In these end times, we live in a joyless world. When we look at what’s going on around us, most of what we see are the manifestations of stress, fear, and anxiety. Many people are so accustomed to living like this that they’ve become desensitized to it; however, we don’t have to tolerate this. God wants to put the joy back in life; we rediscover that joy when we find Jesus.

There’s an enemy loose in this world, and he’s determined to steal every ounce of joy from our lives and replace it with sadness and hopelessness. This is not God’s will for us. Instead of simply existing, God’s plan is to fill our lives with joy to the point of overflowing. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came that we might have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance.

We mustn’t confuse happiness with joy. Happiness is momentary and comes from how we feel, but joy comes from what we know. God gave us Jesus to show us His love and His unearned, undeserved favor toward us. When we absolutely know this in our hearts, it strengthens us against adversity and rescues us from grieving, because the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Joy changes our entire outlook, and makes life worth living; this is what Jesus wants to bring us. If we’ve been born again and have the Holy Spirit living in us, He’s constantly telling us about God’s forgiveness and love.  He reminds us that we’re God’s highly favored children, and that we have supernatural protection against evil. The God of all hope fills us with all joy and peace in believing so that we can abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Peace and joy go together. Jesus is the Prince of Peace; developing a relationship with Him brings us to a place of peace that the world knows nothing about. This is God’s will for us.

Prayer:

Father God, You want the best for us, and that includes the joy that comes from You. No matter how we may feel at the moment, Your joy is always constant. Thank You for the peace and joy Your Son brought. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

John 10:10, AMPC

Nehemiah 8:10

Romans 15:13

Isaiah 9:6

For more on how to be full of joy, click on the link to find the DVD, Mastering Your Emotions with Joy, in our eStore.