Introduction
Joy—it’s something we could all use a little more of, but often we forget about this powerful fruit of the Spirit.
You see, joy is not just a nice feeling to have. It’s a necessity. Nehemiah 8:10 makes it very clear that joy brings you the strength you need in life. We need it to be strong against the trials and difficulties life throws our way.
It’s interesting that the Bible calls joy our strength, not prayer or God’s Word. We know that prayer is vital and we absolutely need to meditate on God’s Word, so why is joy so important when it comes to staying strong?
Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength! Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT)
Think of it this way. When you don’t have joy in your heart, it’s the symptom of a bigger problem. Having no joy is a sign that you have not been growing in your relationship with God. You see, joy is a “fruit” of the Spirit. It grows in you as you grow closer to God.
I know that there are medical conditions that cause depression and anxiety, so I’m not talking about that right now. Take care of your physical and mental health, for sure. At the same time, you need to build your relationship with God. It’s the active participation of your love relationship with God that produces joy, and this joy gives you the strength you need in life.
You can live the joy-filled life God has for you! You can have joy in the midst of the stresses of life by growing your confidence that God’s promises are yours and that He’s always leading you through.
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness and delight; Come before His presence with joyful singing. Psalms 100:1-2 (AMP)
If God tells you to be something, it’s because you have the capacity to be it. In Psalm 100, notice that it doesn’t teach you five steps to becoming joyful. It just says to be it. You have what you need within you to be joyful.
You see, Jesus never leaves you, so neither do His peace or joy. You don’t have to try to work it up. You can just be joyful and peace-filled because it’s in you.
I’m not talking about happiness. Happiness is a fleeting feeling you experience when things go your way. Joy, on the other hand, is a deep, powerful force. It gives you strength in the midst of problems and trials. Sometimes you might lose that giddy, happy feeling when you’re going through stuff, but you never have to lose the force of joy that holds and maintains you.
Joy produces confidence that is transferrable and it results in peace instead of a stressed out existence. It brings peace and comfort in the midst of grief.
This joy is an anchor to your soul. It will reenergize your marriage and will make you attractive in business.
Sometimes joy seems far from reach because of the situations you face in life, but joy is so much deeper than your circumstances. When Paul and Silas were beaten, whipped and then held in the deplorable conditions of a Roman prison, they had joy.
Along about midnight, Paul and Silas were at prayer and singing a robust hymn to God. The other prisoners couldn’t believe their ears. Acts 16:25–26 (MSG)
Their circumstances couldn’t have been much worse; the Romans were nailing Christians to crosses by the hundreds, so there wasn’t much hope. Still, they chose peace and joy in the middle of their dark situation.
How is this possible? They chose joy because they focused on the fact that God was good. They had confidence that God would turn that situation around! They responded with faith-filled worship, and the results were miraculous. The jail shook, doors opened and chains fell off. They went on to impact that city for Jesus because they chose peace and joy instead of stress and hopelessness.
Many believers aren’t living lives of joy. Sometimes this is because they don’t realize they can, but other times something prevents them from experiencing joy. We’re going to cover seven things that can rob you of your joy and we’ll discuss ways to overcome each one.
Weariness
Weariness is more than being tired... it’s what happens when you lose hope.
Let us not grow weary or become discouraged in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give in. Galatians 6:9 (AMP)
Weariness is more than tiredness. You can be physically and even mentally tired after a long day’s work, but weariness is different. It’s the result of losing hope.
You can’t have joy without hope, but the good news is that you can choose to have hope by controlling what you focus on. According to Galatians 6:9, you can also choose not to become weary. It doesn’t say learn how to avoid weariness, it just says do not grow weary, which means it is within your power.
You’ll go through seasons in life when you want to give up. Disappointment has a way of bringing hopelessness and weariness in, but you can choose joy and hope.
Take time to worship God. Spend time in His presence. Meditate on His goodness and how He’s come through for His people. You can overcome weariness by focusing on the fact that God is with you and that He’s given you joy.
This joy gives you strength for your everyday life!
Identity Lies
You are valuable and priceless to God.
You are valuable to God. Actually, you are priceless to Him. He calls you His treasured possession, and His love for you knows no end. This is your identity: you’re a treasured child of God. However, many people believe lies about their identities, and these lies steal their joy.
