Joy

Do you remember the feeling that you felt as a child when your family had been planning a vacation trip to someplace special, and on the morning that you would leave you would wake up sleepily, only to suddenly remember “This is the day!” The feeling of exuberance that you felt just filled you with the feeling of….joy. Well that is exactly the kind of feeling that we should be filled up with all the time. Joy. A fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Joy is defined as a feeling of great happiness or delight, and we should greatly desire to be filled with that type of feeling because of everything that the Lord has done and continues to do for us each day.

Do you know why we die, why our bodies age, grow old, and die? It’s because of sin.

Because of our sins we inherit this death in our bodies, and if those sins are not repented of it will also lead to the damnation of our souls in hell. Our physical bodies we cannot stop from aging, but we do have a way to save our souls, and it is through the mercy and love of the Lord Jesus Christ. When our bodies pass away, if we have accepted the Lord as our Savior, we will receive completely new bodies, ones that will never age or die. We will have bodies that do not feel hurt or harm anymore, but we will be in our new heavenly bodies in the paradise of Heaven. Isn’t that a cause to feel incredible joy? Yes, yes it is. 

Psalms 118:24  This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Every day that the sun rises over the horizon is another gift from the Lord. Day after day after day the Lord has been giving these gifts to the inhabitants of the Earth without fail. The Lord could have destroyed the Earth thousands of years ago, but He didn’t. Why? Because He loves the people of the world so much that He continues to extend His mercy another day, and another day after that, all so that they can have the opportunity to be saved from their sins. Isn’t that a cause to be filled with joy? 

Philippians 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

Every day, rejoice. Every day be filled with joy. Heaven will be a place that is filled with joy and we need to start right now by filling ourselves up with that joy. As the Lord said in Luke 17:21 the Kingdom of God is within you, and we need to be filled up with the joy of God’s kingdom. 

You know, people can be filled up with so much anger and hate towards one another, but that is not the Spirit of the Lord. There were times that the apostle Paul wrote a letter to certain churches warning them to not be filled with strife and contention, but instead to love one another, as Christ loves them. Jesus loves you. Isn’t that a cause for joy?

In Christ

Andrew