LIVING JOYFULLY:

"You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forevermore" 

(Psalm 16:11).

God doesn’t have the responsibility of making you joyful. What He did was to put His joy in your spirit. Having been born again, you have been brought into the life of unending joy. Joy is inherent in your spirit; all you have to do is let it out. The Bible says in Romans 14:17 "For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." There are certain features in your recreated human spirit, and one of them is joy; but it’s up to you to live joyfully all the time.

God isn’t going to make you any more joyful today than He already did when you were born again. Also, no one in the world has the responsibility of making you joyful; that job rests with you alone. So whether you live joyfully or not is actually your personal choice. Choose to be joyful; it pays. The Bible talks about the curative and therapeutic effect of a joyful heart: "A merry heart doeth good like medicine" (Proverbs 17:22). Joyful, happy people are hardly ever sick.

You may say, "I’m joyful, it’s just that I don’t show it!" No. Joy has expressions. You can’t claim to be joyful and not express it. James 5:13 confirms it; it says, "Is any merry? let him sing psalms." Joy has nothing to do with what’s happening to you or around you; it’s got nothing to do with what others have said or done against you. It also has nothing to do with your experiences. You can be joyful in the midst of trouble, just like Paul and Silas when they were slammed in prison (Acts 16:25).

The Bible says the joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10). When you are joyful, you are strengthened. If you think you are weak, your recipe for strength is the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord doesn’t come because someone said something funny to you; it’s spiritual. The Apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 1:8 "…ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Perhaps you were feeling downcast, abandoned or neglected, right away, you can stir up joy from within. When that joy wells up in you, you will be strengthened by the Lord from inside through the Holy Spirit who lives and functions in you.

Further Study:

Isaiah 12:3

Philippians 3:3

Philippians 4:4

Andy Agim

Christ Realities