For you are ... his own special treasure. Deuteronomy 7:6 (NLT)
For example, some fall for the lie that their identities come from what others think of them. They only feel good about themselves when everyone likes them.
Others wrap their identities in their performance. They have to perform well to feel okay. They need to get the top grades or have the best title, and if they don’t, they can’t be happy. Sometimes this turns into perfectionism, which really robs people of joy. If they fail at something, they label themselves a failure—one who is unworthy of God’s love and blessing.
You need to know that your identity isn’t wrapped up in what you’ve done or failed to do. It’s not based on what others think of you, your title or your income. It also isn’t determined by how “good” you are. You may have made mistakes and you may be fighting to overcome a bad habit right now. Your behaviour might be hurting you and the people around you, but your identity hasn’t changed.
If you’ve given your life to Jesus, you’re a child of God, so you’re entitled to every promise and blessing and you have God’s peace and joy.
Sin
Sin causes us to distance ourselves from God, even though He’s never left your side.
Many people think that God created a list of don’ts in the Bible to make us miserable, but it’s quite the opposite. God wants to protect us.
Turn to face God so he can wipe away your sins, pour out showers of blessing to refresh you, and send you the Messiah he prepared for you, namely, Jesus. Acts 3:19–20 (The Message)
When we knowingly go against His warnings and principles, we sin, and this behaviour causes us to distance ourselves from God. It can destroy relationships, finances and the generations to follow. Sin also robs us of joy.
Sin is one of the sneakiest joy thieves. You see, sin can sometimes seem fun at first to those who don’t know better, but it always ends badly.
First, understand that the consequences of sin have nothing to do with your relationship with God. God doesn’t turn from you when you misbehave. You may turn from Him because you feel guilty, but He never abandons you. Faith in Jesus is what makes you right with God, so your behaviour can’t remove that right standing with Him.
However, sin has an extremely destructive ripple effect in your life. It impacts the people around you and it destroys your ability to experience the joy and peace God has for you.
Make the decision today that you will not let ANYTHING get between you and this joy-filled life God has for you. If you’ve been making poor choices, lift your eyes to God. Let His love, acceptance and forgiveness set you free. His power is in you to change and become strong against whatever is tempting you, so you can live free in His joy!
Selfishness
Have you ever noticed how many questions you ask yourself?
One of the worst questions you can ask yourself is, “Am I happy?” Your brain is designed to ask and answer questions. We call it thinking, and we do it all day long. Some questions are good to ask. These questions are bound to have positive answers—questions like, “How much does God love me?” and “What are the things l like about my job?” Other questions lead you down a thought path you don’t want to take.
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than your- selves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. Philippians 2:3–4 (NLT)
Asking yourself if you’re happy usually leads to a negative train of thought. Your brain will instantly begin to list all of the reasons why you’re not happy—your marriage isn’t perfect, you need a newer car, your house is disorganized, you don’t make enough money, and the list goes on.
Questions like these cause a self-focused line of thinking. They keep things all about you, which drives all the joy out of your life because self is never satisfied. There’s never enough money, fame, comfort, approval or pleasure for self.
Don’t allow selfishness to steal your joy. Instead, find better quality questions to ask yourself—questions that lead you to be grateful and to think of others.
Ask, “Who can I help today?” and “Who can I pray for?” If you start down a negative train of thought, switch your focus to helping others. When you do good and share with those in need, God calls it a sacrifice that pleases Him (Hebrews 13:16, NLT), and it also brings you satisfaction.
After all, one of the greatest joys in life is helping others!
A Lack of Purpose
God wants you to go after all your goals... but dream bigger than yourself!
You are...God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you— from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. 1 Peter 2:9–10 (MSG)
God doesn’t have a problem with you succeeding in life. You can go after a big dream, but if the biggest goal in your life doesn’t extend beyond you, it will steal your joy.
You were designed to live with a big sense of purpose. Without this big picture in mind, you can get lost in the details of your everyday needs and wants in life. This is no way to live because you miss out on the joy that’s found in serving Jesus and in helping others!
I’m not saying that it’s wrong to have goals for personal success. Dream big and achieve great things, but you also need to have goals that extend beyond you. What about having a goal to bring someone with you to church?
