What do you need in your life? Not a physical need. What are you looking for, searching for, wishing for? What one word describes what you need in your life?
The top answers to this question are love, joy, peace
1) Love
2) Happiness
3) Peace
LOVE: The only thing I want is to feel love. You know, many people have never experienced a mother’s love. That mother’s love is something amazing, isn’t it? Many people lack a father in their lives. Did you know that a father’s love, care, and provision serve as an analogy for the loving care of the heavenly Father on earth? If your father wasn’t particularly wonderful, it can be harder for you to understand God’s love. Many people don’t believe their partners or spouses truly love them. Perhaps their partners are just incapable of displaying affection. Simply put, they can have different love languages. I simply want to feel love.
JOY – You might not have felt joy in a while. You know, life has defeated all of us. The pursuit of the American ideal is our aim. But when we get a little bit closer, something unanticipatedly sends us back two steps. The dream seems to be further away than ever, too. If only I could be happy.
PEACE: The current situation is highly unpredictable. We don’t know what will happen to our government next. Prices are still going up. Death is everywhere. All people have been impacted. All of us have experienced the loss of friends, family, churchgoers, and coworkers. Tomorrow’s work situation is unknown to us. We are always anxious and worried about the future.
Also in our day-to-day lives? We’re all under a lot of stress. We need more time than a single day to do what we have to do. Some of us suddenly find ourselves working, keeping up our own homes, taking care of our grandchildren, and caring for our parents. A day is far too long. Then we repeat the process the next day while also striving to make up for whatever we failed to complete the day before and the day before that. We have the idea that we have no control over anything. We worry that we won’t be able to finish the duties at hand in time. If you could just be quiet for a bit, we’d be fine.
And I’m going to tell you, my word, the thing I need, is peace.
Where can we find these requirements, then? Where can we find them?
A solid relationship with God is the only source of the things we actually need.
According to a saying, everyone has an emptiness that resembles God inside of them. Despite our best efforts, we are unable to fill it on our own.
We seek to meet that demand through STUFF. If we don’t get what we want, we could lament, “If only I HAD…”
just what? a new phone, bigger house, boat, better job, etc. If I asked you to name the one concrete object you need, you wouldn’t have to think about it. It’s there, always on your mind.
But when we acquire those things, the gap in our spirit is covered with a band-aid. We are distracted for a week or a month as a result. But then we understand that there is still a gaping hole inside of us. We still don’t like it. So, we concentrate on the most recent invention!
You know, but. It’s not unusual to learn that a rich or renowned person has killed themselves. And everyone is exclaiming, “WHAT? Everything was available there. One can travel the world, have access to everything money can buy, and enjoy every pleasure this planet has to offer, yet that empty space will always there.
King Solomon even wrote about that. It’s recorded in the Bible in the book of Ecclesiastes.
We might say, “Well, if I only had this other thing, I would be happy,” at the same time. The wealthy man will have gained EVERYTHING by the time he gets to that point. With all the comforts and luxuries available, he has LUXURIOUSLY SPOILED himself. There is nothing else he can do to try to fill that void in his inner being or to satisfy that yearning in his soul. I’ve done everything I believed would bring me happiness, yet I still feel hollow,” he adds. What’s the point of living?
THE BIBLE SAYS, THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE, JOY, PEACE…. (GALATIANS 5:22)
What does that even mean? When the Holy Spirit fills the God-shaped hole in our lives, it means that love, joy, and peace flourish in our lives. If you have the spirit of God, it fills that void because, in that empty space inside of you, love, joy, and peace sprout and spill out into your daily life.
Jesus spoke to His disciples on the need for love, joy, and peace during the Lord’s Supper, their last meal together. He was aware that both them and us would require that. His words also apply to us.
Jesus said, The Father will give you another Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of truth. He will remain with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17,26)
Peace
I leave My Peace with you, I give it to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, don’t be afraid. (John 14:27)
Love
Jesus said: I have loved you. If you keep My commands you will remain in My love. John 15:10
Paul said, …the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5
Joy
Jesus said, My joy will remain in you, that your joy may be full/complete. John 15:11
Worry and fear are specifically the two things that take away our peace.
The peace of God, which is beyond our understanding, will protect your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7
4) Maybe HOPE was your answer, the one thing you need.
We are living in a time where you might be feeling helpless and hopeless.
The apostle Paul wrote to the early church in Rome, The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you overflow with hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
The apostle Peter wrote, Always be ready to give an answer to any man who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 1 Peter 3:15
How do we get the Holy Spirit?
God has sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. 2 Corinthians 1:22
Have you ever made a down payment on a vehicle or a home? You struck a bargain. Earnest money serves as a guarantee that you will carry out your pledge to uphold your end of the bargain.
The Holy Spirit serves as God’s earnest to us. We have confidence in God’s ability to uphold his half of the contract because of the Holy Spirit. All of His promises, including the one regarding eternal life in Heaven, will be kept by Him.
How do I get this earnest? This Holy Spirit?
You enter a transaction with God.
What’s your part of the deal?
— You believe in your heart that Jesus paid for your wrongs with his life and that God has raised him from the grave.
— You confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.
And what’s God’s part of the deal? (Romans 10:9 and 2 Corinthians 1:22)
When Jesus takes your sin, He gives you, his righteousness. That’s a good deal, isn’t it?
When you confess Jesus is Lord, you get the promise that Heaven is your home.
and you get the earnest of the Holy Spirit, who will comfort and guide you until you go home to Heaven.
In believing you receive righteousness; and with confession you are saved. Romans 10:10
Saved from what? Saved from separation from God forever in a place of torment.
Come into a close relationship with The Lord today!
He is the only One who can fill that empty place within you!
He is the only One who can satisfy your soul!
Related Verses – Romans 10:9-10, 2 Corinthians 1:22, 1 Peter 3:15, Philippians 4:7, Romans 15:13, Romans 5:5, Galatians 5:22, John 15:10-11, John 14:26-27, Romans 10:9, John 14:16-17
