Joy!

"Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy."

-2 Corinthians 1:24

"This is what Satan desperately wants to hide from the eyes of our hearts--a spiritual sight of Christ's glory in the gospel. Not just the facts, but the beauty of the facts."

-John Piper, When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy

"More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the POWER of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

Philippians 3:8-11

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the JOY set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Hebrews 12:1,2

At the same time...

"Our striving would be losing."
-Martin Luther

"So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with much fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

Philippians 2:12,13

"...it is a good fight because it is not a struggle to carry a burden, but a struggle to let a burden be carried for us..."

-John Piper

"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."

John 15:5

"Apart from Christ I can do nothing--I cannot even rejoice."

-John Piper

"...I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and JOY in the faith..."

Philippians 1:25

"...[Paul] expresses the summary of his ministry on earth as working to advance their joy!"

-John Piper

Let us spur one another on to love and good deeds, not only fighting for our joy, but the fruit of joy in others. By the grace of God, we can rejoice together.

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me."

-1 Corinthians 15:10

The fight (for joy) itself is a gift flowing from the grace of God, that the following gift of joy from God might serve to glorify Him, and not uphold our "good works."

"Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen."

Hebrews 13:20,21

And since He is sovereign, and joy is not a wage due to us, let us glorify God in our waiting for the spontaneous occurrence of joy at the sight of His face.

"I waited patiently for the LORD;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in the LORD."

-Psalm 40:1-3

"He waited for the Lord. He could not make the Lord come. He could wait and hope and trust that He would come...If [blessings] delay, we trust the wisdom of our Father's timing, and we wait."

-John Piper

Grace is powerful, joy is rugged, and love is deep at the fountain of the Lord. Let us wait on Him.