Obtaining and Keeping Joy!
We are truly blessed! We have excelled in technology, finances, education, and leisure yet many still struggle with finding lasting joy. This is equally true among Christians who are often so serious, stressed, embittered, overwhelmed, and judgmental. How can this be for followers of the Creator of grace, mercy, and peace? Of all people, believers should be the most free, alive and interesting! We are to have life and life more abundantly!
Realize that joy is not optional for the believer.The Fruits of the Spirit are not optional. We cannot pick joy and pass on patience. Or excel in gentleness but duck self-control. All of the fruits should follow every believer. "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." This applies to joy as well! Happiness is our choice! Joy cannot be taken from us... it can only be given away by us! As believers, we have no alternative but to allow joy to captivate our being!
Learn to enjoy and celebrate the little things.God's blessings are not just evident in big events but in every facet of our lives. The fact that God notices even the smallest aspects of our day speaks all the more of His great heart for us. Each second, we should take notice of God's fingerprints and celebrate Him!
Make Laughter non-negotiable in your life.Fun and laughter need to be a high value for our lives each week. Most people don't create avenues for fun each week. We are just too busy! What is the one thing that you do each week just for fun and refreshing?
We must stop taking things so serious all the time! Most of the time, when something happens, it really isn't the end of the world. In one week, it will not even matter to us. We also need to laugh more! Have fun, and don't worry so much about what others think.
Learn to Dream Again and Live with Passion"Be joyful in hope!" God's best is truly yet to come! We should never give up hope that God's brightest day is next! With this in mind, we need to purpose in creating space to accomplish what God has created us to do. And in doing so, we will fulfill His passions for our lives.
Learn to delight yourself in God and His worldObedience is the only formula to producing genuine joy. As we obey God's plans, principles, and purposes, we find true fulfillment. Any other way leads to shallow and hollow substitutes. A life of obedience doesn't cycle from highs to low crashes but rather from better to best as we allow God to change us from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 17-18).
See life as eternal and learn to trust God moreRomans 5:3, 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, 2 Corinthians 6:4-10, Matthew 6:25, Philippians 4
Rick Warren explains it this way,
Remember your Future Joy"Life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body--but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal.
God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
All of us go through struggles in our lives, but we should not let these circumstances suck the joy out of our lives! Through these events, we must remember to trust God."
God's great mercy has given us an existence of living hope! He accomplished this through the death and resurrection of Jesus. As a result, we are now born into His inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade since it is shielded by God in heaven and will be revealed at just the perfect time.
Therefore, we should rejoice greatly even though we suffer at times. This faith will be rewarded greater than gold resulting in praise, glory and honor towards Jesus!
This is why we love Him even though we have not seen him and continue to trust him with laughter and singing! We have been filled with His inexpressible and glorious joy and are receiving the goal of our faith - the salvation of our souls.
We know that we will also see the Holy City that was prepared as beautiful as a bride dresses for her husband. This new Jerusalem will be God's dwelling place with us. There He will wipe away our tears and remove death, mourning, crying and pain. This will never change! Everyone who overcomes this life will inherit all this and He will be our God and we will be His children.