Joy can be hard to find. Do you compare yourself to your friend who seems happy all the time?
Have you asked, “Why am I not happy?! I’m a Christian! Where’s the joy?”
Well, my friends, join the “struggling for joy” crowd. We all have our days, weeks, months, and years when joy seems unattainable.
The other day, a good friend was telling me how the Lord whispered in her ear, “Be lighthearted.”
Her advice from the Lord spoke to me too because it had been a week of doubt and discouragement. Joy had been hiding in the shadows, and the slimy deceiver had been working overtime in my brain, even though I know better than to listen. But there’s always a little truth mixed in with the lie that makes his whispers so hard to ignore.
Indulging in Discouragement
I know better than to entertain these thoughts, but I also know I shouldn’t eat a whole bag of potato chips, so like Eve I was tempted. My temptation wasn’t to eat an apple or a bag of sour cream and onion chips (because we didn’t have one in the pantry). My temptation was to indulge in discouragement. Discouragement is dangerous.
That’s why God told Joshua not to get discouraged! It takes away our drive, our hope, our energy, our purpose. Discouragement makes us want to quit. But we’re not going to let it!
The truth is, just because I don’t feel good about today, and discouragement may be threatening my resolve, and joy may seem so far away, tomorrow will bring new mercies.
“For your mercies are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:23 NIV)
New help.
Fresh hope.
Renewed perspective.
Recalculating For Joy
If you’ve been wondering why you feel so unhappy, it’s time to recalculate.
Sometimes I just need sleep.
Sometimes I need to recover from fighting a cold.
And sometimes I just need a new perspective like what I find when I go for a walk, or sit at the ocean, or call a friend. I always feel better when I know I’m not the only one fighting negative thoughts–the struggle is real my friends.
I counsel others that when the struggle is great, the enemy is worried and doing all he can to shut us down. We’re onto him. We know his tactics. They’re getting old, amen?
Redefine Joy
Part of the joy-less issue is we haven’t used Scripture to define it. Instead, we’ve used Webster. We’ve defined joy as happiness. But it’s so much more.
On his website, Word from the Word, Dr. Dan Hayden writes:
The key to our understanding the joy of the Lord, however, is to observe carefully the specific joy our Lord had in mind in His prayer. When Jesus prayed, He said, “that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (v. 13). There it is. Do you see it? He does not have our joy (in the sense of what pleases us) in mind at all. Rather, He is thinking of His own joy brought to completion (fulfilled) in our Christian lives.
The joy Dr. Hayden writes about comes from eternal perspective, eternal purpose, eyes that see beyond today and run for the glory of God. Hearts who rejoice because they have a Savior.
Rick Warren’s defines joy this way:
Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.
Choose to Worship to Find Joy
After my sister’s death, I wondered if I’d ever laugh again. The grief ache was great. It simply would not let go until the day I chose to raise my hands and dance to God, to trust His goodness even in her death, and choose to be joyful in Him, not my unhappy circumstances.
That’s when the supernatural joy came.
In a post I wrote about the possibility of finding joy in all circumstances I wrote:
Only the Spirit of Jesus can take me to places of joy and thanksgiving when circumstances fog my vision and life is less than pleasant. The practice of thanksgiving, even the desperate prayer to find something to be thankful for is a portal for His Holy Spirit to enter a despairing heart.
Paul continued to write, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire: do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil” (Thessalonians 5:19).
These too are keys to joy and thankfulness. Hold on to the good. When things are bad all around me, when my heart despairs with sorrow, when life is just plain and ordinary, I have to hold on to the good. God is good.
Satan’s Tactic
Satan’s number one tactic is to give us reason to doubt God’s goodness. When we are discouraged we are either mad at God or ourselves.
Rather than being upset about being discouraged, See it as a sign you must be doing something the enemy doesn’t like. He must be threatened by the Jesus in you. He’s threatened by your prayers for others and the gifts and talents you are using for the Kingdom.
Oh, for eyes to see with eternal perspective. To see all we do for God through His economy — not with the world’s vision.
Prayer For Joy
I’m praying for you.
“Father, you know how hard it can be down here on this planet. You know all the ways the slimy serpent tempts us not to trust you. Help the ones reading this article to experience joy again. Whatever is getting them down today — grief, discouragement, or worry, I pray you will give them the grace they need to go for a walk. Help them see your tangible goodness and all of the blessings around them. Empower them to experience the joy of your presence and new mercies every morning. Make us deaf to the enemy’s lies. Keep us in your truth, and fill us with your joy — the everlasting kind. We pray this in Jesus’s powerful name. Amen.”
Other articles on joy:
Choosing Joy For the Holiday Season
Andy, thank you for encouragement to choose the joy God offers.