Joy: Biblical Truths that Lift You Up

By B&H Editorial Staff

When Only the Truth Will Do

Faced with real-life tests—whether to our reason or our reserves—we more easily doubt than believe, more quickly despair than trust. But often our tentativeness to stand on the Word of God is less a lack of courage and more a lack of knowledge. We know what we’ve heard; we know what we’ve been told. But what’s the truth? What does the Bible really say? What can we grab onto by faith and never let go? This book is an entire collection of biblical truth that deals with a specific area of life—a specific need, a specific topic, a specific place where questions have always seemed more prevalent than answers. But as each page attests, the Scripture will always provide a firm place to dig in and defend. Be sure of what’s true, and you’ll feel a lot more sure of the next step.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: BH Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781535917919

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Copyright © 2018 by B&H Publishing Group

All Rights Reserved

Printed in the United States of America

978-1-5359-1789-6

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 242.5

Subject Heading: DEVOTIONAL LITERATURE \ BIBLE—INSPIRATION \ MEDITATIONS \ PRAYERS

All Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

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We live in a world that seems to be engulfed in despair. We turn on the news and can almost know there’s going to be a negative take on whatever is happening in the news cycle. We get on social media, and everyone seems to have more and more frustrations in their lives instead of celebrations. Even down to our music, the most popular songs are surrounded by the notion of devastation and heartache. If someone looked at our culture from the outside, they would think that we love the negative because of our concentration on it and our lack of focus on the positive in life.

It just seems that we so easily forget about the joy in our lives. When the negative pops up, it seems to be the only thing that holds our focus. Take a teenager, for instance, she could have the most beautiful face, but put a pimple anywhere on it, and it’s enough to make her shameful. Something that takes up such a small fraction of space seems to maintain all of her focus. That’s how a great deal of instances are in our lives. When we think about it, we allow the little negatives in our life to overshadow the countless positives that God provides. The solution to this problem is a simple one. We cannot allow the negative to steal our joy over the positive. We have to be willing to shift our focus.

We’ve all met the anxious student. Whether in a study group or in class, we all know the person that moves forward with nervousness. He’ll work for hours and hours on a given assignment. Lock himself in a library for days in preparation for the upcoming test, and then the entire time he takes the test, he’ll sweat. He’ll pray and accept defeat upon turning in the test. This same student will make the highest score on the test. There is very little joy in the times of his success because anxiety is what rules his life. Consult Scripture on how to defeat anxiety and take hold of joy.

Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life-span by worrying?

Matthew 6:25–27

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he