By definition, joy is a state of mind and an orientation of the heart.
It is a settled state of contentment, confidence and hope, but joy in its fuller spiritual
meaning involves so much more.
This time of year seems to be a highlight of both the presence and the absence of this
crucial spiritual quality.
In this episode of Keep It 100, we talk about displaying emotional radiance, the difference
between happiness and joy, and an interview from Down Under with founder of Melbourne's
School of Profits, Gary Morgan.
Welcome to another episode of Keep It 100 with Christa and Sean.
Welcome, welcome everyone.
Come on everybody.
I don't know about you, but the Smith household, we are in full Christmas swing.
We have a decorated tree.
We have decorations in the house.
Hallmark has been on repeat.
Oh my.
I think I watched it so long one day.
I was just like vacuuming and cleaning and decorating the house for Christmas.
And all of a sudden the message came up on the TV, are you still watching?
Because it'd been like four hours.
Oh my.
Right.
But I have presents that are mostly wrapped.
And I would say I've done like 95% of the Christmas shopping.
You are very impressive to be able to do all of that in light of the backdrop of this year.
Thank you, baby.
You know, I did it really early this year, even maybe earlier than normal, because there's
been so many shipping delays with all this whole COVID and pandemic.
I wanted to make sure we got everything on time.
So it's been such a weird, weird season.
And then to go into the Christmas season, it just feels a little crazy to be in lockdown
when Christmas season is in full swing.
It is.
And for us in California, we're in a crazy lockdown as much as we were in the beginning
of this whole COVID thing.
And depending on what state you're in, you're facing some of that.
I know that New York, I was reading about that in other states as well.
You know, it's often during these times that you realize how much you really do need Christmas.
Yeah, true.
And I'm not just talking about some holiday as the world would celebrate it, but that
we need Jesus, who is the real reason for the season, to bring what he brings when he
comes.
So interestingly enough, USA Today had an article on the 100 things that brought us joy during
the coronavirus pandemic.
You know what's really cool is when we were looking through that list, we just picked
out like five things that we thought were really funny and interesting.
And one of the things that I thought was just hilarious and I could so relate to was number
one, not having to put on makeup every day.
That's hilarious.
You could throw on the mask too.
You really only have to put on just what I stuff.
Mascara.
It's like, I literally for this season have just been putting on mascara because I'm like,
I have lashes.
Yes, that's all you see anyway.
Right?
And it's funny when you see people, you don't know what they really look like.
I've actually had people say hi to me and I didn't know who they were because I'm not
seeing their full face.
And I go, oh, you know, then you find out how they go to church with you or their neighbor.
You know, another thing from the list that we pulled that I thought was really fun was
movies going to streaming services like early, like onward and trolls world tour, which was
a hilarious movie.
So cute.
That was.
And I'm super excited.
Shout out to all the DC universe people.
Even Wonder Woman 1984 will be coming out streaming on December 25th.
I think it goes to theaters, but it goes to HBO Max.
So even that movie is going to be streaming.
So there is a joy during this time that when you couldn't go to a movies, movies were coming
to you.
That's pretty cool.
And you know, it was really funny.
Something else from the list you and I laughed about was people reported what made them really
happy during this pandemic was being able to kick their spouses butt in skip boat, you
know, and Yachty.
And it's like, I think people just getting that like basic card game victory competition
back in the house.
I mean, we're pulling it from like the decades before.
It's great.
You know, another thing that we pulled from the list was businesses have been sharing
some of their secret recipes so that you and I and the people in the nation can make
it home.
I see your Disneyland dough whip.
Right.
Dough whip.
I love the dough whip in Disneyland.
And then the Double Tree Hotel actually released their chocolate chip cookies recipe for people
to be able to make those cookies at home.
And then the Cheesecake Factory released their Jumbalaya pasta recipe.
That's not even right.
Those Double Tree chocolate chip cookies, we stay at the hotel and we stay at the Double
Tree.
Those are dangerous.
They're bringing out those warm cookies.
I'm like, don't do it.
And it's like you just inhale them.
Oh, it's so true.
And you love the Jumbalaya pasta because it's Cajun.
I do.
That's true.
Okay.
Last thing off the list that we pulled, and again, this is just talking about what brings
us joy during this pandemic was people said they really enjoyed walking through their
neighborhood and giving their friends real estate tours on the app Marco Polo.
That is funny.
Is that so funny?
You know, as we've talked about these hundred things from USA Today that brings us joy during
the coronavirus pandemic.
It's very interesting because I really began to realize that ultimately we cannot wait
for our circumstances to bring us joy.
What we need during this season, this December is to receive joy and let it act on our circumstances.
So again, we can't wait for our circumstances to bring us joy.
We get joy and we let it act on our circumstances.
Speaking of articles, the New York Times recently ran an article entitled, Are We Living in
a Post-Happiness World?
And really this.
Wow.
This article was on the fact that we've experienced such a world that has been in turmoil and
transition.
There have been crisis.
There's been pandemics.
There's been protests.
There's been political extremes.
And they're asking the question now, are we living in post-happiness?
In other words, is joy even possible?
And then to back this up, a new poll found that Americans are the unhappiest that they've
been in 50 years.
That's two and a half generations.
My goodness.
I know what's really interesting is in addition to that study, we found some more interesting
data and it said only 14 of respondents said that they were very happy, which is down 31%
from a couple years ago when the same poll was taken.
