Joy From Within

Where are we looking for our Joy?  Is it in the holidays, in the presents, in our families, in the material things that surround us daily, or are we seeking our Joy from the Lord?  Do distractions such as cell phones, computers, work, tv, OUR OWN FEELINGS, etc keep us from experiencing the JOY that comes from spending time with the Father.

After 4 days of spending time with my sister this past week I noticed on the day before she was to leave I started to begin to get depressed.  This is the norm for me anytime we get together.  I will ruin the last two days of her visit just being upset that she is going to leave.  I was sharing my situation with my daughter and she reminded me that my Joy has to come from the Lord.  I had become focused on my own feelings of sadness instead of the fact that I had been able to spend time with her.  
  
If our eyes are on the Lord, we will never lack reasons to rejoice but if we lose sight of Him and begin to focus on our feelings or circumstances, our spirits will become sad.  This is exactly what I had been doing.  Focusing on my own feelings.

When asked what kept her so beautiful at 95 years of age, a woman spoke, “I have to say its the Joy of the Lord.”  Thats the key to living a long, healthy, happy life.  Paul instructs believers (emphasis on instructs) in Philippians 4:4 to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice!”  Paul said to rejoice ALWAYS!  

Obviously Gods will is for us to be joyful people. In fact I believe that attitude should be the natural and normal way of life for Christians.  So why do we tend to have unjoyful times in our lives?  Like the situation with my sister, When circumstances were going my way I was happy but when they start to look unfavorable to me I would began to be unhappy.   

But joy is different that happy!  Our joy is not dependent on the things that happen on the outside.  Joy comes from within!  Joy comes from delighting in the Lord.  You will be frustrated as long as you are looking for joy to be filled in your life with anything except the Lord and His goodness.  Spending more time with Him replaces sadness in our lives with joy.  Psalms 5:11 Says “Let all those that put their trust in You rejoice; let them ever sing for joy”.  It is Gods will that we delight in Him.  

Putting our trust in Him puts a song in our heart instead of sadness.  Each day lets choose to live in His promises to us and make the decision to rejoice in Him regardless of our situations.  In time our feelings will begin to follow.  

One last thing, Joy is important in our life in winning the lost to Christ.  The joy of the Lord in our life is His best advertisement.  Others will want what we have.  Christ’s desire for us is that His joy would be in us and that our joy would be full.  John 15:11  A life FULL of the joy of the Lord will be evident to others.  We all know what its like to be around a joyful person.  Makes you want to spend more time with them to see how they are so happy all the time.  What a witness for the Lord a person like that would be.  


I don’t know about you but at 95 years of age I would love to be able to say the key to my long and happy life is the Joy of the Lord and that others could see that joy in me!