Listen! Your Joy Will Be Complete!

“So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” John 16:22-24

The disciples were grief-stricken when Jesus said to them they would see him no more, and then after a while, they would see him again. They were perplexed and sad because Jesus was everything to them. With Jesus with them, they lacked nothing. 

They left all to follow Jesus. They found their shelter, food, protection, and all in Jesus. Now He said he was going to leave them. 

Jesus also said, yes, they would grieve, but their grief is temporary and will turn to joy. He gave an example of a woman to bring home the point in the preceding verse. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time of pain has come, but when her baby is born, she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. Jesus said it is the same with you. Now is the time of grief in His physical absence with them, but when they Jesus see again, they would rejoice, and no one would take away the joy from them. 

On that day, the day they would see Jesus again (referring to his second coming), they would ask him nothing. Jesus, all-sufficient Savior, would be with them. However, when Jesus is away from them is a time of grief. 

Beloved, so is with us. We believed in Jesus. However, the absence of His physical presence, although his spiritual company and Holy Spirit is inside us, could create sorrow and grief. Sadness and despair come in different shapes and sizes due to living in this sin-bound world and mingling with people who have the propensity to sin. 

So what would we do?

Jesus answered- “Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now, you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

Make a note of four things:

• God the Father would give what you ask when you pray in the name of Jesus Christ
• Until now, you have not asked for anything in the name of Jesus
• Now on, ask, and you will receive 
• And your joy would be complete

Did you notice that God waits on you to ask Him? Second, when you ask, pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Then the promise that you will receive when you pray in the name of Jesus.

Beloved, you need to take time to ask in the name of Jesus if you want to get something from God. It is the first step. Bible elsewhere in James 4:2, “Yet, you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.” Certain things you don’t have simply because you never asked for it in the mighty name of Jesus. God waits for you to pray in the name of Jesus. He promises you will receive, and as a result, your joy will be complete.

When you think about it, if you get all that you ask, it still does not guarantee joy for you. Joy is not just receiving what you want. Joy is the result of your intimate friendship/fellowship with the God of the universe in the person and work of Jesus Christ. 

Listen! the joy comes from the knowledge that God cares for you, he wants you to ask in prayer, and he knows what is best for you because he knows all about you and your future. He has already seen your future and is well aware. The calm assurance that you will receive what is best for you when you pray in Jesus’s name because of his divine knowledge about it all. That gives comfort and grants joy inside you, and your resultant joy would be complete. 

“Father in heaven, although there are griefs and sorrows while I live on this sinful and rebellious earth, like the early disciples, I believe in your promise. You said I could pray in the name of Jesus Christ, and you will grant my requests. So I ask for your divine intervention and help in my struggles. I believe Jesus is the Savior who saves me from my struggles and sins because he paid for my sin with his blood on the cross. I accept Jesus as my Savior. Thank you for the resultant joy you grant me. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.”