I mean, you know, really our focus is not about finding happiness.
It's really about discovering joy.
I love that because joy, particularly the joy that God gives you can make you emotionally
radiant despite what you're facing so that you begin to shine rather than just complain
and give into the darkness that surrounds you.
Keep your 100.
Our next segment is our Hondo P or 100% segment where Christa and I love to kick around some
issues that people are facing and just share our thoughts and have a conversation on it.
Right along these lines, we're talking about this aspect of emotional radiance or joy or
first joy.
Now, I say that because we're emotional creatures.
You and I are made in the image of God and that means we are made to feel nothing wrong
with that.
Our Heavenly Father feels the Holy Spirit has emotions.
Jesus had a full spectrum of responses and reactions to things that happened to him.
Having emotions are not our problem.
The problem is when emotions have me.
So along those lines, Christa, what are some of the challenges people have in this season
and particularly in the closing of this year of 2020?
I think for me, and I think a lot of people would agree this is true for them, one of
the greatest struggles and challenges in 2020 has been the uncertainty.
I think like many of us, and I'm certainly, I'm answering this for myself, but I know
I'm representing more than just myself.
We want things that are stable.
We want security.
And for a planner personality like myself, I am very spontaneous.
You know this about me and I'll flow and I'll flex.
But when I'm having to constantly adjust and readjust and adjust again, I feel like I'm
like I've had to be so flexible this year.
There is such a constant need to adjust and readjust.
And when you actually do make plans, you never know if they're going to be concrete.
And most of the time there is some tweak in some way, shape or form.
We haven't been able to find a sense of security on outward things.
And so it's forced me to really dive into my relationship with God like never before
and be like, okay, what can I stand on that is actually certain in the midst of uncertainty.
And the only thing I've come to find is really who I am in Christ Jesus.
That's the only certainty I have.
And so I've been able to find joy in who I am.
And even in the simplicity of who I am in Christ of just, I'm forgiven.
I actually don't have to walk in shame.
I can actually come directly to my heavenly Father, sit in his lap and he shares his heart
with me.
And I'm actually able to be a daughter and walk in the joy and the hope and the peace
of my Father because he abides in me and through me.
And that's my certainty.
That's where I find my joy.
I have a confidence knowing that even when things fill chaotic, God's still in control.
Even when things are uncertain, he is certain.
And so I have found in the midst of uncertainty, which has been my personal greatest battle
and struggle in 2020 that I have had to find the one thing that is certain.
And I knew that theologically I understood that.
But when you actually have to act upon that and you actually have to live that out of
finding joy daily and knowing no matter what comes at me this day, we've had so many blind
sides.
You and I personally, I'm speaking on a very personal, you and I've had so much blind side
this year.
And yet there has been a joy in our home because of who God is because we have just stayed
in the place of God, you're certain even in the midst of uncertainty.
I love that.
And I think it's so true about uncertainty.
When I think about the uncertainty, Christa, I think about there are many contrast racial
charts such as the cost versus benefit, profits versus losses.
Well, I want to introduce another chart that I just made up, the bliss versus mischart.
And I believe uncertainty is on the missed side.
Joy is on the bliss side.
And when you have in your life more things that are missing, like you're missing out on
stuff or you attempt something, you go, that was a miss because of the uncertainty.
You find that there are more things that are charted as misses than things that you can
look at your life that are blisses.
And I love how you finish that segment of just saying that our bliss is found in Jesus
and what He brings outweighs all the other things that we feel we're missing out on.
When I think of what are some of the challenges that people have in this season, Christa,
particularly the year 2020, I think of this has been such a year of conflict and it has
introduced us to new levels of strife, times of strife.
And the word strife means conflict.
It means friction.
It means disharmony.
It means variance.
And so when I think about everything from the unpredictability of a health scare that
still has people pretty scared and there's been spikes, I think about vaccination that's
coming up.
Is it going to be forced?
Will people have a choice?
Have they really worked this thing out?
Those stories of people that, four people I think they got bells palsy as a result of
the vaccination for COVID-19, the stay at home orders.
In the midst of all of it, that can cause strife.
And then we look at the political situation, the extreme right, extreme left, the situation
of, and has there been this voter fraud?
To what extent has it been?
Is it a hoax?
Is it somebody lying?
Again, I'm not so much trying to take a political side as much as I'm trying to identify that
there is strife in our nation.
And the bottom line is this, it's hard to be joyful when you're in a fight.
I've never been in a fight smiling and laughing while I'm fighting.
That's so good.
You're kicking a different mode.
And so I think a lot of people, it's hard for them to find joy because they are in the
fight.
But let me tell you, with all those challenges, there are a couple of things I do know about
joy.
And I really want to bring it to you in this Hondo peace segment and that joy promotes
resilience.
Just like right now, there's a lot of talk about our autoimmune system and our ability
to fight off.
Well, I want to say that joy is the autoimmune system of your emotions.
That when your joy is high, you're not as susceptible to depression, disillusionment,
anxiety, fear, because what joy does is the second thought I want to give you is joy weaponizes
your beliefs.
I love that you call joy the autoimmune system of our emotions.
That brings the health of the rest of your system because you have a joy that roots you
and grounds you when anxiety or different things try to creep in.
It's that joy that is that antidote that keeps you in a healthy place, keeping your perspective
and your eyes gazing on God.
