More Joyful. Joy is the second named Fruit of the Spirit.
Joy is an attitude, and a decision one makes, as are all changes to one’s life.
Once baptised in the Holy Spirit, after we have asked for forgiveness and invited him to come into our lives, we should have the beginnings of Joy, growing from a seed into a plant within us. Though, too often we let daily circumstances steal our Joy, and this is the challenge.
How often have you heard of Christians going through life grumbling all the time? This attitude is not the one in which God has instructed us to walk.
There are 187 scriptures on Joy or being joyful (full of Joy), and our lives would improve if we read some of them and put them into practice. It is not only sound wisdom for us to walk in joy but for onlookers — those watching us and observing how we do life and whether we follow the God we say we follow or the spirit of something else, it is vital.
Strong’s Concordance states that Joy is a gladness or a festival. When we look at the way we mope around sometimes, with our hands hung down, getting up early and getting ready for work, sitting in the traffic, or working around the home picking up the clothes and mess from other family members, what spirit are we expressing?
We rob ourselves, and God, of our Joy, because of how we go to bed the night before. There is no anticipation of our day being upset by something or someone, and no strategy of how to deal with it. Satan has developed his plan for us the night before, why don’t we do it?
Instead, we arise each morning without a clear and determined purpose of how we are to go about the day in an overcoming manner.
God knows we go through stuff, but he is looking for that festival spirit, regardless of whether our life is going through its Winter or Spring.
There are many Winter’s in a Christian’s life, as we have more and greater obstacles than the unsaved. We are challenged by God to grow to our next stage, and by Satan to pull us down to destruction.
Despite these seemingly darker times, our Joy cannot be taken from us if we only understood that. Joy is on the inside, and we can make a stand any time to let Joy grow instead of poisoning it.
Many scriptures on Joy help us through our everyday lives.
Some call life a daily grind, but it is not, and should be an embarrassment to use that terminology in any way but jokingly. Joy itself is an aid to en-joy-ing each day. Joy is one of our life purposes and is a policy of the Almighty. Furthermore, it is a condition of our walk.
Joy is one of the four pinnacles of blessing God placed upon the Israelite’s in Esther 8:16, “The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour.”
In Psalm 32:11, joy is linked with righteousness and uprightness of heart “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.”
Psalm 48:2 states that the precious Mt Zion is the Joy of the whole earth, “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.”
Imagine a place being the Joy of the whole earth? Satan also believes this, and has created a constant battle over that region, which will continue until the fake peace treaty is agreed upon prior to the return of Jesus Christ.
When King David was explaining to the people about his son Solomon, who would be King, and the great work he will do on the Temple. Scripture says, “Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.”
We don’t need to wait for Christmas, birthdays and holidays to have Joy. There is too much about which to be joyful, and Joy should be in our Project Plan.
And it does not come with a Lotto win.
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