What Brings You Joy?

What Brings You Joy?
26 May 2016 By InSpiritual Power & Freedom
1 Comment

What brings you joy?  Do you even have time to sit down and think about it?  Our days are filled with all the things we have to do in order to be responsible adults, but when do you get to take the time to just do the things (at least one of the things) that brings you joy?

There are some things or moments that happened during the course of time that make us smile and make us happy in that moment, but when that moment passes haven’t you noticed that the “happy” feeling is gone too?  I know right!  But I’m not talking about that.  I’m talking about “joy”.  I’m talking about the feeling of peace, comfort & security that we derive from something that remains no matter the circumstances around us – even in a storm!

If you look up the definition of the word “joy” in the dictionary (a feeling of great pleasure & happiness), you will find as I did that joy and its synonyms ( delight, great pleasure, joyfulness, jubilation, triumph, exultation, rejoicing, happiness, gladness, glee, exhilaration, exuberance, elation, euphoria, bliss, ecstasy, rapture) take happiness to a level that doesn’t even seem possible!

What could bring me that type of joy – The kind that would sustain itself even in the worst of times?  What would I be able to do that would bring so much joy that it would elevate my life above everything else?  Having my children and being a mother was the only thing that even came close for me. But what would happen if something bad happened to one of my kids – would the joy disappear?  Would that mean that I would never experience joy again?  Well, something bad did happen to one of my children – she died as a baby!  So, where does that leave me?  I have three other children but her death tore my heart right out of my chest!  I thought my life was over but I found and learned something that restored my joy!  And actually it was inside of me all the time but I had to plug into God to uncover it.

The daily life grind that we put ourselves in fills our days with so much stuff & drama that we lose our desire and our will to even search for joy.  Then is seems so far off that it isn’t even worth looking for anymore.  So we settle for any “happy” moment we can get as a sad replacement.  Let’s see if we can change that!

Depending on the Bible translation, the words “happy” or “happiness” appear close to 30 times, but the words “joy” & “rejoice” appear at least 300 times!  Wow! Now do you see where am I going with this? The bible makes it clear which one is more important!  So let’s make this happen!

What Brings U Joy?The word ”joy” comes from the Greek root word “chara” and means “to be exceedingly glad”.   In James 1:2-4 – 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  Now as crazy as it sounds, this scripture is telling us to even be joyful when our lives are under attack because when you are connected to God & you believe what His word says, you will go through whatever you must because you know it will make you better & stronger.  Now, just like you, I would rather not go through any attack but we know that as long as Satan is around that will not be the case so we might as well get over that as quickly as possible & get our heads back in the game!  The Bible tells us that in John 10:10 – 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  Wow look at God!  Won’t He do it?  Yes, He will!  Jesus is our trump card & the best equalizer!  Remember Denzel Washington’s character in the “Equalizer” movie?  If you haven’t seen the movie you should.  OK I’m moving on.

As you can now see that ‘joy’ is a divine contentment that comes from being connected to God, His love for you, your faith in Him & what He tells us.  There is a great example of this in the Bible.  Let’s check out Paul in the book of Philippians.  Here we see the difference between “joy” and “happiness”.

Paul wrote this book of the bible while sitting in a Roman prison.  Now you know how bad prisons are in this day & time, but can you imagine how they were with no running water or plumbing?  Rats, mice, roaches & bugs everywhere – and can you imagine the smells in that place?  In addition to all of that, remember, Romans were killing Christians at that very same time in history.  So Paul knew that they were probably gonna kill him too.  But Paul chose to look at his situation very differently.  The words “joy’, ‘rejoice’ & “joyful” appears at least 16 times in the book of Philippians as he tells us of his contentment in Jesus.  Even in chains, he chose to talk and write about his love, faith, and trust in Jesus!  This helped him transcend his situation!

What Brings U Joy?In Philippians1:12-24 Paul talks about having been in prison for two years by that time, & in that time, he was able to spread the gospel of Christ to the entire Roman guard, which led to the gospel being talked about & spread throughout all of Rome!  In spite of being in a horrible situation, Paul saw an opportunity to complete another assignment!  He understood & knew that thousands of lives could be saved if he completed this assignment & because he chose to accept it they were.  Praise God!  When you are in a horrible situation are you thinking of a way to help someone else while in it or are you only thinking of yourself & how you can get YOU out of it?

All of us will have to press through hard situations, I know I have, but how you press through will determine the level victory that you get!  I have had to bury my baby & both parents, see one of my sons shot more than one time, while the other son (adopted) was abused, deal with various racial prejudices because we are not white & I have also had to live with the results of the many mistakes I have made in my own life thinking I was grown & knew some stuff that I really didn’t even have a clue about.  But let me tell you this – You may not be where you want to be but as long as you are breathing you have another chance to “count it all joy”.  That’s a song just in case you were wondering.  Seriously, it is all good in God!  It really is!  I am living proof of that.   The stories I could tell you!

Remember, a good attitude determines your altitude.  Because this hard situation is temporary and it will pass!  I have taken not one loss in God, not one!  The death of my daughter & my parents were not a loss – they did what they came to earth to do & I will see them again.  I live every day of my life to make them proud!  What about you?  Are you completing the job you came to earth to do or have you let Satan stop you will his many attacks?  If you answered “yes’ to that question – today is the day you can change that.  Ask God to help you, He is waiting on your call.

Now that you know that true joy comes from God & our connection to Him (don’t you want some) , I’ll ask you again  – what brings you joy?

One Comment

  • Clarence D. Sellers Jr

    June 2, 2016 at 9:53 pm

    This has been a very enjoyable read for myself and informative to me also. Even what I’m going through right now, I have to count it all joy because if I don’t I will be full of fear and doubt. Thank you for continuing to help and encourage us(me).