It's a heart thing and it's a little hard to understand. It's called Joy. If you have Jesus in your heart and you love Him in ways you can't describe, then you know what I'm talking about.
Joy is not exactly happiness; there's a difference. Because you're not happy all the time, but you can be joyful every second of every day.
You gain Joy through the small things, like smiling when you don't really feel like it or by being patient and tolerant when you feel like going crazy because everyone around you is being hard to live with. I know what that feels like, I have been there before - SEVERAL times. But, if you wait it out and pray, it will get better "for there may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning" (Ps. 30:5).
So many people don't get the meaning of joy, and therefore don't have it. Maybe that's why the world is the way it is.
Another way you can be joyful (plus the other two, not "besides") is by putting others first. We go to the nursing home every Friday night because Daddy preaches there. And if you try to have a conversation with some of the people there, you can't help but smile.☻ It makes you feel good. And for a while you forget about yourself and all your petty needs. There are people all over the world who don't even have clean water, and yet there are some people in America who can't stand more than 5 min. without their cellphones! And it's not just in other countries, there are more than likely homeless people in your hometown. God isn't calling us to sit around on our rearends and worry about "me", He has called us to witness - to do something about it! (Acts 1:8) I don't mean go out right now and travel to South Africa or even go to the nursing home every Friday night. But you can find out where a homeless shelter (or something) is near you and (because this is something else we do;) find out a good time to take something as simple as a blanket. There are also soup kitchens and..... wait, we were talking about joy - sorry, I got side-tracked.
Although, all this talk about others did remind me that JOY has an acronym:
Jesus
Others
Yourself
Did you notice the order it comes in? Jesus, others, yourself. That looks like it would involve humility. Not only do you have to be humble before the King of kings, but also before people you might not like. Wow! that sounds hard. But, thankfully, Joy has another attribute as stated in Nehemiah 8:10 "For the joy of the Lord is my strength." If you have joy you shouldn't have to worry about whether or not you can do something, it gives you strength and resolve. Funny how some things work hand in hand.
And Joy isn't something you can just skip over as a follower of Christ. It just happens to be the second Fruit of the Spirit.
I'm glad we have already discussed Love. Because in order to have Joy you must first have Love, or you couldn't go out and help the helpless. You have to have love to have joy. Just like you have to have Joy to have Peace and Peace to have Patience, Patience to have Kindness = Goodness = Faithfulness = Gentleness = Self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). They're all tied together and "the greatest of these is love"(1 Cor. 13:13) The second greatest is obviously Joy.
Now I have another question, how are you fighting this battle? Because I'm pretty sure that when the Devil tries to tempts you, nothing ticks him off more than when you smile in his face and run into the arms of Christ!
"You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is the fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
Psalm 16:11
Melon Semper,
Ava Brown
