(Note: this page is intended for Christians; if you are not a Christian you are free to read but this page is not intended for you)
Psalm 16:11
“...in your presence there is fullness of joy;…”
Joy is a very beautiful thing that makes everything perfect in our lives. Joy is a strong felling of happiness, excitement, and pleasure all in one wonderful emotion! [1] Usually when we experience joy we have heard, seen, or are doing something that we really are excited about/love to see happening. Most of the time joy is caused by hearing good news, an exciting/relaxing trip, receiving a great gift, or doing something you really love to do.
While joy is one of the greatest feelings you will ever experience, sadly, it usually does not last too long:
Because as soon as we get back to our daily lives/ get use to something, that joy usually goes away, and life returns to normal.
If only joy could last forever no matter what the circumstances, we are going through.
While for many people joy is a special feeling felt only once in a while by one particular event, the case is entirely different for Christians. Since we know God, have his holy spirit within us, and know his ultimate plan is for our good in the end, it is possible to always have joy in our lives: even if we are going through hard trials that should make us give up and cry.
Even knowing the fact alone that there is a God that created and rules the entire universe and wants what's best for you should cause you to have joy:
As David said in a song to God
Psalm 16:11
“...in you…there is…joy;…”
Not only that, but knowing the good news of the gospel for us all should make you have even more joy:
As an angel said about the gospel
Luke 2:8-20
“... good news that will cause great joy…”
Also, because we know God is always for us and will protect us and therefore, we will never be defeated so we can always be glad and joyful.
Psalm 16:8-9
“...Because he is at my right hand (he is right beside me), I will not be shaken (defeated). Therefore…my whole being rejoices;…”
So just by being a Christian and knowing the basic things about God and the Bible can (and should) cause you to feel joy!
But there is something very important about joy that all Christians must know:
Joy is a fruit of the spirit: which are specific traits that Jesus/God desire all humans to have (especially Christians).
So, considering this, Joy is not just the best feeling ever, but it’s also mandatory to feel as a Christian! Not only is joy one of the most wonderful feelings ever but Jesus/God wants all his followers to experience these wonderful emotions often, and not just to only experience it but to be joyful for very real and good reasons like the ones stated above. But even if you still don’t feel this feeling even after all this then you need to know joy is not an option for only some Christians but not others: Joy is absolutely mandatory (along with all other fruits of the spirit) for Christians to have this means without Joy, we are not fully developed in traits that Jesus/God wants us to have.
If you are a Christian and do not experience joy often, I realize this can make you feel intimidated and maybe even cause you to question if you are really are a Christian/good enough to be Christian. But don’t worry if you don’t feel joy often as a Christian as covered before on the “Fruits of the spirit” like real fruit it may take time to develop these qualities including joy. Also, Jesus himself also says if you keep obeying Jesus/God’s commands and following Jesus, you will eventually begin to feel the holy spirit give you joy and you will begin to produce joy naturally too: and not only that, when you do experience this joy, it will be to the fullest extent you could experience it!
John 15:10-11
“...If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; If you keep my commands, you will remain in…[me]…,…my joy may be in you and…your joy may be complete.”
Romans 15:13
“May…God…fill you with all joy …by the power of the Holy Spirit…”
Because when God is present, there is total and complete joy:
Psalm 16:11
“...in your presence there is fullness of joy;…”
The God of hope because he is our only hope for any bad situation to get better
Romans 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy …by the power of the Holy Spirit…”
Always focus on Jesus/God in your life: and he will protect you from failing this will also cause you to be joyful
Psalm 16:8-9
“I have set the Lord always before me(always trust/hope in The Lord); Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken(be destroyed/defeated). Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;…”
The joy you experience will actually give you strength to press on and continue to do his will!
Nehemiah 8:10
“...the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Why it’s clear that Christians should experience great joy often, What about all the time? Even when we are going through hard times/difficult situations should we still feel joy?
The New Testament reveals that even when Christians are facing hard situations/circumstances they are to look at these hard trials not in depression or hopelessness but to be joyful when they encounter trials:
James 1:2
“...Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds…”
To many this sounds crazy to get joyful because of hard situations/circumstances; it doesn’t make sense to get excited about going through an uncomfortable, terrifying, stressful, and/or painful situation: that is the exact opposite of what situations usually cause joy! But Christians are to look past all this and be joyful by WHY these situations are really happening:
The same verse reveals we are to be joyful because we are to realize by going through these trials our faith in Jesus/God is being tested and is an opportunity to show our loyalty to Jesus/God as well as work on our perseverance; so, in the end, we will be completely mature and not missing nothing in our maturity:
James 1:3
“...Consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials…because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance….so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. …”
So yes! Christians are to have joy even in hard situations/trials that should cause us to feel otherwise: not necessarily just to ignore the possible pain, tragedy, loss, stress, and/or being uncomfortable that you or others might be feeling, but because we realize there is much more to a hard situation than just tragedy and hardship:
it’s also a test for you to prove your faithfulness to God: for this reason, we are to be joyful in hard trials we suffer because if we trust in God no matter what happens through it we will be all the better for it in the end.
Paul and Silas’s response in Acts is a perfect example of how Christians should face hard and painful situations with Joy:
For preaching the gospel, Paul and Silas got in trouble and were accused, verbally attacked by a large crowd, got into legal trouble and had to stand on trial for preaching the gospel, were condemned as guilty and whipped horribly then finally thrown in jail and strapped tightly into a stock:
Acts 16:19-24
“...they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, ‘These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.’ The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer…put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.”
So, there they were imprisoned in jail, (probably for the rest of their lives), condemned as guilty rebels by the rest of the citizens of the city, in pain and probably bleeding and not even free to even walk around being bound in stocks. For many, only one of these horrible situations listed above would be more than enough to ruin someone’s entire day and make them angry/sad and yell, complain or maybe even give up and cry, let alone all of these situations! That would be enough to ruin someone’s entire life (at least for the moment being very badly injured and shocked from the events that just happened). So, you would think after all that Paul and Silas would be angry/sad yelling or crying in pain: Joy and happiness far from their thoughts!
But this is not what happened at all, instead we see after all these horrible and painful things happened to them, they were singing praises to God and praying to him like they were happy!
Acts 16:25
“...Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,…”
This is because with God’s spirit in them they could look past all pain, discomfort, and hatred to see they were being persecuted for doing the right thing and that many people had been saved and healed because of them!
That situation could not steal their Godly Joy! And during trials we need to be exactly like Paul (and Silas) were:
no matter what situation we are going through we can choose with the power of the holy spirit to always be joyful and praise and pray to God, as Paul later commanded the Philippian Christians:
Philippians 4:4
“...Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"
So, if you have problems feeling joy often (not even considering feeling joy in hard situations) don’t worry! keep obeying Jesus/God’s commands and trying to grow and serve his will for your life: God will eventually give you Jesus’s/God’s joy through the power of his holy spirit inside you and them even when the toughest of situations come that would take anyone's joy away you too can sing and praise God through them with joy.
Sources:
[1]
Merriam-Webster “Joy”
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