Joy ~ The Second Fruit of the Spirit

Well, Happy Easter!  I know Easter was yesterday, but I did't get a chance to post anything so I'm saying it now.  HE IS RISEN!  

And with that said what a  great way jump into the next installment of my Fruit of the Spirit series - Joy! 

Joy (the sacrifice of praise) – Again, like love, joy can be wrongly thought of as a feeling or emotion. Joy is too often confused with happiness. Happiness is an emotion. If our life is going good we are happy but as soon as bad things happen we are no longer happy. Joy doesn't mean we should trick ourselves into thinking we are always happy even when bad things happen. Sometimes you have a bad day and it is just not in your power to be happy at that moment.

God does not say that life as a Christian is easy. It is filled with troubles. But God does promise us His joy. God's joy is all we need to get through all our hardships.

So if true joy is from God and is not a feeling, where can we find this joy?  We can find this joy in God. When you turn to God He will fill you with His joy. When you are overwhelmed with your life here's a easy way to get your focus fixed properly on God again. Think back to the day God opened your eyes to His truth. What was it like before you knew God? Think of what God did to save you. God sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to save you. All our hardships should dim in comparison to God's great Gift to us and we should be filled with the deepest gratitude for what God has done for us. Your life doesn't seem so bad anymore after you put it in this perspective. 

Also, another way to find Gods joy can be as easy as reading your Bible daily and spending time in prayer. The Bible is full of God's promises and meditating on each one of His promises brings joy to our hearts. 

If you were to make a list of all the things you are thankful for and then compare it to a list of everything in your life that you aren't happy about which list would be longer?  We, as Christians, have so much to be thankful for, and a thankful heart is the first step in finding God's joy.

So, in conclusion, Joy is a choice and as Christians we must choose to have joy. We look beyond our suffering and joy fills our hearts because our eyes our fixed on God and the life to come when we will live forever with God in Heaven.