JOY

Last year, God had taught me much through my journey on finding Joy in Living.  At church yesterday, I had a chance to share about this in the worship ministry team devotional time.  In preparing for the devotional, I was able to expand on some of the things I had learned about Joy.

The key verse is Psalm 16:11b  "In Your Presence is fullness of Joy" showing that Joy is directly related to the Presence of God in our lives. But, the question that may be raised is, but since God is always present in our lives, why are we not always JOYFUL?   It is because there are so many things that can rob us of our JOY by obscuring the presence of God in our lives.   So, when we are not JOYFUL, it is not because God is not present (even though it may feel like it, because during times of difficulty and sadness, a common question is "Where are you God?"); the truth is that God is always present, but there is something that is getting in the way of our awareness of His Presence.

Ways that help us to live more joyfully can be categorized into three areas:

1. Walk in the Spirit or Abide in Christ - Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, so we can more effectively bear the fruit of joy when we are walking in the spirit and abiding in Christ, as "branches in the vine".  So, things that can get in the way of walking in the Spirit are the Flesh and things of the World; because they are in constant conflict with the Spirit.   Therefore, sin is a major thief of JOY because it hurts our fellowship with God and cause us, like Adam and Eve after the Fall, to want to hide from the presence of God.  Related to that, if we try to find our joy in anything or anyone other than God, at most it can only offer us temporary happiness which is a poor substitute for true joy that can only be found in Christ
2. Be Still - We need to intentionally seek to be in the presence of God, like in prayer, devotions, or worship.  In the story of Mary and Martha, while Martha was busy running around making preparations, Mary was able to ENJOY the presence of God by sitting at Jesus's feet.   So, even if we are doing good things like serving, if we are too busy that it makes us forget Who we are doing it for or distracts us from spending time in His Presence, this too can "steal" our JOY
3. Give Thanks - Throughout Scripture, Thanksgiving is very much related to JOY.  When we see God's Hand at work, how He has blessed us, the things He has done, we cannot help but offer praise and thanks, which in turn fills us with joy.   Similarly, when we are feeling down, we we start singing praises or giving thanks, it will lift our spirits

Avoid the things that can rob us of JOY and focus on the areas that can help us to live more Joyfully.  And remember that since Joy is related to the presence of God in our lives, that is why we as Christians are able to have JOY no matter what our circumstances because God IS always present.   We truly can "rejoice in the LORD always" no matter what.

19-Jan:  1 John 1 talks about making our JOY complete through fellowship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ; which is another example of JOY being related to the presence of God in our lives.