Whether you’re facing ordinary, daily pressures, or an unexpected season of suffering that seems to have no end, sometimes it feels like Jesus’ promise of “overflowing joy” is simply not within reach for your real life. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In this five-day devotion, you’ll spend time looking at Jesus’ words from John 15 and discover three surprising paths to a truly joy-filled life.
B&H Publishing
Day 1
Scripture: John 15:1-11
An Invitation to Overflowing Joy
I know you are busy and may also be struggling through the same seasons I’ve faced. There are seasons where we are juggling many things, where we are tired and worn, or where we feel just plain weary.
Sadly, we live in a world where most women would say the same thing. Anxiety, depression, weariness, and disappointment seem to be the basic descriptors of our lives. And many days, we can lack a sense of joy.
Jesus said that life doesn’t have to be this way. On the night before his crucifixion—when he should have been filled with the utmost anxiety and depression—He told His disciples: “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” (John 15:11, NLT) How could Jesus have such joy when He knew that one of His very own disciples would betray Him, that He would be arrested, tried, beaten, flogged, and that ultimately His death was imminent? And how can we too have this joy that overflows in the anxious, depressed world we live in?
The Christian Standard Bible translates that last word in verse 11 as “complete.” It’s the same word as “overflowing” in the New Living Translation. Other translations use the words “full,” “real,” “genuine,” “spilling over,” or “contagious.” However your translation puts it, this is the truth: Jesus wants us to have a joy that is so full, so real, so genuine, so overflowing that we can’t keep it to ourselves!
Three Pathways to Joy
In a world filled with anxiety and weariness, Jesus presents His followers with something markedly different. He offers complete, abundant, overflowing joy. And Jesus reveals three very surprising pathways to finding this type of joy: (1) pruning by our Heavenly Father, (2) the promise of His presence, and (3) our perseverance in His command to love others. It’s interesting that of these three pathways to joy, the first two are something He does in us, and the last one is something that we are commanded to do in response.
During this devotional, we’ll look at the things that lead to an overflowing joy in Jesus.
Day 2
Scripture: Hebrews 12:10-11
Joy Comes from God’s Pruning
God prunes our lives, not because we have done something wrong, but because there was evidence of previous fruit. In the past, our lives had shown signs of life and vibrancy. And while that’s encouraging, God doesn’t want us to stop there. He doesn’t want us to stay the way we were. He wants us to be even more fruitful!
Our intimate Gardener doesn’t work carelessly with us as He sets his shears to the places that need trimming back. He knows exactly where to prune our lives and might never be as close or personal to us as when He is pruning us. And God promises that where there was one branch, now there will be three. Where there was previous fruit, there will now be more fruit.
In these seasons of God’s pruning, we find another attribute of our gardener displayed: His loving care toward us. Not only is God personal and intimate when He is pruning us, but His pruning is actually because of His love for us. Proverbs 3:12 says, “The LORD disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.” Just as my parents disciplined me because they loved me, God disciplines His children because He loves them.
God prunes us, disciplines us, and trains us because He loves us. If He didn’t love us, He wouldn’t prune us. He would just let us live in wild, uncontrolled, and overcommitted ways—so overgrown and unruly that our lives exhibit a total lack of discipline.
Pruning is loving. Our God knows that what we need is not crammed calendars, empty checkbooks, and “run-ragged” hearts. Instead, we need to be pruned. We need to be brought back to a healthy state. We need to be simplified so our roots can deepen.
And it is in these seasons of “simplification” that we experience God in new ways. Our roots come from our salvation and living in Christ Jesus alone. When God prunes us, He is sending our roots of faith deeper. Pruning is for our benefit, creating lives that are rooted in Jesus and that will yield peaceful fruit.
The life of peaceful fruit is not found by overcommitting, overspending, or overextending. Instead, God’s discipline teaches us that He alone satisfies. He instructs our hearts that instead of finding our value in activities, finances, or relationships, He is what nourishes our soul, and He alone is our true joy.
Day 3
Scripture: James 4:8
Joy Comes from Depending on God’s Presence
In God’s presence, we can rest. We can find refuge and shelter in His love for us.
