The Posture of Virtue — Part 3: Walking and Standing in the Posture of Joy

What do you do when midnight shows up in your life?

When the doors are locked, the chains are on your feet, and the room is dark — what comes out of you?

In Part 3 of the Posture of Virtue series, Pastor Lindsey Jones unpacks the second fruit of the Spirit — Joy. But not the joy you think you know.

You will discover why happiness is only an external feeling masquerading as joy. You will learn the difference between the test that comes from God and the temptation that starts within you. You will sit with Paul and Silas at midnight in a Philippian prison and hear why Heaven moves when the praises go out. And you will be asked one question that could change how you walk through your next season:

When your midnight comes — will they still see the posture of joy?

Through the words of Nehemiah, the teaching of James, the story of Paul and Silas, and a personal testimony from Pastor Lindsey's own four-month midnight season — this episode will remind you that the joy of the Lord is not a place to visit.

It is a posture to dwell in.

Press play. Share it with someone standing in their own dark hour. And download The Posture of the Believer Podcast today — because your posture just might be the thing that saves somebody else.

The Posture of Virtue — Part 3: Walking and Standing in the Posture of Joy.
Available now.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:54

James chapter number one, and we're going to be reading the first three verses of this particular chapter. James chapter number one, it is right after the book of Hebrews. Right after the book of Hebrews. And it reads as thus James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. Greetings. My brethren, counted all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Let's put your Bibles down and let's go before the throne of grace. Heavenly Father, first, we want to say thank you. Thank you for this opportunity we have to hear what you have to say to us on today. Heavenly Father, we ask that you open up the ears of the believer. We ask, God, that you speak. Speak to our hearts and our minds on today. Do it right now in the name of Jesus. Heavenly Father, we ask for your forgiveness. I ask for your forgiveness, God. Is there anything that I said did this that was not like you? Take it away. Take it out. Forgive me. For I don't want anything to hinder or stop what you're going to use me to say to your people on today. God, I heal my mind, my body, my spirit. Everything about me belongs to you. Use me for your glory. God, don't let them see me. Don't even let them hear me, but let them see and hear you. That they may receive the richness and the fullness of your joy. And God, as you open up their ears, God, just don't let them be hearers of the word, God, but let them be doers of the word as well. And we bind the hand of the enemy that will try to bring distractions and take our mind and focus away from what you're trying to say. We cast those things aside as we sit attentively to what you're going to speak into our lives on today. Thank you for the word that's going to change us. Thank you for the word that's going to transform us. Thank you for the word that's going to push us closer and closer to our destiny in it. Thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. As we continue in our theme, the posture of virtue, I want to leave this thought with you as we deal with the second fruit of the spirit, joy. The theme I want to leave with you this morning is walking and standing in the posture of joy. Look at your neighbor and tell him, I'm going to be walking and standing in the posture of joy? Type that in the chat. Write it down somewhere because how many of us know that when you stand in a posture of joy? Whoo! I don't want to get ahead of myself and will leave that one alone right there because we're going to find out what the posture of joy is. Ladies and gentlemen, what is the difference between joy and happiness? On the same, they look on the surface, they look the same. They carry the same characteristics. They carry the same characteristics. They wear the same smile. But there is a fundamental difference that will have us looking at these two words very differently. Happiness is an external feeling masquerading as joy. I'm going to repeat that again because everybody needs to hear this. Happiness is an external feeling masquerading as joy. The believer shows a happiness to the world that should draw non-believers in. It should make them stop and seek out the happiness that you have expressed as a believer. But what they don't understand is this. They are not seeing happiness as they are really seeing joy. What they're really seeing on the outside is happiness, but they don't understand that it's the joy on the inside that they're seeing happiness produced on the outside. It's important to know that that posture is joy. It is you standing in that posture that gives you the ability to look at life's uncertainty and face it with the joy of the Lord. This is the same joy that Nehemiah encouraged the people to have when