I love that.
So I got to ask you, baby, in your opinion, then what are the differences between happiness
and joy?
Because I think that's important for our listeners and the keep 100 tribe to really understand
what is the difference between happiness and joy?
The difference of happiness and joy are pretty vast.
Happiness is from something that we do.
I do something and so it makes me happy.
So when you look at it like that, happiness is something that happens to you.
There's a cause and effect.
So happiness is external.
But on the other side, joy is from something God does.
It's not from something you do because sometimes you get a chance to do it.
Sometimes you don't.
It's something that God does so joy is produced in you.
It's not about what's outside, but what's inside because joy is an inside job.
I love that.
And you know what's really interesting when you and I were kind of talking about joy
versus happiness, we begin to understand that the word happy comes from the root Greek word
HAP, H-A-P, which means chance.
It's basically saying happiness happens by chance.
It depends on what happens.
And for example, we find that in words like haphazard or happenstance, like you're happened
to be in the right place, be in the right time.
And so it's all very much just by accident.
You're happy.
And we all understand that that's not at all how joy works.
Joy is not by chance.
And so what was also really cool is we discovered in the New King James, the word happiness
appears how many times?
Maybe I'd guess 25 times.
Zero.
What?
Well, the happiness does not even appear in the King James version of the word of God.
But we do see joy appear how many times?
Joy maybe 40, 50 times?
187 times.
My, my, my.
And rejoice, which is also a synonym to joy, 240 times.
So really it's talking, the word of God doesn't tell us to pursue happiness.
It tells us to discover joy.
You know, it's just like the movie we were watching last week.
Yeah, I think we saw it on TV and we were doing some stuff around the house and we discovered
that movie, um, Pursuit of Happiness with Will Smith.
And you and I were kind of laughing about it.
And I said to you, I go, you know what, I don't know if I really like this movie.
It's all pursuit and it's no happiness.
That is so true.
And I feel like that's what happens whenever you pursue happiness, it becomes elusive.
And in that classic Will Smith movie, he's an actor based on the real story of a guy
that was homeless, but he finally gets a job at the end with Dean Witter, but they never
show you what his life is like afterwards.
And so as far as the movie goes, I love what you said, it was all pursuit, no happiness.
And many times that characterizes people's lives.
It's so true.
Keep it 100 tribe, get ready.
Cause we're about to jump into an incredible interview with one of our dear friends from
Melbourne, Australia.
He is a powerful man of God, a prophetic voice, a prophet in the nation of Australia.
And we're honored to have him a part of the keep it 100 podcast, but get ready because
there's some profound revelation that's about to be shared.
Keep it 100 listeners.
You are in for a phenomenal treat.
Oh my gosh.
I got one of my great friends from the down under Australia, but he is actually Welsh,
Gary Morgan.
His wife, Sarah, have founded the school of prophets in Melbourne, Australia.
They've got two awesome children Tobias and Emma.
So I want you guys to welcome to the keep it 100 podcast, my great friend, Gary Morgan.
What's up Gary?
How you doing man?
Hey Sean.
So good to be with you.
Such a privilege.
Oh bro, it is an honor to have you.
Now I'm going to tell our listeners a story.
First time that I met Gary, we were at a gathering with just different friends and different
ministries of the people that are apostolic, they're young, they're prophetic.
And then he comes over to me and he says, who is Bretton to you?
Now okay listeners, I got to tell you, this is a place of deep divulging.
It is my middle name.
I'm not particularly happy about that middle name.
I got teased a lot, Inner City Oakland.
I promise you it's on no social media whatsoever purposely.
And he calls out my middle name.
Now how many people do you know with the name Bretton?
It is an English cracker.
So here I am, Inner City Black Man with an English cracker.
And he began to have just incredible words and then called out and particularly the city
that my mother lived in at the time and mentioned a unique place, Hercules.
And said, you have an inheritance there, which was right on.
But more than anything, it is Gary's refreshing revelatory release, his heart to propel and
equip the body of Christ.
And he's just a great all around dude.
So amen, talk to us.
Gary, man, what have you been doing lately?
What's been going on?
Because in Australia, explain to us how the whole quarantine COVID thing is impacting
you guys.
Yeah, it has.
It's been a unique year and I think it's been a unique year for everyone.
And interestingly, the talk is lockdown or restriction.
And I really felt this year is a truth that the Kingdom isn't locked down.
God's purposes isn't locked down.
The Gospel isn't locked down.
And so for me, it's been a year of innovation, of learning, of leaning into God.
And so I've been excited instead of counting my restrictions, I've been celebrating my
freedoms and so spending time with family, just being able to innovate and find inspiration
with God and everything.
So it's been a year we've just graduated our school of prophets.
And so that was the class of 2020.
I don't think there'll ever be a class like that again, but it was incredible.
It was incredible.
That is so awesome.
And Gary, let's go back to your journey a little bit and we're going to in a moment
talk about joy because God's given you a phenomenal revelation and this is his podcast and very
needed in the season.
But give us a little bit of your backstory and particularly how did God lay this mantle
on you, a prophetic ministry of a prophet and you coming into ministry and just let
us hear your backstory.
Well, in a nutshell, as best as I can, I was raised atheist.
So come from an atheistic family, I was raised atheist and got saved into a Baptist sort
of brethren context on the 1st of September, 1994.
