Joy Is A By Product Of His Presence

Please tell me, how are you coping with all that is going on in the world? Everything seems crazy and very unlike it was or we were told it was. It’s almost like the world changed several times over already just in the course of my own lifetime and it makes me feel much older than I really am, which by the way, is not as young as you may think. There is no doubt that we need God (The Father, Son and Holy Ghost) now more than we ever did. How does anyone live, I mean really live, without Christ in these times please? For anyone thinking of doing more than just surviving in these times, Christ is a must. He is the embodiment of all that joy is and makes joy available to all those in whom He is lives a as Lord. So why are sad believers increasing in number? Why are less and less believers able to enjoy the benefits of having Jesus Christ in our lives especially the benefit - joy? We are often so full of bitterness and lacking in joy that we look anything but carriers of Jesus Christ who has come that we may have joy and fullness of it. Can anyone really live, move and have their being in Him and not have joy? Our faith is tied to Jesus Christ and not to our feelings which is more often than not, tied to events around us or our circumstances. Everything around us is on the outside of us and should not determine what happens inside us; if anything, it should be the other way round; it however happens, to the extent that we let it and if it happens often, it is because ‘self’ is our Lord instead of Jesus Christ.

John 15: 11 “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow.”

John 10: 10b “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

A life that has Jesus Christ truly in control cannot help but be joyous. You almost want to ask them if they don’t see the world’s problems or don’t care enough to think deeply about them. Such persons are so annoyingly alive and even more so when they are in the midst of other believers who also ought to be full of joy but are not and often because they are totally yielded to their flesh which is unable to give joy. Such persons are often moody, sad, insecure, and selfish and mean while the joyous believers are yielded to Joy and have no choice but to be joyous and even in the most difficult of circumstances. Joyous believers can cry from pain and yet laugh because it comes from their spirit. They are unable to remain sad or miserable or insecure and selfish because they unwittingly resist the flesh in choosing to yield to Jesus Christ. Though they are not perfect, they permit the one who is filled with joy and permit Him to run their lives so that though they live in this world, they seem to live in another Kingdom and all because they are so connected that they are able to ‘draw down’ from that other Kingdom to live in this world. These ones “acknowledge God in all our ways” or most of it giving Him room to direct their path which may not often seem like the best path but is. They walk this path drawing strength from He who goes before them to make every crooked path straight.

Romans 14: 17 “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

At the end of the day, these are the ones that walk by faith which is really trust. If we must have and enjoy this joy, then we have to trust God enough to allow ourselves to be led by Him who knows the way though we don’t. We must think of ourselves less and Him more. He loves those who desire to please Him. In the world we live in today, everything around us wants to make us think of ourselves and even to the point where we deify ourselves and we freak out when we are not in control; but for Him to be Lord, we have to let go and let Him actually have control. No one can have joy and the fullness thereof working from outside in. Joy flows from the inside out. We have to give The Word permission to alter us from inside and that work eventually begins to show on the outward so that we then exude confidence that people don’t’ understand and often misinterpret. We have to learn to trust Christ if we must enjoy that joy that is inspite of everything going on. The trust, and conversely joy, can only come if we give ourselves to study of the word of God. There is no going round Jesus Christ and the benefits are tremendous. Joy is such important medicine and beauty ingredient that; it is amazing we don’t pay for it but someone did and His name is Jesus Christ. Don’t hide it and don’t let anyone steal yours because the devil is working through them to make you lose it.

1 Peter 1: 8 “You love Him even though you have never seen Him. Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.”