they were facing sorrow. Nehemiah 8 and 10 says it like this: Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portion to those of him who have nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Ladies and gentlemen, the joy of the Lord is your strength. The joy of the Lord is a burden lifter. The joy of the Lord is a place not just for us to visit, but is a posture that we must dwell in. Because when life hits you hard, life will wear you down physically. Life will wear you down emotionally. Life will wear you down spiritually. But we have to know, we have to understand that the joy that is buried on the inside of us will show up when we are down. The joy that we have on the inside of us will show up when we're burdened. The joy that is on the inside of us will stand up in the midst and say, it's time for you to get happy again. Ah, how do you go to be joyful? Joy is a posture that we must stand in. Joy is a posture that we cannot get on our own strengths, but it must come from the Lord. Have you ever felt down and the Lord put a song in your spirit? That song that the Lord placed in your spirit. It was placed in your spirit to lighten the load that you're feeling. It was placed in your spirit to ease the tension that you were going through. It was placed in your spirit to remind you that you are not alone. That the Lord is right by your side. The Lord will give you strength to go through what you have to go through. This is the same joy that James was referring to when he wrote James 1 and 2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. There comes a point in the believer's life where their posture will be tested. Does your posture have the substance to stand or to come under fire and still be standing when the dust is clear? Does your posture have the substance to be standing in the midst of a storm, just like the three Hebrew boys, and come out not being burnt at all? Will your posture have the substance to take the heat and still have a smile on your face? Will they still see your posture of joy after your tests? After you have been tested, after you have been tried, what will they see? Will they see that you have fallen, or will they see the posture of joy still standing in your life? As we jump into our texts, James is echoing Nehemiah's disposition. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. James is telling the believer, we are not excused. We are not excused from falling into various trials. As long as we live the life, you will come across different things happening in your life. Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to notice this. James understood that when trials come, it is your response that matters. I'll repeat that again because a lot of people need to hear that. When the trials come, it is your response to the trial that matters. When we respond to what is happening to us with self-pity, bitterness, and the attitude of woe is me, or we can't, or we can respond with gratefulness, optimism, and the attitude of this too shall pass. Notice there in James 2, James says trials. But in verse 3, he uses a different word called test. Why does James use trials and tests? Because on the surface, those two words look similar. But in reality, you can use trials and tests to mean the same thing. But James uses the word, these two words, to show a deep contrast between the two. The Greek word premotos means trial, while deninko or dinkominion means test. When James says trials, he is referring to the experience that trials bring into the life of the believer. An external attack. These attacks come into the life of the believer as hardships, as persecution, as difficult encounters. For each of those carries its own weight. Each of these attacks carries its own set of problems. Hardship hits you in the area of finances. Hardship hits you in the area of sickness. Hardship hits you in the area of your mental capacity. Persecution, on the other hand, hits you in the area of your spiritual and your relationship with God. Because when we say or do something to challenge you, something that you will put your faith on trial. I'll repeat that again. See, see, when persecution comes, your persecution comes to challenge your spirituality and your relationship with God. It comes to challenge you and it comes to put your faith that you have in God on trial. And difficulties of life hit you in general. How? With everyday decisions and everyday issues. You'll run through all three of these instances in your life. And sometimes you may hit them all at the same time. How do you handle the issues of life at the same time? How do you handle what's going on in your life when everything is going haywire? How do you handle everything that's happening and it's like it's a snowball effect running downhill? Your answer is the posture of joy. Ah, behold, the enemy is not casual. He is comprehensive. He comes after every part of you. He comes after your mind. He comes after your heart. He comes after your spirituality. He comes after your emotions. He comes after you in a complete form. Why? Because he does not want you to be free. He does not want you to experience