And in a camp in West Wales, I encountered God in a way that absolutely led me to a place
of undeniable reality.
And so I was trying to argue with someone about the legitimacy of Jesus' faith and it
was just a sovereign encounter.
And I'd been known to me, the guy who led me to Christ had been praying for me and used
this word, God has been chasing you long enough.
Now he's caught you.
And I remember that night, Sean just undone by the goodness of God.
And another guy slipped in to pray for me and he was praying this word, more Holy Spirit.
I was having an electrocution, but I was in a Baptist brethren context.
This wasn't one known and secondly accepted.
And so it was interesting in that context how God met me, but it wasn't until three
years later in an Assemblies of God.
And again, cutting the long story short, where I had the same encounter, but at that time
was baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Wow.
And at that moment, I wasn't born with a birthmark on my body, my mother didn't encounter
an angel or anything like that.
Even though they have phenomenal testimonies, for me it was just a sovereign moment of baptism
in the Holy Spirit that I didn't just speak in tongues, but all of a sudden I had this
awareness that one, I couldn't explain and two, there wasn't a context for.
And so for many months after that, I found myself in a place of confusion, found myself
in a place of bewilderment until one day a guy called Ray Hughes, who's an incredible
prophetic, pulled me out in a crowd in Wales and said everything that was going on in my
heart and in my head.
And from that moment set me on a journey really of discovering what was on my life.
And so yeah, it's been almost 20 odd years now.
Oh my goodness, that's just so sovereign.
And one of my mentors always would relay this truth to me that many times in the embryonic
stage of you coming to God, it becomes a seedbed and this kind of harbinger of how God will
use you.
And this to see where the prophetic impacted your life.
And one of the things I love about you is you're a thinking Christian that's led by
the spirit of God and I could see where the Lord has utilized this revelatory thing, but
he's blessed you with this amazing mind and to think, you know, it's like you were raised
to be an atheist, but you know, it crazes.
It sounds a lot of like, I would say true atheists, not kind of the ones that jump on
the bandwagon.
They have let their cerebral cortex getting away, but a lot of them are great thinkers
and we could throw out names.
But man, if you get somebody like that saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, look out because
of that encounter with God in that realm that just opens up.
Gary, I saw where you did an Instagram post.
I loved it.
Well, you spoke on this thing of find your joy story.
And I would love as we kind of kick off this thing on joy, because this is the time of
year that obviously should be the most joyous time of the year.
And obviously we, we should live in the joy as followers of Christ.
That should be our norm.
But from the world perspective is the most joyous time of the year, but it is also a
season where the most suicides register.
There's depression and they call it seasonal blues and particularly in the backdrop of
2020 and how we've had this pandemic and people have lost jobs.
It's affect economies.
It's affect homes, places around the world.
What is happening in the area of race relations or political divisions.
But in the midst of it, God has this joy story.
So what was the genesis of this whole aspect?
Because I believe it's so profound of finding your joy story.
Absolutely.
And it was one day I just found myself in this place, probably much like many of us
are right now seeing so much going on around us.
And I just heard this phrase, find your joy story.
And it was a play on toy story.
I love that.
And you know, we know toy story with Woody and Buzz.
You know, it's all about that place of belonging.
It's all about that place of identity.
And I realized in that moment that joy is a marker of identity.
Joy is a marker of belonging.
You know, the Bible tells us that there's righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
And so right standing with God gives you an environment of peace.
The environment of peace brings an expression of joy.
And so for me, it's that place of discovering this aspect of what is our joy story in the
midst of whatever's happening.
And so the genesis of that, Sean, is really out of Hebrews 12.
And we all know Hebrews 12 is, you know, we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.
And in verse two, it says, you know, now let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith.
Who for the joy that was set before him, that would set there is to bring to the front,
or is to bring to the forefront.
And, you know, I don't want to get medical on us too much in this podcast, but joy has
a space and a place within our brain.
And that's at the front.
It's at the front, you know, frontal cortex and, you know, those who've studied all the
brain science realize that's where joy manifests.
But what happens is, is when anxiety or fear attack the joy, joy gets pushed back and fear
and anxiety come to the forefront.
And I truly believe what, you know, Hebrews 12, two was demonstrating to us is the reason
that Jesus could endure is because he brought joy to the front because everything else to
take a backseat.
And I think there's an invitation here in this season and every season is for the believer
is to bring joy front and center is to cause anxiety and fear and all them things to take
a backseat and let joy come to the front.
Because when you do the fruit of it is endurance.
You see, I'm all for running a race, but I don't believe the Christian faith is a sprint.
It's a marathon.
And so God is inviting us into a space and place of endurance.
And we'll see that.
So yeah, that's, that really was the genesis of that joy story.
Man, that is so profound.
And the neural science that you explained and even that revelation of the position of righteousness,
peace and joy.
And that whole thing, what, what, what do you feel in the economy of the kingdom of God?
What would you say is the importance of joy as believers?
What is that?
Great question.
I think, you know, if, if I was to hold up some cards to you or our listeners right now
with a picture of a policeman, how do you know he's a policeman because of the uniform
he's wearing?
How do you know if I showed a picture of a fireman because he's wearing a uniform like
the fireman?
I believe that joy is the uniform of the Christian.
As God wants us to wear joy, God wants us to walk in joy so that when people see us,
the Bible says we'll be known for our love.
Love is the, is the uniform.
