Unshakeable ,strength giving joy.

Most believers that I have spoken to say there is a difference between happiness and joy. Those good with words will say, “ Happiness comes as a result of happenings”, where else joy is more than just happiness, that is it an abiding gladness on the inside regardless of what is happening around. Let us look at what bible says about this joy, and its role, if I can say  so, in the life of a believer. My greatest desire in life is for us as believers to take this Word that we believe and apply it to our everyday life through God’s principles.

Firstly, Joy is said to be a fruit of the Spirit. A fruit of the Spirit is the expression of the Holy Spirit’s character within and through a believer as a result of continued fellowship and intimacy. No wonder David said of the presence of God, “In your presence, there is FULLNESS of joy.”

Lack of Joy is depression, which the Bible calls the Spirit of Heaviness. I have experienced what it feels like to have heaviness over a person, and have also seen people around me experience that, some worse than others. When in that state, certain things might happen that make you happy for two seconds, but your overall inner mood if I can call it, is deep sadness, accompanied by a sense of hopelessness, where you do not even think it possible for you to come out of whatever you are facing.

 A joyful person on the other hand, may go through things that make him sad or hurt for a moment, but yet he always has that inner sense of hope, that expectation of the sun rising again soon and the knowing that there is light at the end of any tunnel. Joy sparks hope, faith and love within a person and is accompanied by inner peace. It gives you the inner strength and always propels you forward, hence is it said that “The joy of the Lord is our strength”.

I thank God, for He has made the garment of praise ready to clothe His beloved and take off the spirit of heaviness, He has given the oil of joy for mourning. Oil is symbolic of the anointing, the presence of the Holy Spirit in one’s life. As mentioned earlier, joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. There is no bliss that can be compared to time spent with the Holy Spirit, it cannot be replaced. It produces a lasting joy that is unshakable, and it brings inner strength to go through every single day. When days seem gloomy, invest in time spent with God, even when there are no words to say, it is ok, that kneeling down, that presence, brings about a change in the inner man, a building up, an empowerment that will enable you to stand…joyful, ALWAYS.