Living in Joy

Life is a crazy up and down ride, and the joy we are supposed to exhibit as a fruit of the Spirit may seem impossible. In fact, when I wrote about love – the first fruit of the Spirit – it seemed pretty impossible too. It is impossible to do on our own, and that is why it is a fruit OF THE SPIRIT. We need the help of the Holy Spirit who indwells us as believers to follow this command. However, I believe when we love others as Jesus Christ commands, then joy promptly and easily follows.

Sometimes people get confused about the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness depends on what happens. It’s an emotion, a reaction.

The world has merriment and amusement and entertainment, but only the believer can have true joy.

Discovering Joy

Joy is not something we can ask for; it is found in Jesus Christ. It is a by-product of being His child. We trust Him and believe His promises. In John 15:11 Jesus is speaking and saying that the joy He has can be in us.

We can know that no matter what we may face, He will hold us through it (Isaiah 43:2).

If you are a believer but feel you don’t have a lot of joy in your life, maybe you are searching for joy in all the wrong places; a person, attaining possessions, and your profession are a few of the wrong places we can look.

Sustaining Joy

Life is life which means it is going to be in a cycle of ups and downs, mountains and valleys. Joy is when we have happiness that doesn’t depend on what is happening in our life.

We have to focus our vision away from our circumstances. Instead of looking forward at what is before us, we look up to God. We have our faces and our hearts turned to Him. It’s a way we respond to life and during those seasons of turmoil.

“Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let’s apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against – tribulation, suffering, and persecution – are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. ‘We are more than conquerors through Him’ ‘in all things’; not in spite of them, but in the midst of them (Romans 8:37). A saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said, ‘I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation’ (2 Corinthians 7:4).”

Oswald Chambers

See, we can have joy even when we don’t feel happy. James 1:2 tells us “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” These are usually the times we are NOT feeling any happiness in life. We may wonder if there is anything good in our lives during these times. But James clearly teaches we can have joy. Joy is a result of obedience.

These are the times we must say no to the fleshly feelings of anxiety, discontentment, and anger welling up inside and let the Holy Spirit take over. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7:4 they were “exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.” That is only possible when we trust in the Lord as we go through those valleys and mountains in life.

Let us be like Martin Luther (1483-1546) who when he heard bad news would respond with, “Come, let us sing a psalm, and spite the devil.” Don’t let the devil think he has victory in our lives. Continue to rejoice in the Lord no matter what.

Growing Joy

The presence of God determines our joy. When we meditate on the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and what He did for us on the Cross, then we can feel joy in our hearts. To think that as His children, we can call out to our Creator God as “Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6). And then the fact that we can go to prayer to our Lord, and He WANTS us to come to Him with our petitions and cares (Philippians 4:6, 1 John 5:15). Yes, keeping these thoughts of abundant joy fresh in our minds daily lets us live in joy no matter what we face.

We must make up our minds we are going to FULLY trust Him. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to give Him all our worries and cares, because He faithfully and thoroughly watches over us. The peace of mind that brings lifts any worry trying to surface. Meditating on these promises helps our joy to grow.

We have to stop thinking about the “what ifs” and “what about” and know that we can have joy in the “what is now.”

“Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; struggling, yet always victorious; cast down, but not destroyed; persecuted, but not forsaken; troubled, and yet all the while triumphant; such is the mingled experience of the saints. Oh, this is the wondrous grace, this joy which can live side by side with conflict of the sorest sort.”

C. H. Spurgeon

Sharing Joy

We need to share our joy with others. We can serve others, encourage others, rejoice in the Lord together through song, and share the love of Christ that gives this joy by witnessing about our loving Savior and His free gift.

When as believers we are compared to unbelievers, do we exhibit more joy in our lives (despite our circumstances)? Truly living in the joy of the Lord makes others want to have what we possess. Would unbelievers look at you (and me!) and say they want what we have because of the joy in our lives?

As believers, we have an obligation, a responsibility, a command to be cheerful. “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4) The Greek word for “rejoice” is chairō which means to be cheerful, to be full of joy.

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Joy is a celestial, spiritual fruit that no one can take away from us. As I mentioned before, we cannot ask for it nor create it with earthly means. It’s a product of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). (Check out “Cultivating Fruit” for the introduction to the fruit of the Spirit series.)

We must find joy and live in joy every day, not because life is always good, but because we have a God who is always good. The beauty is we get to choose whether we want to live in joy, but as a believer it should be a no-brainer. When we have absolute trust in our righteous, holy, loving, good God, then we know that He will do what is best for us. All the promises wrapped up in that thought alone brings me joy. How about you? Are you choosing to daily walk in joy? 💕