"You can't focus on what's going wrong. There's always a way to turn things around, to find the fun!" - Joy (from Disney Pixar's Inside Out)
The beginning of Daylight Savings can be both good and bad. The bad part is you lose an hour of sleep one night and then your entire sleep schedule is thrown off for about a week (or more). BUT some good does come from Daylight Savings! We get more sunlight! The weather is warming up! More sunlight (vitamin D) needs people are in a better overall mood! It is all so exciting! Now, it's time to get serious.
It's been a hot minute since I talked about a Fruit of the Spirit. The next one I want to talk about is joy. No, not Joy from Inside out (although, I LOVE that movie! If you haven't seen it, please take a break from this blog and go watch it then come back. Or finish reading and then go watch it!). When you think of the word "joy" what do you think of? Happiness? Amy Poehler? What about other emotions? Commonly, when someone hears the word joy they immediately think of happiness. That isn't always the case though!
The best way I think I can explain the difference between joy and happiness is an external emotion or reaction based on the situations around us. Something you can feel on the outside and show off to everyone. Joy is an internal ability to be content, even in times of struggle, doubt, loneliness, the list goes on. Joy is the ability to be any other emotion but happy and still be okay.
Where does this joy come from you ask? Well, joy doesn’t come from the people around you or the things you do. Simply put, you can’t achieve joy by yourself. I mean, you can try but it will be extremely difficult. Joy comes from God, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit. (the Holy Trinity if you will) If you believe that joy is strictly from what you do, stop it! Stop believing that joy is a result of your actions. Pleasure is a result of your actions. Pleasure is temporary; joy is long-lasting (maybe even eternal). By accepting joy as an emotion instead of a state of mind, you’re allowing your joy to be stolen from you. John 10:10 says, “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that you may have life, and have it to be filled.” (John 10:10, NIV). Some translations say “have it abundantly”. See, Jesus came to us and knew no sin, but became sin and died for us so that we may live and have joy! Do not let your joy be taken away from you! If you have true joy, it cannot be taken from you! In another verse from John, Jesus is talking to his disciples and telling them that He is going to be put to death and he says to them, “Therefore, you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy no one will take from you!” (John 16:22, NIV) You are in control of your joy! The only way anyone can take your joy away from you is if YOU give it to them! No one can take your joy from you without your permission! Let me say that again for those of you who didn’t catch the impact the first time. NO ONE CAN TAKE YOUR JOY WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION! It’s yours!
I have 4 bible verses for you. Consider this your homework because I want you to commit these to memory. Write them down, tape them on your fridge, on the wall, on the bathroom mirror, in your prayer room; write them in your prayer journal! These verses are so important to understanding joy and where it comes from.
Number 1: “Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10, NIV)
This is actually the last line of the verse but there is so much packed into this little section. First, there is a command; do not grieve. Do not be troubled by whatever is troubling you. Easier said than done, right? Whatever is troubling you, is small in comparison to God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s joy! Put your worries in God’s hands and let Him take it for you. Second, look at where our joy comes from! Our joy is the Lord’s joy! There is a great scene in War Room when the main character is accepting Christ and “cleaning her house” of the devil’s evil ways. She walks through her quiet empty home yelling at the devil telling him her house is “under new management” and he is not welcome there anymore. She walks out into her backyard (as if a guest has just left and she needs to tell them something else). She says something and then slams the door behind her. She opens the door again and says she is sick of him (the devil) taking her joy. She says, “my joy doesn’t come from my friends, my family, it doesn’t even come from my husband. My joy is found in Jesus.” Jesus is the holder of our joy! Third, we are strengthened by the Lord’s joy! The Lord gives us strength so that we can continue to have joy even though we do not feel “happy”.
Number 2: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust Him, so that you may overflow with the hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13, NIV).
Ahh, Romans. There is so much good stuff in Romans. The God of hope, God is the God of hope. He gives us hope when we feel we have none. What is the God of hope doing? He is filling us. Not half full, not half empty. Filling us, to the top, with ALL the joy and peace! So, we are being filled all the way to the top with literally all the joy and peace there is! I guess you could say we are joyFUL and peaceFUL! We are full, overflowing, with joy and peace. Not just a little bit. Now, we aren’t just filled with joy and peace for nothing. We have to trust the God of hope that he will give us this joy and peace because we cannot have it on our own. There is that word again: overflow. We are full of joy and peace and overflowing with hope! We are given this hope through the Holy Spirit who is our helper.
Number 3: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again; Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)
This is one of my all-time favorites!!!!! It is currently my scripture of the month for my bullet journal. Really all of Philippians 4 talks about joy but I want to focus on this specific verse. Is short but has so much *oomph* in it! Rejoice. Do you know what it means to rejoice? It’s to have joy again. Have joy again in the Lord always! It’s like a reminder to continue to have joy in the Lord. Not only are we being reminded to have joy, but Paul is also reminding us that we should always have joy! THEN, just to make sure you remember, he says it again! REJOICE! Have joy again! Keep having joy because we are overflowing with it!
Number 4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” (James 1:2-3, NIV).
OH, MAN! This one hits me right in the feels! James is saying we should not only have joy but pure joy whenever we face trials! To be pure is to be clean, to be without fault. How can we possibly have joy when we are having a hard time? Well, James answers that question with this verse. Trials test our faith. Think of it like a muscle. You work out or go for a job and strain a muscle. It hurts for a while but the strain on it makes it stronger. We have to be tested and pulled in order to grow in our relationship with Christ. The tests we are put under produce perseverance. That’s a big word. The definition is persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. In other words, our faith is being tested so that we continue to look to God for answers.
You are in control of your joy. Your joy cannot come from worldly things because worldly things only bring pleasure and temporary happiness. Write these verses and remember them always. Remind yourself that even in the lowest lows, you have joy in Christ.
This week in creation corner:
I realized I don’t think I had this section last week so I will tell you what I did last week too! Last week I spent a lot of time working on my boyfriend’s birthday gift. It’s…. taking a long time to get done! (Nice try babe, I’m not telling the internet what it is yet). I can’t really say much about it because well that defeats the purpose of it being a present. Gotta be a secret. Anyway, he knows it’s a crafting thing and that’s about it. This week I worked on my pen pal letters and envelopes. I only had a couple letters to write but I also had worked this week, so I found it difficult to let get those letters done and decorated and write this blog and all the other stuff I needed to do. But I managed even though all the things are out much later than I anticipated they would be out.
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