Joy, Joy, Joy

We are on to JOY! Is Pentecost still in your heart? It is still in mine and so is the spirit of Joy!

Phil. 4:4 says “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again – Rejoice!” There, it had to be said twice. REJOICE! Where does our joy come from? The Lord!

Surely we don’t need only the Lord for our happiness. Do we not know how to find happiness in our lives without the Lord? Maybe not, we aren’t finding joy in the grocery store, mall or work place…and we won’t find it easily on the internet either unless we are interested in Christian Joy the fashion designer. Well I did find some inspiration regarding Joy today despite that almost failed search.

At the blog Hem of His Garment Bible Study, I find a wonderful piece of scripture from Nehemiah in the Old Testament.

Then [Ezra] told them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet drink, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold. Nehemiah 8:10

So, the joy of the Lord is more than joy itself, or being happy, it is about Him making us strong. That should be very important to us as the second fruit of the Spirit. We need to be filled with love and we need to be strong.

And I couldn’t have said it any better than Sonya Triggs at Urban Christianz Blogspot when she says:

“So, apparently, our joy is not be based on our circumstances, our outlook, our paycheck or our mindset. But on our relationship with Jesus Christ - and our abiding in him. And it can never be taken away or meddled with by man - it is durable, permanent - built rock-solid on Jesus’s gift of atonement to us. And, finally, that joy is found within the Holy Spirit - it shows up and is manifested as a result of His presence within us.”

Have you been confused with the whole joy thing? Did you think you had to be happy for the sake of happiness? Are you relieved that Joy is something we reach on a deeper spiritual level and it has nothing to do with our outward appearance to our friends as Christians?