The Force of Joy 

 

  

… The joy of GOD is your strength! Neh 8:10

Joy is a powerful force for overcoming the sorrow, pain, frustration, and condemnations that life brings. If you desire to rise above life’s trials, you must develop the fruit of joy. YES, joy is a fruit. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit. When the Spirit of God comes to live on the inside of you, when you surrender to Him, all the fruits of the Spirit are available to you, including joy.

If you haven’t yet made Jesus the Lord of your life yet, please click here for more information. It is possible to develop personal joy through your own efforts, but it will never manifest to the degree that comes through being born again.

Joy equips you to overcome the enemy by bringing freedom from bondage, which brings steadfastness.

By having God’s Spirit of joy on the inside of you, you are able to overcome the enemy and experience fulfillment in all things.
In 2 Peter 2:19, the Bible tells us that people are slaves to whatever has mastered them. You and I serve whatever enslaves or masters us. Whatever overcomes us has us in bondage and whatever we are bound to we serve.

We are always in danger of coming into bondage of the enemy. Since the source of every trial is Satan, we can unknowingly be serving the devil during these times of trials. We are able to suddenly lose our strength and allow ourselves to be overcome by our trials.

Is it hard to believe that trials can cause us to come into bondage? How do you respond when you suffer through an extended illness? How do you react when strife arises in your family? How well do you bear up under a trial for which there seems no end?

James 1:2-3 exhorts us to count it all joy when we are experiencing trials. Yes, God wants us to rejoice even in times of trial. Since our flesh doesn’t want to do this, the only way to do this is through the development of the fruit of joy. Why? Joy equips us to exercise our faith, believe in God and serve Him rather than being a slave to our trials. The more we allow ourselves to exercise the force of joy, the more steadfast we will become.

When we go through a trial and those around us can’t tell it from our conversation or countenance, we know that joy has made us steadfast and immoveable. It takes dedication to cultivate and develop such a steadfast manifestation of joy in our lives.

Ask yourself how you are conducting yourself in the midst of your current trials. The answers to this question can tell you a lot. If you falter during a time of trial, then you can be sure that you are overcome by that trial.

Will you ask yourself the next question: “What does God say that I need to do to get myself back on track?”  Now, that’s the choice-driven life!

 

Today’s Bible Reading:

1 Sam 11-13; Acts 9; Psalm 38