Practising positive Biblical disciplines generate joy, happiness and pleasures for us that bring great glory to our God of order. 

 Psalm 55:22 John 15:11-15  

Airline pilots who live to retire are not lucky. Their accident free career is the product of dedication to and meticulous following of well established safety routines. Prior to every take-off and landing they carefully work their way through an established checklist of authorized procedures.

Their objective is a happy, safe flight. All pilots know stories of flights that end in a ball of flaming wreckage. An item on the check list was missed. Safety routines save lives and ensure happy endings to jaunts into the wild blue yonder.

Over the centuries, spiritual routines have been developed that result in a life time of joy, happiness, pleasure and abundant glory to God. These routines work in every age, among all cultures and classes of people. People who seriously pursue them have a high level of joy and happiness.

This should interest all of us because we have a deep longing to be happy which is as legitimate as our hunger for food. We know that God wants us to intensify and nourish our longing for joy with whatever will provide the deepest and longest happiness. We also know that deep  enduring joy is found in God and God alone.

Now the question is, how do we keep our cup of joy overflowing? This message gives tested spiritual routines that keep our cup of joy overflowing.

1. Joy is maintained by daily rolling our burdens on the Lord. 
In the middle 1800's George Muller had homes for over 400 orphans. Muller was asked how he maintained his joy with the crushing responsibility he had for all his orphans. His response, "Before I did anything this morning, I rolled sixty burdens onto the Lord." "Give your burdens to the Lord and He will carry them." (Psalm 55:22 )

People who follow the routine of daily rolling their cares and burdens on Jesus maintain their joy. God has commissioned me to keep reminding you of the routines that keep your cup of joy overflowing.

2. Maintain joy by routinely fighting guilt like a justified, gutsy sinner. 
We are sinners and we will stay sinners until the day that we die. If we don't learn how to fight as a justified sinner we will lose our joy.

This truth is illustrated by the Prophet Micah's gutsy taunt to his enemy. "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, Jehovah will be a light unto me."   (Micah 7:8 ASV) Micah stumbled over a besetting sin or depressed frame of mind that robbed him of joy and he warns his enemy, "Don't gloat."

Now his gutsy declaration, "I will bear the indignation of Jehovah, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, (and) I shall behold his righteousness."  (Micah 7:9 ASV)

Micah sinned and the Lord was indignant with him. Then he confessed his sin and God forgave him. Now Micah has two choices. First, he can let his enemy taunt him for his sin and failure. Most of us know the whipped, beaten dog feeling. We've all run home with our tail between our legs. At home we berate ourselves for yielding to our besetting sin the 555 time.

Our second option is to be a gutsy, forgiven believer, standing in the righteousness of God. Listen to Micah's confidence, "When I fall I shall arise . . .he will bring me forth to the light, (and) I shall behold his righteousness."  The only sin that we can triumph over is a forgiven sin. We must learn to fight as a justified gutsy sinner. The hymn writer wrote, "He breaks the power of canceled sin."

Gordon McDonald played a prominent role in Christian ministry with the Navigators and as pastor of a prominent church in the U.S.A. He committed adultery and was striped of all ministry responsibilities. For two or three years he attended counseling and accountability sessions.

The day came when the church was ready to re-instate him. He had the choice of going into the pulpit a beaten, condemned sinner or a gutsy, forgiven, justified sinner who could hold his head high. He chose the latter and the congregation responded with a thunderous round of applause.

We repent and God justifies us, our joy returns and God is glorified. Don't live in the guilt and despair of forgiven, canceled sin. Stop sulking and saying, "If only I hadn't done it." Maintain joy by routinely fighting guilt like a justified, gutsy sinner.

3. We maintain our joy by routinely fighting to see God. 
Paul talked about spiritual sight with the eyes of the heart. "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you." (Ephesians 1:18 NIV) When our eyes lose sight of our hope we get glum and depressed. The desperate cry of our hearts should be, "O God let me see your works, your power, your resurrection, your coming again."

How does change happen in our lives? Answer, by seeing the glory of the Lord. "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (I John 3:2 NIV) Seeing is being, beholding is becoming. Thus joy is maintained by routinely fixing our eyes God.