Joy is the accessory.
Let's say like that.
If love is the uniform, then joy is the accessory.
It's the earrings.
It's the rings.
It's the watch.
And so I don't want to be known for, you know, the jewelry I wear and the natural.
I want to be known for the accessories that I have.
And this is one of the things I love about accessories.
It's the addition to, it's what helps.
It's what is added to.
And so for me is I want to be known not just for my love that I wear, but I want to be
known for the accessory of joy.
And that's the beautiful thing when people find themselves in hopelessness, then there's
an accessory of hope.
There's an accessory.
When people find themselves in depression, there's an accessory.
I'm accessible through joy.
And I bring that into an atmosphere.
And so, you know, I love it.
What it says in scripture is, you know, I'll tell you in Luke 15, 7, I'll tell you there
will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.
So we realize that joy is the fruit of salvation, not just in heaven, but I truly believe on
earth as well.
And so the response of salvation is joy.
And both you and I know the day we got saved, my gosh, what a day.
What a joy.
Oh, absolutely.
And you know, I love that what you're saying about accessory that people recognize that
that is the uniform.
That's the calling card of the kingdom.
And I think that people, as we've seen particularly in this season, there's a fuel that people
run on.
Fear is a fuel.
People run on fear.
Guilt is a fuel.
The starving affirmation or appetite for affirmation from others, people pleasing.
It's a fuel.
But one of the cleanest fuel, a given is love, of course.
But joy, you know, even if Nehemiah is building, you know, that verse that reaps out is, the
joy of the Lord is your strength.
Jesus told the disciples of all things, be of good cheer, as if to say this is as much
of kingdom, significance and component as anything else that I've taught you that you
need to be of good cheer.
And it's kind of like today we would think someone told us that being in a good mood,
we'd like what?
And but obviously joy is more than a mood.
But man, what do you feel are the benefits of joy?
Good question.
Sean, I think joy for me is the ballast.
It's the stabilizer.
It's the open door.
It's what attracts, you know, if someone is loading or down or and you, Mahawan, I use
the word depressed, I realize there's clinical depression, but there's also, you know, being
depressed and you'll see with children, children stay away from them people.
But it's those with joy.
And so for me is, I think there's a massive difference between joy and happiness.
Happiness is an internal reality with what's happening from an external source.
But joy is an external reality of what's happening from an internal source.
And so joy is an inside job.
And so for me, it's that stability, it's that ballast, it's that reality that no matter
what is happening, and this is why I love Hebrews 12, 2, you know, Jesus saw the cross,
but he brought joy to the forefront.
And so no matter what was happening, and I think this is the invitation for us as individuals,
but also as well as believers, corporately is, is we have an atmosphere of joy that's
invitational.
It's, it's inspirational, you know, when people are full of joy, it attracts.
And you know, that's what I love about joy.
I truly believe joy is, is that atmosphere of hope.
Oh, it totally makes sense.
You know, I think there's one verse, but it talks about with joy, we access or dip into
the well of salvation.
I feel like it's even through joy, many times that is odd as it may sound to people is for
me, a lot of times it's through joy, I tap into the spirit of encouragement that allows
me to prophesy.
It's that when I begin to fill the joy of the Lord, again, the given will be love,
follow the way of love, equal desire, spiritual gifts.
When I find that joy, and as a guy that is done, trained people in prophetic evangelism,
hit the streets, joy becomes such an evangelistic catalyst.
Joy really does send out this evangelistic invitation is set in the dinner table that
it's like, you're going through the same stuff I'm going through.
You got downsize at your job like I do.
You're having to homeschool your kids like I am, but how is it that you have joy and
what is your secret?
And people begin to ask in that, what do you feel like?
Well, it's going to be a two-part question.
I'll ask you in a moment, what are some reasons for our joy and even just any kind of prophetic
sense that you may have in 2021.
But maybe I'll begin by, what do you feel are the challenges for us this year to come
into joy?
Absolutely.
I think it's summed up in James, where the writer invites us to count it all joy when
we fall into various trials and persecutions, knowing that the testing of our faith produces.
And so when I read that, I'm like, what do you mean?
Count it all joy.
And I used to keep that sort of verse on my computer.
So when I'd get messages from pastors, I'm quitting.
I'm quitting.
I used to copy and paste and just send it to them as a word of encouragement.
Count it all joy.
Until I sat down one day, Sean, I was like, God, what does that mean?
Count it all joy because I'm not feeling really joyous right now.
And I hear the Lord say to me, Gary, count on joy.
Count on joy.
Don't just count it all joy, but count on joy because it's a chapter of the book.
It's a joy is the book.
What you're going through is a chapter.
And I realize what happens is in life is we count a day as a year.
We count a moment as a lifetime.
And we realize that maybe us getting sacked is not the book.
Maybe someone cheating on us is a chapter.
It's not the book.
It's the chapter.
And this is one of the things.
There's a book called joy, but a chapter, maybe you got laid off, you got sacked.
But what we don't realize on the other side of the page is the word promotion.
Wow.
When someone rejects us, we don't realize it wasn't rejection.
It was redirection.
And I think this is what happens.
And this is why James has invited us to count it all joy, knowing that the testing of joy
is all joy, knowing that the testing of your faith is producing.
This is why I love the word test, John, is because you only get a test when you've done
a lesson.
A lesson always precedes a lesson.