The way to bear fruit, the way to have joy, the way to live a life of abundance is to stay connected and dependent on the Vine.
As we live this way, our roots grow deeper. The more you walk with Jesus, the more you see Him provide time and time again. The longer you live on this earth, the more you realize that you can do nothing without Him. The farther you travel on this earth, the more you can recognize His faithfulness to you over and over. These repetitions of dependence and faith send your roots deeper and you trust in Him more.
I know that this has been true in my life. The deepest lessons I’ve learned about God have come from the seasons of the deepest suffering. And I’ve seen it in others too. We learn that as we depend on Him, He is faithful and can be trusted. If He is with us, that’s all we need.
We see this with our children. When they are sick or scared, they just want to be near Mommy or Daddy. They’ll often say something like, “I just know that if I’m near you, everything is okay.” And isn’t that how we should be with our Heavenly Father too? Just to be near Him, we know that everything will be alright.
Overflowing joy is a joy that is so contagious that it spills over and cannot be contained. And the only way to have this type of joy is to depend on His presence and send your roots deep. Trust in His Fatherly care for you and rest as His child, knowing that “apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) And expect that the deeper the dependence goes, the fuller the joy.
Day 4
Scripture: John 15:11
Joy Comes from Persevering in Loving Others
There is a purpose in loving the way that Jesus commands us. Look back at Jesus’ words in John 13:34: “This world will know that you are my disciples.” When Jesus describes “this world,” He is not referring to His creation. He’s referencing the lost, the broken, the nonbelievers. Jesus is telling us that there’s a way the lost can know about our faith. There’s a way nonbelievers can know about Jesus. There’s a way the hurt and the broken can know about our God. And it’s not through the things that we so often value or esteem, like our education, our titles, or our positions. It is not by our worldly possessions. What is this way? This world will know about our Savior by our love.
Because Jesus’ command is so counter-cultural, the unbelieving world will marvel. After all, they know how to love when it is easy. But this world does not know what it means to love your enemies. We live in a day and age where if you disagree with someone, they can write you off and cancel you. If you differ in opinion, they will spew vitriolic words, especially on certain social media platforms. But how different it is when we see a love like Jesus. When we see selfless compassion, marked by humility and honor. Yes, this world will know about Jesus when we follow His example and show this kind of love.
Friend, be encouraged. By your love, they will see your faith. By your love, this world will know that you belong to Jesus. By your love, they will experience something that they haven’t seen before. Jesus gives us this command as a testimony that we belong to Him—and as an invitation for others to come and belong to Him, too.
When Jesus gives these instructions to love one another, remember that He is describing a life of contagious joy.
Day 5
Scripture: John 15:1-11
May Your Joy Be Complete
Jesus’ last words to His disciples on the night before His crucifixion contain vital truths that He wanted us to know. His last words contain lessons that we need to live now. They tell us how to have a life of overflowing joy.
In this devotion, we’ve been reminded that God is our Gardener. He is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-wise. He knows what’s best for us! He is not delegating it to someone else.
God is our Gardener and is never more intimate than when He is pruning us! And His pruning, though painful, has a purpose. His pruning sends our roots deeper, as we trust Him more. And in His pruning, we see that we will bear more fruit for His glory. Our Gardener wants us to have love, peace, and joy that is overflowing. So we remember that our joy is found in His pruning.
We also remember that our joy is found in His presence. Jesus teaches us to abide in Him. To abide means to dwell, to remain, to stay. As we remain with Him, we experience His love and power in ways we’ve never experienced before.
And finally, we must also know that our joy comes from persevering in His command to love. As we love God, we will love others. And as we love others, we show God we love Him.
So there they are the 3 P’s of a life of overflowing joy: pruning, presence, and perseverance. They aren’t like secret words or magic formulas. It’s not a 3-step plan or a secret concoction. But rather, instructions from our Lord and Savior about how to live a life of joy on this earth. Jesus said, “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11) Jesus gives us these instructions so that as we are walking through heartache, loss, or hatred, we can have complete, genuine, and overflowing joy!