Consider getting involved in your local church—I know you’ll enjoy it so much more. If you don’t get involved in your church, you’ll just end up critiquing everyone else’s contributions, and there’s no joy in that. You’ll just be backseat driving. When you roll up your sleeves to help, you get to experience the excitement of seeing people’s lives change!
What about having a goal to work with Holy Spirit in your everyday interactions with people? Start each day asking Him who you can help, and look for people to encourage throughout your day.
Living with purpose is exciting! You were created to be God’s instrument—to do His work and speak out for Him (1 Peter 2:9). Decide today to be a part of something bigger than you—something that is impacting the world for Jesus.
Fear
Fear often attaches itself to something legitimate.
While some people have irrational fears and phobias, most fears have at least one foot in reality. For example, the fear of running out of money before the end of the month stems from a legitimate concern. However, that fear doesn’t have to overtake you, stealing all your joy.
When fear takes over, all your thoughts become consumed with what you fear. You might imagine losing your business or your home and play out what people will say and what they’ll think of you.
Being short on money at the end of the month is a problem, and it’s not going to go away if you just ignore it. However, allowing fear to take over only causes you to live in anxiety and worry. It doesn’t fix anything.
Fear never solves anything. It steals your joy, which is what gives you strength in life according to Nehemiah 8:10. It also drains your energy and it prevents you from thinking creatively.
Don’t allow fear to get rooted in your heart. Remember: stress is just a new word the enemy is using to try to trick an entire generation into accepting anxiety and fear in their lives. Don’t fall for it! Fight fear by growing its opposite—faith—and you’ll get your joy back.
I tell you not to worry about everyday life ... Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Matthew 6:25-27 (NLT)
Faith is the key to overcoming anything the world throws at you, according to 1 John 5:4. Study God’s Word. Believe that you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength (Philippians 4:13) and that through faith and hard work, your situation will turn around!
Familiarity
Joy leaves when something special starts to become familiar.
The last joy thief to mention is called familiarity. You see joy leaves when what was once precious becomes common. You no longer enjoy something when you stop being grateful for it. It stops being special to you, even if you once were very excited about it.
For example, you may have spent two years pursuing that man or woman of your dreams, but if you lose your appreciation for your spouse one year into marriage, you’ll stop enjoying the relationship. You will no longer see that person as a special someone to be cherished.
Familiarity is something you allow in. If you’ve stopped cherishing someone or something, you can’t blame that on a few problems. Of course, there are extreme examples when it isn’t safe to continue a relationship. But generally speaking, you choose to stop valuing a person, job, house, church or whatever the case may be. And when you stop valuing something, you lose all enjoyment of it. You lose your joy.
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (NLT)
Don’t let what was once very special to you become common. Don’t hang around people who treat the things you value as insignificant—people who devalue marriage or church for example. Make the decision today that you will not become overly familiar with what you love, and you will live this life of joy that Jesus has made possible for you!
Joy is Yours
God wants you to live a joy-filled life; it’s one of the rewards Jesus gained for you.
Joy is one of the perks of being in God’s family—the family you became a member of when you began a relationship with Jesus.
That being said, I can think of many Christians who don’t cultivate the joy He provides for their lives. They aren’t living it, and part of the reason is because they’re waiting for it to drop from heaven. Meanwhile, joy is within them!
Joy is in you because Holy Spirit is in you. How- ever, you have to choose it.
Of course, we need to believe God loves us to experience this love and joy. What you don’t believe, you don’t experience. For example, my wife could say, “I love you,” a million times, but if I don’t believe it, I won’t experience it. I might think she just married me for my body, which usually gets people laughing when I say it! But if I truly believe that, she might as well have, because I won’t experience one ounce of her love.
The same is true with God. You need to believe God loves you—yes, you! He loves you completely, immeasurably and unconditionally, and even catching a glimpse of the extent of His love makes your heart jump with joy!
For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17 (NKJV)
Study scriptures about God’s love and make them personal. For example, read Romans 8:37 and say, “I am more than a conqueror through Him who loved ME.” And as you meditate on God’s love for you, you will cultivate the incredible joy that comes from being in His presence (Psalm 16:11).