And so whenever I get tested in my faith, it's not there to undermine me.
It's there to prove a lesson.
And if I fail the test, this is what I love about God.
He puts me back in the classroom to make sure that I've learned a lesson.
And so this is one of the things I love about the testing of our faith.
It's not there to prove us right and wrong.
It's there to prove a lesson.
And so this is why I love joy is because joy becomes an environment that I get to respond
in no matter what's happening.
Something I used to do when I was in school and I was only bullied once in school.
And for some reason, when this bully came up to me and started saying all kinds of things,
I just started laughing and he didn't know what to do.
And this is why I love.
And I found out later why this was a reality because it's a precedent in scripture because
our father sits on a throne and laughs at the greatest bully of mankind.
And his name is the enemy.
His name is Satan.
And the greatest way to respond to a bully is to a lot is to joy.
The greatest response of a threat is to laughing.
And I want to encourage people in this season and I think going into 2021 is no matter what
has happened, find your joy story.
Friend, it's a book called Joy and the chapter might have been devastation.
A chapter of it might have been heartache, but I'm telling you, it's not the book.
And God is inviting us is to is not to be the author or the editor of the book, but
to be the recipient of it and see God do some incredible things.
I really feel Gary, even as you're sharing that, I really felt like it was resonating
with some listeners.
I feel like there's some people that have really been dealt some serious blows, some
of which you don't feel like you're going to get back up off the mat.
And I believe I love what you said that the God doesn't end your book in despair about
God ends this thing in a sense of joy because joy literally triumph being triumphant is
a place of joy that when you know you're going to win, thanks be to God who always leads
us in triumph, that if you recognize that's where God is leading you, then you'll be profound
in that area.
Well, what do you feel like we could get joyous about looking into 2021?
This has been some people call it the recall year, but I love what you said rather than
focus on what you couldn't do.
You focused on what you could do.
Not only is that empowering, that's kingdom.
And I look back at this year, it's been even for Christa, I one of our hardest years, most
challenging years, but at the same time, I feel like it's been a greenhouse.
You put a plant greenhouse, it is the environment that produces growth.
And in the kingdom, easy times and everything flowing and growing and going like we wanted
to are not necessarily, if I look over my life, those aren't my great growth moments.
It's always been the times when I've been tested, I've been challenged, I've been in
a fight.
And it's been, like you said, great benefits of family time connecting, being unplugged
from stuff and being able to reevaluate what is really important, what do I need to be
doing, what don't I need to be doing.
But I know there are a lot of people that they have the opposite of joy, which somewhere
in there would be despair, despondency.
And their people, as they look to this next season or next year, just what do you feel
like as believers that you can encourage us, that you sense in kind of this next ceiling
or what God is perhaps preparing us for or anything about 2021?
Yeah.
For me, it's been this season of realizing that it was more about the fruit than it was
the gifts.
And I remember being in Perth when lockdown first got announced and I was on the plane
and I said, God, what is this season?
And this is what he said to me, he said, Gary, this is going to be a season of fruits more
than gifts.
And we had just launched our school in Perth.
And I'm thinking, God, what are you saying?
It's not called the school of patience, it's called the school of prophets.
And you're telling me it's going to be a year.
And I realized in that moment that that prophecy wasn't going to change my children, my family,
that it wasn't healing that was going to bring my, but it was righteousness, it was peace,
it was joy, it was gladness, it was kindness.
All these fruits of the spirit were there because I truly believe in this season.
It's a season of fruits more than gifts.
And I want to say this, it's not fruits instead of gifts.
I think it's fruits before gifts.
It's not without the gifts because I think as we manifest in the fruits, the gifts are
going to be the overflow because it's that kindness that leads me to prophesy.
It's that patience that causes me to walk with someone in healing.
And you know, we think that the fruits of the spirit are there so that we can tolerate
other Christians.
They're not there for that.
Fruits of the spirit are there for us as much as they're there for others.
So one thing I'm learning in this season, Sean, and I think in 2021 is to learn how
to be kind to myself, not just others, to be patient with myself and not just others,
to put myself into a place of realizing that love is something I need for myself as well
as I need for others.
And so if 2020 has caused you to lay something down, 21 is going to be a year of picking
it up in kindness, in patience, in gladness.
And I think joy, this is what I love.
For the fruits of the spirit, I love peace, joy.
And so there's a verse in Romans 15, 13, I love it.
It says, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by
the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.
So we come to the God of hope.
So I think joy is the transactional flow of bringing that which is spiritual into the
abundance of that which is natural.
Because that's what it says.
It says, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing so that by
the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.
And so my encouragement, my invitation in 21 is what does God want you to abound in?
And the place that you'll abound in is the place that you joy the most in, that you enjoy,
that you find yourself enjoying.
And that's what I love the word enjoy, because it means to be enjoy that you're not worried,
that you're not disbared, you're not anxious.
But like I said right at the beginning, the reality of righteousness, peace and joy, when
you're right standing with yourself, with God, with others, it gives you peace.
You can sleep at night.
I truly believe it's when you're not in right standing, not just with God, but with yourself.
You don't sleep at night.
There's no peace.
There's no shalom.
But in that place of peace then, the expression of that peace is joy.
And so in 2021, I think we got a lot to look forward to in stepping into that which God
has seeded in this year, we're going to see next year.