4. Routine meditation on the Word of God sustains our joy. 
To sustain our joy we fight the fight of faith with the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. "The precepts (commands) of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart."(Psalm 19:8 NIV)

99% of the time that we lose our joy its because we leave the source of our joy under the newspaper or TV Guide. We stop meditating on the Word of God. Jesus said, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." (John 15:11 NIV)

If you turn away to the TV don't complain to me that you don't have joy. "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night."  (Psalm 1:1-2 NIV)

One way we meditate on the Word of God is by memorizing it. God is not a God of magic who waves His wand and suddenly joy appears. If we saturate our lives with God's word, the joy will return.

The reason we don't memorize the Bible is because we don't believe the pay off is worth the effort. That shows how little confidence we have in the Bible and how little we believe words like, "The precepts of the LORD rejoice the heart." How else can we stand in this sex crazed age? Practising positive Biblical disciplines generate joy, happiness and pleasures for us that bring great glory to our God of order.

5. The routine of earnest prayer sustains our joy. 
My heart is not naturally inclined to read the Bible. There are so many things that seem so much more exciting. A new magazine, a book on investing, a new computer program etc. That's why I must cry out, "Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain." (Psalm 119:36 NIV)

The second prayer we must learn is, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." (Psalm 119:198 NIV) Two people read the Bible; one finds her soul nourished the other feels it is a waste of time. The difference is that one asked the Spirit of God to reveal truth to her heart, the other trusted his human understanding.

Third we must pray, "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."  (Psalm 90:14 NIV) Don't take satisfaction for granted, the Bible tells us to ask for it.

6. We sustain joy by routinely preaching to ourselves. 
"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." (Psalm 42:5 NIV) This is great preaching to the mirror. If you don't preach to yourself, you lose one of the great avenues of grace that God gives to us.

7. Joy is sustained by routine participation in a small group fellowship. 
"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." (Hebrews 3:13 NIV) Encouraging one another is another great way to maintain faith and joy. If you don't fellowship with other believers don't complain about lost joy and weak faith.

8. Joy is sustained by patience during our dark nights. 
Many of us know the uncertainty of what Richard Foster calls, "The long night of the soul." This is a dark experience when there is no joy, only uncertainty and pain. Confusion is the order of the day and in our confusion we run from people. It seems that the long night of the soul must run its course.

One dark moonless night I was flying from Hinton, Alberta to Vancouver I learned a lesson about handling the dark night of the soul. This flight was off the airways thus I had no navigational aids for course guidance, only my magnetic compass.

Because of the strong headwind coming at me from a 45 degree angle plus the fact that much of the flight would be in the clouds there was a considerable amount to guess work. I took a bearing off the Hinton and Jasper beacon and set my course.

The Edmonton Air Traffic Control wished me a safe flight and told me to contact Vancouver ATC when I was forty miles from Kamloops. My five navigation aids were all out of range of the ground stations. When we're in the dark night of the soul it seems that all the education and training can't stop it nor seem to help us.

For two hours I held my magnetic heading steady. Soon the needle on one radio started to quiver, then another and another. They all said that I was on course. Then my headset came to life with the words, "Gulf Papa Foxtrot Delta, this is Vancouver ATC. We have you on radar North East of Kamloops."

That night I learned that during the dark night of the soul we must hold our course, keep trusting even when we cannot see, hear or feel God. The advice of the Psalmist is always timely.

"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD."  (Psalm 40:1-3 NIV) What a wonderful sequence, from the pit to successful evangelism.

9. Routine rest and exercise help sustain our joy. 
If you don't care for your physical body you'll lose your joy and get discouraged. Wee are whole people and our minds often take their ques from our bodies. Not having the obedience to get to bed on time is a spiritual problem that can rob us of joy and happiness.

10. Make a proper use of the revelation of God in nature. 
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." (Psalm 19:1 NIV) Don't walk outside and mummer about the nick on your car door. Be thankful you have a car and eyes that can see and fingers that can feel the nick. Let's open our eyes to the glory of God in creation. We will always see something that causes us to praise God.

11. Reading great Christian biographies and books about God helps us sustain our joy. 
"Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." (Hebrews 13:7 NIV) Some of these great men and women of faith lived in generations that weren't as man-centred as ours is today.

Conclusion: 
Joy is like a prize winning blossom. To win the prize the gardener systematically goes through the routines of pruning, watering, fertilizing and protecting from harmful insects. The routines produce prize winning blossoms. Practising positive Biblical disciplines generate joy, happiness and pleasures for us that bring great glory to our God of order. Today would be a good day to begin taking these routines seriously.