The joy of the Lord is our strength!

What if it’s difficult to muster up any joy at all due to the horrible circumstances you may be facing?

Joy is both a gift of God as well as a response to the gifts of God. We all can become easily distracted and ungrateful for the gift of the Lord’s presence in our lives. However, it’s a choice! The reality is it’s impossible to be both grateful and ungrateful at the same time. If we choose to be ungrateful, and a complainer, and negative all the time, then it’s impossible for the joy of the Lord to shine through us. Regardless of circumstances that we’d prefer were different, we can and should be over-the-top grateful that the Creator of the universe is living within us to both comfort and guide us through every storm that comes our way.

Paul wrote the following from prison in Philippians 4:4-8, “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

It’s up to us to discipline our thought life! The consequences of paying attention to what & how we think are played out in what we say, and how we act, and ultimately what our character is.

Try choosing joy next time you’re tempted to fall into the ‘woe is me’ trap as you challenge the Lord to come through for you by experiencing His strength, and ultimately His joy.