the joy of the Lord. He does not want you to experience what God has planned for you. So how does he attack? He attacks in every aspect of your life. Because every aspect of your life has to reflect that you are walking and talking with God. And if he can change that fact, then he has did his job and draw you closer to him instead of you growing closer to God. See, because sometimes, many times we walk and we talk about God. But when circumstances hit our life, when circumstances hit our attitude, when circumstances hit our life, we tend to walk away from God and try to handle it ourselves. The Bible tells us, no, no, no, no. Put all your wordings on the Lord, why? For he careth for you. When life hits you hard, when life comes at you and you don't know what to do, stand firm in a posture of joy. Stand firm on the posture that God has placed you in and watch God move. I said it earlier, and I say it again. There comes a point in the believer's life where their posture will be tested. But ladies and gentlemen, I want to point out one thing. God will never test you with evil. In other words, if it will cause you to sin, God will not use that method. God uses series of tests that will challenge us in the areas that God wants us to mature in. God wants us to know that there are areas of maturity that all believers need to come into. Because when you start walking in that maturity, you are starting, you are actually walking in your purpose and you're walking in the right posture. God tests us to grow us. Now on the flip side of the coin is temptation, which means to lure or to entice. James shatters a ceiling here because we believe that when you are tempted, or we believe that when we are tempted, it comes from God or it comes from the devil. But in reality, temptation starts in you. James tells us in chapter 1, verse 13 let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot tempt by evil, nor does he tempt anyone else by such. See, this shatters the belief that God tempts his people. No, no, God tests his people. He does not tempt us. Verse 14 goes on to say, but each one of us is tempted when we are drawn away by our own desires and enticements. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, I'm about to bust some bubbles. Temptation comes from within. And when it shows up, the enemy can attack based on what has been revealed. Ah, that might have gone over your head, some of us. But understand this when temptation comes in, it starts from the inside of you. And when you are exposed to it, or when you give into the temptation, then the enemy reacts to what you just revealed that he can attack. This is why our posture must remain strong. Because anytime that something comes in to entice you away from where God is telling you to go, we need to cast it down. We don't want to give no room or no place or space to the enemy. Why? Because if you leave a door open for him, he'll take it open. But if you leave the devil an inch, he'll take a mile. So we have to shut it down at the thought that we have. So when you get that thought in your mind, when you get that enticement in your mind, cast it down out of the uh cast it down so you can cast it out of your mind. Why? Because if it hits your mind, it hits your heart. And when it hits your heart, you're gonna react to it. So you want to stop it at the source, cast it down. This is why James says, count it all joy. Because every time we are tempted, we have we have to watch how we respond. Do you respond with joy, or do you let the joy of the Lord overtake us by casting down those thoughts? Or do we give in to those thoughts and go down the path, the path that leads to our own desires, the path that births into sin, and the path that brings forth death. God does not desire that anyone goes down that path. God has given us an alternative path, and that alternative path is the fruit of the Spirit. Ladies and gentlemen, one path will cost you your life, the other path becomes your life. Ah, God wants us to go down the path that will produce fruit in our life. Understand this tests come from God, they are designed to grow you external in an external direction. So when James tells the believer, count it all joy, joy is knowing that the test comes from God. Because if God is testing you, he sees something in you that you can't see in yourself. He understands that you are, that you don't look at yourself as something great in that area. But God says, I see you as great. So I'm going to test you in that area to produce that you become or to make you or to make you come unto maturity so you can walk and see how good you are. And you're not good because of what you've done, but you're good because God has matured you in that area. Ah, see, the test comes from God, who orchestrates and designed all of these tests in a way not to hurt you, but to make you better. Back that up with scripture, Pastor Jones. