JOY JOY JOY

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Do you ever find JOY to be elusive?

Here of late I have been sharing time with folks who are finding joy to be as elusive one of those squirrels or rabbits that get loose on the field at a baseball game. They are desperately trying to catch it, but it just seems to stay just out of their reach.

So I want to offer a little help to them and maybe you today by saying that joy is not elusive at all. Joy is right there for the claiming. Really! It is right there in front of you. Actually it is right there IN you.

YEPPER!

It is because joy is not something we have to catch or a circumstantial feeling, rather joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It is produced by Him; a supernatural promise that is deposited into us by Him!

Galatians 5:22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…

You see, I think the trouble is folks get happiness and joy confused.

Happiness IS “circumstantial” it comes and goes as events change.

Team wins = happiness.

Recognition by others = happiness.

Complete a project = happiness.

Yet JOY, real JOY comes from within. Remember, JOY is SUPERNATURAL! It is a SPIRIT THING not a circumstantial thing.

Nehemiah 8:10

…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

And that makes all the difference.

So when you feel joy being elusive, remember it is there ALL THE TIME, welled up inside of you a part of your SPIRIT!

So let it out!

Remember what GOD has done and is doing in your life!

There’s joy!

Remember the great testimony of someone who is dear to you who have found Jesus and salvation!

There’s joy!

Remember the time that you helped or were helped by another.

There’s joy!

Remember that you are no longer dead in sin but alive in Christ!

There’s joy!

There is an old Sunday school song that I sang as a kid that says I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.

Where? Down in my heart to stay!

So, joy is not so elusive after all it is there in our hearts to stay!

Romans 15:13

…May the God of hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

Have a blessed day!

I love you all.

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney