his wife were spending up to three hours each day commuting to and from work. The elder, who knew the couple well, suggested that they consider moving closer to their place of employment, so that they would be able to reduce the amount of time that they spent traveling to and from work each day. The time saved could be spent in caring for other important matters—or just getting some rest. If life’s pressures are robbing you of a mea-sure of joy, why not see whether you can get relief by making some adjustments?
15-17. What did one couple learn could relieve stress, even though its source could not be com-pletely removed?
18 Another way to reduce pressure is to think carefully before making decisions. For example, one Christian decided to build a house. He chose a very complicated design, although he had never built a house before. He now realizes that he could have avoided unnecessary problems if he had ‘considered his steps’ before choosing the design for his home. (Proverbs 14:15) Another Christian agreed to back a loan for a fellow believer. According to the agreement, if the borrower was unable to repay the loan, the one back-ing it would be obliged to do so. At first, all went well, but in time the borrower be-gan to renege. The lender became alarmed and demanded that the backer repay the en-tire loan. That put great pressure on the back-er. Could it have been avoided if he had giv-en more careful consideration to all factors before he agreed to assume responsibility for the debt?—Proverbs 17:18.
18. Why is it vital to think carefully before making
decisions?
19.When we get tired, let us never conclude that we can reduce the pressure on us and re-gain our joy by cutting back on personal Bi-ble study, field service, and meeting atten-dance. Why, these are vital ways in which we can receive Jehovah’s holy spirit, a product of which is joy. (Galatians 5:22) Christian activ-ities are always refreshing and usually not ex-cessively tiring. (Matthew 11:28-30) It is far more likely that secular or recreational activi-ties, not spiritual ones, are contributing to our fatigue. Learning to go to bed at a reason-able hour may help put us back on track. A lit-tle extra rest can go a long way. N. H. Knorr, who served as a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses until his death, used to tell missionaries: “When you get dis-couraged, the first thing to do is to get some rest. You will be surprised how much better almost any problem seems after you have had a good night’s sleep!”
19. What are some ways in which we can reduce
stress in our lives?
20.Christians are privileged to serve “the happy God.” (1 Timothy 1:11) As we have seen, we can maintain our joy even when we are beset by serious problems. Let us keep the Kingdom hope before us, adjust our view-point when necessary, and keep our life sim-ple. Then, whatever situation we find our-selves in, we will respond to the apostle Paul’s words: “Always rejoice in the Lord. Once more I will say, Rejoice! “—Philippians 4:4.
20. (a) Summarize some of the ways we can main-tain our joy. (b) What reasons can you think of for being joyful? (See box on page 17.)
Give Thoughtful Consideration to These Questions:
• Why should Christians keep the King-dom hope sharply in focus?
• What can help us maintain our joy in difficult circumstances?
• Why should we try to simplify our lives?
• In what areas have some simplified their lives?
"But it does move"
Galileo