So whatever was seeded in you, and I remember the Lord once saying this to me, He said,
Mary, whatever you want to see, you've got to seed.
And so whatever you think is unseen, because a seed is unseen, when you put it in the ground,
God's doing the work.
And so get ready to see the harvest, the fruit of that which was seeded in 2020, that which
became buried, that which became, and I love that meme.
People thought they killed me when they buried me, but they didn't realize I was a seed.
And so get ready, because the stone's being rolled away, and 2021 is coming upon us.
And let me land with this if I can, Sean.
Absolutely.
Whenever we see in this Christmas season, and it's so beautiful we're doing this podcast
as we're 14 days away from Christmas, is we realize whenever they announced the birthing
of something, whenever they announced Jesus, it was glad tidings of great joy.
John the Baptist responded in Elizabeth's womb, it says that he leapt with joy.
And so I truly believe joy is the responder, joy is the response of what God is wanting
to birth in us in 2021.
So whatever brings you joy, whatever causes that joy to well up, friends, invest there,
spend time there, camp there, because I'm telling you, God's birthing something.
Oh my God.
Gary's so profound.
So tell us, Gary, how can we get involved?
Is there any projects or any way that we could follow you get involved?
And even please tell us about the School of Prophets, because I think you have an online
portion, right, that people can get involved in.
We do.
So 2021, School of Prophets, so we're into our sixth year.
We've seen just under 700 students go through the school, and it's just been incredible
of not just a prophesying in a church context, but across all spheres.
But in 2021, we open applications on the 1st of January.
And so for more information, you can check out schoolofprofits.org.au.
On a personal level, you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook at Welsh Eagle, both
on Instagram and on Facebook.
It also is where School of Prophets is there as well.
And so if you want more information, just check them out.
Wow.
I know I said some profound revelation was about to be shared, but my goodness, was that
deep and rich or what?
He's a deep God.
Oh my goodness.
I love how he talked about his revelation of the joy story, a finding joy in every story
and every scenario of your life.
I tell you what, you know, we really want to bring you these interviews, and we do it
often because we know there are people that we do life with that walk in incredible wisdom
and revelation.
So every time we're bringing you a new voice, it's because we value what they carry.
With what Gary and Sean shared, there's some takeaways that we want you as a Keep It 100
Tribe to walk away.
We're calling it three takeaways on getting extra joy.
And so the first takeaway on getting extra is authentic joy is found in God's presence.
Yes.
You know, joy, it comes in the form of an embrace from God, and we all know it is nothing
that the world can give you.
And it's like for some of us, you know, and everyone has a different story of when they
encountered God, but regardless if you gave your life as a little girl like myself to
God or you gave yourself older to God, there's this marked moments where you experience the
presence of God, no matter when that is.
When you just, you know you've been forgiven.
You know shame's been broken.
You know you're a new creation in Christ Jesus and that joy that comes from the revelation
of what he did on the cross for you, and that is such a place that it's not an emotion,
but it's literally your inheritance as a child of God.
And I tell you what, that is the most authentic joy, but it can only be found in His presence.
And you know, I know we're going to jump to another one, but before we do that, I just
want to simply add this.
I have learned in my walk with God that there is a divine exchange that happens every time
I'm in the presence of God.
And I believe this is for some listeners even right now.
You've been waiting to be inspired or how you feel to spend time with God or read the
Word of God.
I want you to become inspired in the presence of God when you read the Word of God, that
you don't wait for a feeling to provoke you to go deeper in Him.
You pursue Him regardless of how you feel, and then you go deeper with Him.
And I believe it's the joy that is cultivated as we wait in the presence as we get into
the Word of God, because authentic joy, we're not talking about fleeting happiness.
We're talking about rooted and grounded in your identity in God, because it's a part
of your inheritance.
It's a part of what Jesus did on the cross for you that you could walk with no shame,
no anxiety, but pure joy.
Brilliant, brilliant.
I love that.
The second takeaway on getting extra joy is don't give into the dimness of a lost culture
or a dark time.
Come on.
And when it comes to your joy, you have to understand there's a fight over your joy.
You have an unseen enemy, the devil, that doesn't want you to have joy, because as Nehemiah
said in the Bible, that the joy of the Lord is your strength.
So if the enemy wants to take you out, he's got to go for your power source.
So darkness wants to make you a slave to your emotion, telling you what to feel and to give
into certain moves.
And you have to admit, we're living in a time when we're asked to feel too much.
We're all up in our feelings, okay?
From that, with the fact that there's a constant flow 24 seven of fear, anxiety and depressing
incidents that are taking place in our world today.
But let me just say something to you as a follower of Christ.
When you are light, you don't have to wait for a sunny day.
So many people say, there's too many rainy days in my life.
Well, my thing is, if you are the light, you don't have to wait for what the day brings
you.
You actually can act upon your world.
And that light you bring is joy, because joy can transform your difficulty into a time
of blessing.
Joy, when you receive it, actually in your inward being, irresistibly calls forth joy
in the outer world.
So you can bring the atmosphere that you could partake of.
So don't give into the dimness of a lost culture over a dark time.
So good.
Last takeaway, keep it 100 tribe is joy is something God can restore.
In Psalm 51 12, it reads, Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your
generous spirit.
You know what I love is if God can raise the dead, then he can certainly bring back your
joy because so many of us are living, looking at our past.
We are living with our rear view mirror.
