Jesus desires your joy to be filled up to overflowing in the truest and deepest sense. He desires you to have the joy that runs so deep that no matter how turbulent the waters of life are, you have the unshakeable certainty that you will not be taken from God nor God from you; that your sins, every last one of them, are fully forgiven and that He will never look at them or deal with you according to them. That is the kind of joy that Jesus wants to give you and so He tells you to ask and to ask with boldness and confidence not because you are worthy or have done wonderful things but, even better, because God loves you, because God has declared you to be His child, completely apart from anything you have or could do. God doesn’t hear you because you make yourself worth hearing or worthy of answering. He hears and answers you because of Himself, because He has made you His own in the waters of Holy Baptism. And how does He give this joy and fill it up to overflowing? Always and only by proclaiming to you His Word. Come and receive the joy of the Lord and let Him fill your cup to overflowing with His joy in you. I look forward to seeing all of you this coming Lord’s Day.
Pastor Ulmer