“…these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer, their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isa 56:7)
Have you ever wondered about this verse?
DIFFERENT WAYS OF VIEWING JOY
If you are an intercessor who has been influenced by leaders like Charles Finney, David Brainerd, Leonard Ravenhill, or even (one of my personal favourites), Canadian, Oswald Smith, you may be more focused on discerning God’s burden than pursuing joy. You could see prayer as a way to carry God’s burden and emulate Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane. Thus, you would want to grow in your burden for souls, grief over the wickedness of this present age, and groaning travail for the Church to awaken from spiritual slumber and compromise.
If this is how you are oriented, joy feels inappropriate at best, callously shallow, and contrary to the heart of intercession at worst. How can we sing and dance when so many are lost, and when the Lord’s name is so mocked in our nation? These are legitimate questions. You’re also likely aware that deep contending, travailing prayer seems to precede revival and awakenings. So then, what’s with the focus on joy?
Alternately, you might have been drawn to the ministry of intercession with your primary influences being the Third Wave Charismatic movement or the Toronto Blessing. If this is you, you likely look at joy very differently. You may feel that joy is the “new thing” that God is doing in the prayer rooms and the older style of grief and travail are simply religious relics of a past wineskin. You may recoil when others move into what they call travail, even quoting scriptures about already having the victory as an attempt to lift them out of their distress and burden.
A CLASH OF INFLUENCES
These are two different orientations that can end up clashing in the place of corporate prayer. One considers giggling that breaks into contagious uncontrollable laughter, dancing, and rejoicing to be one of the sure-fire signs that the Spirit moving. The other honours the quiet weeping that breaks into intense wailing intercession as a sign that God is on the move and the breakthrough is at hand.
Who’s right? Are they both right? What IS the place of joy in the prayer room?
I was preaching on John 15 last month and so had an occasion to look more closely at verse 11:
“These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.”
In this passage, Jesus is not exhorting his disciples to be oblivious of all the serious needs around them and just “don’t worry, be happy” like that great reggae song that came out in the 80s. He is rather, offering them His joy, His personal, absolute joy that is based on the unshakable, unstoppable, kingdom of God. It is joy from above, which has a very different substance than earthly, emotional happiness. Heaven is full of joy because those in heaven have an unfettered view of all the ways that the kingdom of God is advancing and Jesus, the Man of Heaven is full of holy, heavenly joy.
JESUS WAS FULL OF JOY
Obviously, like anyone, joy erupted in Jesus’ life with hearty times of belly laughter and fun, but even in quiet, serious, or solitary moments, there was an internal demeanor of buoyant, peaceful delight. He carried joy, He was full to the brim with joy without being foolish or inappropriate. Jesus could see all the ways the kingdom was advancing, not just right in the moment as he ministered to people, but also the ripple effect of their transformed and healed lives (Jn 15:15, 5:19). He saw all the good work that His Father was doing and His heart sang with joy.
If you look at all the New Testament references to joy, an interesting pattern emerges. Joy has a direct association with the advancing and breaking in of the kingdom of God, the increase of the substance of heaven on earth. It’s throughout Jesus’ ministry of course, but most emphasized at His resurrection and then it marks the work of the Church as that same unstoppable resurrection power continues to pour through the lives and ministries of Jesus’ disciples.
That kingdom advance might look like salvation or deliverance, healing or restoration, but it can also look like koinonia, the revelation of Christ, peace and order, humility, service, or sacrificial love. If you flip to the end of the book and look at the descriptions of the new creation in the Revelation 21,22, or pick them up from Isaiah’s prophecy in chapters 60-62, you’ll get an even fuller picture of the kingdom of God fully manifest— and surprise, surprise, the very verses that describe joy in the house of prayer are found in these Isaiah chapters!
HOW WE MOVE FROM BURDENS TO JOY
When we pray we move. We move from our starting point of sorrow and concern over the brokenness all around us to a new place of drawing near to God. In this place and through intercession, uniting with Jesus, joining Him as He stands in the gap, we experience change- both in our hearts (our burdens lift) and in our world (prayers are answered). But we also experience the exhilaration of being with Him and He opens our eyes to see what He’s doing. He shows us how He’s moving, He gives us glimpses and promises of what’s ahead and we find our mourning transformed by the oil of gladness (Isa 61:3). His joy becomes what fills us because, our eyes are opened to see the beauty and the glory and the victory of His kingdom— the kingdom of God.
Joy will always be present in every Christian’s life, be they prayerful or … not so much, for joy is a fruit of the Spirit and it is hard not to be joyful when we know that God loves us. But we will have much more joy, we’ll swell with joy unspeakable and full of glory when we draw near to him in intercession and thus have our eyes opened to how He’s moving, what He’s planning, how He is taking the things the enemy meant for evil and turning them for good.
The ministry of intercession does this. It opens our eyes to see the way the kingdom is breaking in and breaking out. Even when the work is still in a seed form we are given eyes to see how it will be in its maturity and like Elizabeth pregnant with John the Baptist and greeting Mary, we overflow with joy.
Perhaps the transition from entering the prayer room with sorrow and burdens and as we pray having them give way to joy can best be described by Jesus’ words, recorded by John:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:20-24
I think it’s super helpful to keep in mind this metaphor of a baby being born as we go to prayer. It’s an echo of Jesus going to the cross and enduring all its suffering for the joy set before Him (Heb 12:2). Indeed, weeping may last for a “nighttime” but joy comes with the morning as light breaks and we can see (Ps 30:5b). But with this progression in mind here are a few tips that will help us walk it out in a healthy way:
Don’t resist the burden - if your heart is becoming heavy with concerns, pay attention to them and take them to prayer rather than pushing them away and trying to just cheer yourself up.
Don’t cling to the burden - As you pray, believe that God is hearing and responding, be willing to move. Don’t hold onto the burden that God is lifting with a desire to be more martyr-like. You don’t have to earn a breakthrough by laboured intercession, just keep pace with the Spirit. You may find yourself in a simple, brief moment of prayer or possibly hours of wrestling, either could be the leading of the Spirit.
Remember that Christ is the Great Intercessor - He ultimately carries the burdens and does the main work of intercession, we join Him in this but He is the Savior not us. Don’t take on more responsibility than simple, Spirit-led obedience.
Keep your spiritual eyes & ears open- Stay receptive to the voice of God, notice the movement of the Spirit over your heart- has there been a change? Pay attention to scripture verses, images, or biblical stories that the Spirit may want to say something through. Jesus may want to reveal to you what He’s doing or how the kingdom has newly advanced in response to your prayers.
Then finally, remember… The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit! (Rom 14:17). Let’s expect joy in our personal prayer lives and in our corporate gathering together as a house of prayer!
Great wisdom here Sara. Not a matter of either grief or joy but pointing to joy as an outcome of intercession. Last week I wrote about prayer, not the deep travailing kind but the moment by moment during the day kind, using the example of my brief encounter with a butterfly. You may find it interesting. http://wisdomfromtheword.ca/