We are looking behind us and that's our sole focus.
And it's like the what if, oh, I should have done this.
I should have done that.
We are gripped with regret and remorse.
And I want you to know, God can bring joy because he's going to shift your perspective.
He's going to make your rear view mirror really small and he's going to make the windshield
of your life really big.
He's like, come on, son, come on, daughter, turn your gaze, look at what's ahead.
Because yes, we can learn from the past, but we can find joy in the moving forward of what
God's promises are over our life.
And yet we have to walk out.
And I want you to know that in Psalm 35, it says, Weeping may endure for a night, but
joy comes in the morning.
You may find yourself in a night season right now, but I want to just encourage you and
even prophesy to you that where you're at is temporary.
That this is not your final destination.
And although it may be going on for some time, it is simply a season and a season has a beginning
and a season has an end.
But I want you to know, keep it 100 tribe.
There is joy for what awaits.
There is joy for the promises of God.
And there's a joy in the, in the knowing that his mercies are new every morning.
And I want you to know that even right now, I believe some of you are going to have an
encounter and there's going to be a divine exchange because even now as I'm talking,
I can feel the presence of God and that God's presence is going to surround you and envelop
you.
And whenever we're in the presence, there is an exchange and God wants to restore everything
the enemy has tried to rob from your life.
The Lord God himself gets the final say.
And I love that I'm hearing verdict overturned where the enemy overplayed his hand.
God is coming through and restoring because that's who he is.
And part of that restoration includes an authentic joy that you're called to wake up with excited
about your life and excited about what God has put within you.
That is so profound.
My goodness.
You know, when I think about Christmas, of course, is that classic hymn that we've sung
called the first Noel, which literally means the first joy.
Well, when you think about the first Noel, the first joy, you have to go back to that
place when obviously Mary and Joseph, they didn't have a place in the end and Jesus is
being birthed in a manger.
But I want to switch the scene out to a pastor filled full of dirt.
It smelled.
It was cold in the middle of the night and there were shepherds.
And in the midst of it, you have to understand that the Romans have pressed in on these people.
God's people had been displaced all over.
Certain ruler had called forth a senses that moved people out of their homes.
And meanwhile, here's these shepherds.
They had a dirty, lonely job for very meager wages because of their work.
Scholars tell us they were ineligible in participating in worship at the temple.
These were the most unlikely guys for an angelic visitation.
But God loves to take the people that others look down on and promote them.
And then the angel of the Lord says in Luke 2 10, and I want to speak this over you, keeping
100 tribe, do not be afraid.
I bring you good news that brings great joy.
Here's the word to all the people.
And to think in that moment, God found the disenfranchise.
Once people had overlooked, he came in the middle of the night.
He came in the midst of a time in which there was a political power play being made.
He came in a time in which there was a consensus that displaced people that they were pushed
to extremes.
And in the midst of it, God was saying the first Noel was the fact that good news brings
great joy.
We're dedicating this episode to my mother because Christ and I, as we're talking about
joy, this hits very close to home.
Earlier this week, my mother passed in the middle of the night and we found ourselves
in an emergency as they had her hooked up to tubes and everything.
And she transitioned in that moment.
And so when we're talking about joy being a choice, not based on circumstances, we're
doing this episode even in the midst of recognizing that we choose joy and that God, this amazing
God who sent his son for you, no matter what your position, that through a relationship
with Christ, you can have joy.
And the joy that he brings is not based on the things that at times can hurt you so
much and we are grieving, we're hurting, but we also sense that there's a joy that comes
from above.
And so we're praying that joy over you in this season as well.
And as you're listening today, for some of you, you might really relate to where Sean
and I are at.
Maybe it's been a tough week.
Maybe you've received news you didn't expect.
Maybe you find yourself in circumstances you didn't see coming.
I want to pray over you as we close this episode because I believe God has an impartation.
We choose these episodes not just by our own good ideas, but we choose these topics because
we believe it's the topics that God wants to address.
There's an impartation of joy that God wants to give every listener that's listening today
because we're in a time of uncertainty and yet we serve a God who is certain.
So Lord, I just thank you for every listener.
I thank you for every son and daughter that you are giving at a divine exchange right
now.
And I just pray even right now, there is such a shift in the atmosphere that surrounds
people.
Lord, begin internally, shift the internal dialogue if it's not honoring you.
And Lord, shift it to a place of where they are in a place of peace and rest and fill
them with an infusion of joy.
God remind them that you're going to come through.
Remind them that it's not, you're not finished yet.
The enemy doesn't get the final say that Lord, I thank you that every promise, every prophetic
word that's been spoken over them will come to pass because God, you never deny your word.
Lord, I call forth a fresh revelation of joy that is so rooted and grounded in your presence.
And I just pray right now such a fresh release and fresh impartation, God, of your joy.
Anxiety be broken, depression be broken, hopelessness be broken.
And I pray an exchange happens now.
Keep it under tribe, thanks for tuning in.
Thanks for taking the time and spending it with us every single Tuesday.
If you haven't subscribed and you feel like this would bless you and the people you're
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Continue to share it on your social media platform.
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As always, reach out to us on social media.
We want to hear how this podcast has impacted you.
Keep it 100 tribe.
You want to turn in next week.
We want to talk about the hidden purpose of this season.
Plus, we're going to have some surprises for you.
So remember, relief may change your circumstance, but a revelation will change you.