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 29 and 11, for I know my thoughts of you that I think toward you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give a future and a hope. Each test brings us closer to the future and the hope that God originally planned for us. Ah, he goes on to say in Jeremiah 1 and 5, before I formed you in your womb, I knew you. Ah, see, see, see, see, God knew you way back when, when you wasn't even a thought in your mother's and father's eyes, God knew you. He knew his plan for you. He knew what you can handle. He knew what you could not handle. But he knew that you can handle it through him. So when time comes, and God says it's now time to mature, when God says, now it's time to stand in that posture. He will test you so you can rise up in that posture and stand. So don't count, so count in all joy when you fall into terrorist tests and trials. God is just maturing you, God is just shaping you. God is just developing you. And God will always hold you and keep you. This alone should bring you joy. Knowing that God's planned all of this out before you were born. Ladies and gentlemen, no matter what tests I face, no matter what difficulties I see, no matter what circumstances that may come my way, I cannot forget God designed it. And if God designed it, it will all work out for you and for me. Because it's not for my glory, it's for God to get the glory. Ah, do you does anybody remember this quote? This joy that I have, the world didn't give it to me, and the world can't take it away. How many of us, or how many people have you heard quoted this? Let's be honest. As we walk this life, we all have said it. Yet we have allowed the world to take our joy. Why is that? Because you are quoting what you are quoting without saying who gave you the joy. Ah, you didn't give the joy yourself. Did the joy come from you? Did the joy come from the enemy? See, when you don't identify where the joy comes from, it can be easily taken. But but the moment I realize that Jesus gives me joy, the world did not give it, and the world can't take it away. It reminds me that the source of my joy is Jesus. Jesus is the one who died for me. Jesus is the one who saved me. Jesus is the one whose joy is my strength. So when I have his joy, I get his strength. When I have his joy, he gives me peace. When I have his joy, he gives me the confidence that I need to stand in the joy and in the posture of that joy. See, standing in a posture requires us to be rooted and grounded in him. See, every purpose or every posture we have walked through, the posture of the heart, the posture of faith, the posture of obedience, and the posture of love has brought us to this point. And that moment is called midnight. Ah what do you do in your midnight season? How do you handle your midnight season? Or how do you allow and handle what's going on in your season when nothing is going right? Where your joy seems to be swallowed up into depression. Or do you let your joy overtake where you have moved into? See, see, sometimes our joy gets caught up and we lose our joy because things around us ain't working for us. We get caught up in what our circumstances on the outside is. We get caught up with life situations and we realize that our joy is slowly being taken and stripped away from us. How do you handle that? How do you deal with that issue? How do you come back from that and get your joy back? How do you do that? This brings me to the Apostle Paul. It takes us to Acts 16. Here is one of the most prolific miracles in Paul's life. And here is how it took place. Paul tells us, or Paul was on a journey, and on three occasions he tried to go to a city to preach the gospel. But on each attempt, the spirit did not let him go to those three particular places. Ladies and gentlemen, when the Spirit of God is leading you and directing you, do not allow yourself to get in the way. Let your posture of obedience stand up and allow the Lord to lead you. Too many times, God is trying to lead us in one direction, but we get caught up in ourselves and we want to go in our own way. Ladies and gentlemen, the word or God is telling us to say, put that aside. It's time to put what you know aside. And it's time to walk by faith where God tells you to go. Ah, because when you get caught up and you start moving in your own direction, when you get caught up and start moving in the way that God does not want you to go, you're going to hit failure. You're going to hit a place where God did not design for you to go. You're going to run into more difficulties. You're going to run into more issues, and you're going to run into more problems because you went away that God wasn't directing you. The Bible tells us in the book of Psalms, let the Lord guide you and lead you. I'm paraphrasing because when you're led by the Spirit, he said, those who are led by the Spirit are sons and daughters of God. Become a son or daughter of God and allow God to lead you. The Spirit permitted them to go to Macedonia. While there on the Sabbath day, they went to pray. And a woman by the name of Lydia heard them and turned her life over to the Lord. Ladies and gentlemen, you never know who God is going to place in your path. So stop crying about the path that was shut off and rejoice in the path that He puts you on. Because the path that God has put you on, God had a divine appointment waiting for you. After ministering to Lydia, her whole family received the Lord. As they continued on their way to prayer, Paul and Sinus ran into a slave girl who was possessed with a spirit of divination or witchcraft. She began to follow them. And this girl was possessed, and she brought her master much profit because she was a fortune teller. She followed Paul and Silas, walking behind them, shouting, These men serve the Most High God, who proclaims to us the way of salvation. The Bible says that she does this for days, to the point where Paul was greatly annoyed. And one day Paul cast out that spirit. Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot allow the enemy to take our kindness for weakness, lest they will take advantage of us. At some point, we have to stand flat-footed and put the enemy in his place and cast them out. Why? Because we have the power of Jesus. Jesus did it, and he told us greater things than these shall you do. The girl's master saw that her money-making or his money-making machine was gone. So they took Paul and Silas to the marketplace, to the authorities of that day, claiming that they were teaching and was unlawful. Paul and Silas were beaten and put in prison. But this was not an end, or no, this was not an ordinary prison. And to top it off, they were chained by the ankles to the wall. This is when the enemy will try to do when you start to interrupt his plans. You become too tired to pray because you work too hard. I must support. I must make money to support the house. So I'll do all the overtime I can. I have no time for anybody else. The enemy will try to isolate you. He will try to wear you out to the point where you get home and you don't want to be bothered with nobody because you're too tired. It is at this moment, at midnight, that the posture of joy becomes strength that they need it. They began to sing praises to God until the whole prison heard them. And not only did the prisoners hear them, having heard their prayer. And when the praises got out, God has to move. Why? Because God inhabits the praise of his people. God heard the praise and showed up on the scene and shook the very foundations of the jail to the point that the shackles that were holding them broke off and the doors of the prison flew open. Have you ever been in a place where you thought that you could never see joy again? And you began to sing praises to God. And as soon as you opened up your mouth, as soon as you opened up a praise to God, the joy of the Lord showed up, and those shackles fell and the doors flew open. I don't know about you, but there have been days in my life where I didn't feel the joy of the Lord. But as soon as I began to sing praises, as soon as I began to clap my hands, as soon as I began to pep my feet, the heavens shook, and the shackles broke off, and the door flew open, and I was able to walk into the posture of joy. I don't know about you, but there's a song called by Melanie Daniels called Praise is My Weapon. And sometimes, all the time, when the enemy attacks, you just gotta stand there and start praising God and watch how the enemy backs up. Watch how the shackles fall off your feet and watch the doors fly open. And now it's your opportunity to walk through and start standing in the posture of joy that the Lord has placed right in front of you. All because you decided to praise in the midst of a storm. Ah, see, ladies and gentlemen, I feel your spirit now, God, that the storm will come, but the joy of the Lord will conquer the storm. Ah, difficulties will come, but the joy of the Lord will conquer those difficulties. Ah, things will come, but when you start speaking and showing joy, those things gotta back off because they they understand that they can't get you. Why? Because you are surrounded yourself with praise. You are surrounded yourself with the presence of the Lord, and the enemy cannot stand in the presence of God. So what he has to do, he must do, he cannot stand, so he has to back up. And when he backs up, here come God say, I give you my strength, I give you my joy. Anytime that you feel that you need it, all you gotta do is open it your mouth in praise. When when the God who was watching woke up and saw the doors were open, thinking that the prisoners had fled and escaped. He was about to kill himself. But Paul yelped out, We're still here. Ah, we are still here. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, God just dropped this in my spirit. Sometimes, when you're in the midst of a storm, God will leave you in that storm because somebody else is in the storm that you need to help pull out. Ah, he will say, Go into that storm. And when they are crying out and they see that you're free, you tell them, I'm still here with you. I'm gonna pull you out with my strength. I'm gonna pull you out with the joy of the Lord's strength. I'm gonna pull you out so we can come out together and we can both walk in the joy of the Lord. See, see, see, the God who was there to watch over the prisoners got saved that night. All because of Paul and Silas's posture. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, no matter what you face, don't lose your posture. Because your posture can and will touch the life of a non-believer. Your posture and your faith will tell a non-believer that they can stand in the same posture that you stand in. So don't lose your posture. Don't allow the enemy to shift your posture. Don't allow anything to shift where God has placed you. Stand firm in your posture. Because you're standing there, not just for you, but so someone can see Christ in you and through you. As I bring this message to a close, I want to end with a personal testimony. Back in August of 2024, after celebrating 20 years of marriage, our 20th wedding anniversary, I got sick. Thinking that it was just a common cold, I went to work for two weeks sick. Because I needed to try to recoup some of the money we just spent while we were on vacation. But something was not right with me. I was having hot and cold spells all throughout the day. My body was aching, and I was always tired, not just mentally, but physically worn out. So finally I went to the ER. They ran all the tests that they could, but everything came back normal. There was one PA nurse who my wife says was a godsend, who refuses to let me leave the ER without finding out why I was feeling this way. This PA exhausted all of her resources and finally said, I need you to see an infectious disease doctor. And the time it took me to get an appointment with the doctor, it was a struggle for me to get out of bed and even walk to the living room. I had to go on medical leave from work. I couldn't do ministry. I felt isolated and alone. I did not feel like praying. I didn't feel like reading, but I was coming borderline or even depressed. And all I could do some days was lie in bed and cry. My spirit was crushed. And the joy that I once had was fading fast. When I finally got the appointment, they drew more blood work. And it took about a week for them to get the results back. But that week felt like a month. During that time, I had friends, family, and a church who prayed for me, encouraged me, and told me, don't give up, but hold on. Ladies and gentlemen, I was so grateful for those who prayed and called to encourage me in the time that I was out. I finally got back to the doctor and found out I had a blood virus and that there was no cure for it, that it had to run its course. So I found out that I had it all along, and it had at that particular moment became very active. Over the next couple of months, with much prayer from my family, especially my wife, who anointed me every night, and my friends, church members, and the body of Christ, my joy started to return. I remember telling them, I remember telling God, I can't die here. I have too much work to do. This was my midnight season. It lasted four months. That season has given me the joy in which I stand in now. That season of affliction has changed me forever. And now I can also help people who are going through a midnight season get changed forever. Today I am a walking, living, breathing miracle. And I'm standing in the joy of the Lord, who is my strength, and I'm standing in a posture of joy. I encourage anyone and anyone who is under the sound of my voice, don't lose your joy. Don't lose the posture of your joy. God will strengthen you. Even though the season in your life may be difficult, even though the season in your life may be hard, don't give up on God. Because God didn't give up on you. Hold on to God's unchanging hands. Hold on to what God has promised you. Don't give up. Stand and walk in the posture of the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I want to say thank you. Thank you, God, for allowing us to stand in your joy. God, some of us might be going through a midnight season. But right now, God, we ask that you give us the strength of your joy to carry us through our midnight season. Don't let them give up because times are hard. Don't let them give up because times are difficult. Don't let them give up because people turned their back on them. God, in your word, you said you would never leave us nor forsake us. We need your strength, God. We need the joy of your strength, God. Not just for us, but to show a dying world, God, that with the joy of the Lord we can do all things. Because it's the joy that gives us the strength to endure. Touch right now, God. Touch every believer, God, that is going through something right now. Touch every non-believer, God, that is going through something right now. That is seeking your face. That is seeking your joy. Strengthen them right now, God. Let them know, God, that you are right there with them. Let them know all they gotta do is say yes and walk into your joy. And let us as believers, God, as we stand in this joy, stand in boldness and in confidence, that you are still in control. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And amen. I pray that this message is one that will encourage you. I pray that this message is one that will keep you, one that you will revert back to when you feel your joy is fading. God is with us. God is for us. And God will keep us. Thank you for joining us.