With the recession in full swing all around us our TV and Newspapers are full of bad news and it is very easy to get caught up with it and allow ourselves to feel down about life. This weakens our resolve and it can have an effect of drawing us away from all the Lord’s promises concerning us

In the bible we find that in Nehemiah 8 the people were just as sorrowful and distressed. In this case it was because they realised they had not been keeping the law for many years. However the result was the same. Nehemiah turned to them and encouraged them by saying these words in verse 10

                          The Joy Of The Lord Is Your Strength

Joy is not a feeling it is a state of being. It is a force that brings strength to us and it belongs to God. We must understand that joy is an attribute of God. He possesses joy deep within himself. We have joy as human beings because we are made in His image but the full state of joy as God knows and experiences it only comes when we ask Him into our lives and receive the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

This is so because we read in Galatians 5:22 that joy is a fruit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God and so when he comes to dwell in you he brings with him all that God is and places it in you. You may not feel like a joyful person but that is a lie. If you know Jesus then joy is sown in you by the Spirit of God just like a seed. The only thing though is you have to yield to the Holy Spirit for that joy to grow and develop in you. It is not a one off so that all of a sudden you have overwhelming joy. It is not a feeling. It is a deep thing that has been placed in you and will bring about a spiritual well being that goes beyond any circumstance in life that you are facing. The joy that is in you has that potential but you have to allow it’s power to be all in you that it is capable of being.

So just how powerful is this joy. Well, in Hebrews 12:2 we get a clue because the Word of God tells us that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. That is an amazing thought. The power of joy and the potential to experience the fulness of joy again as He had known it with the Father kept Jesus going and brought Him enough strength to suffer the cross for that.

Also think of this,  Jesus received you and I as a result of the cross and so there is a sense that we are the joy that was set before Him. You are a joy to Him so do not be downhearted

Hebrews 1:9 tells us Jesus was anointed with the oil of gladness(joy). The Holy Spirit carries joy and Jesus received Him in fulness then sent Him to us. This joy is a strength to us and God wants it to come out in us in all it’s fulness. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory and it is within us.

In John 15 Jesus gives us the key to it’s fulness. He tells us to abide in Him and His love and allow Him to abide in us. Then in verse 11 he tells us that if we do this His joy will remain in us and that our joy will be full.

In other words we have to stay constant in God and allow Him and all He is to dwell there. It is not a fleeting thing with God. Joy comes when we rest in Him and let go of our own way of trying to work things out for ourselves. Psalm 16:1 says in His presence is fulness of joy. Now that is abiding

It is one thing to know that you really do have joy within you despite all that is around you but that joy has to come out of you. In John 16:20-22 Jesus compares the breaking forth of joy as like a woman giving birth. When it comes forth from you it is a rejoicing of your heart and Jesus says no one will take it from you. Consider that a moment. There could be all kinds of reasons that life would try to use to bring you down but if instead you allow the deep joy that is already placed in you to come forth at those times then it will totally turn the situation around.

Habbakuk has a wonderful example of this in the well known passage where he describes a situation where nothing is working. There is no food around and nothing to feed the animals but in  verse 18 of chapter 3 he declares

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation”

So in the midst of famine he declares this and then goes on to show what that rejoicing will do in verse 19

“The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like deer’s feet and he will make me walk on His high hills”

So do not fear at this present time let joy come out. Laugh at your circumstance. I read a book recently on laughter and it had a profound statement. It said that laughter helps to liberate the fear free spirit of unconditional joy that rests deep in the heart of man.

Can you imagine that when you laugh it goes beyond a bit of mirth it releases the joy of the Lord within you. Strength comes and enables you to get through all that life throws at you.

Make a decision today that you will develop the joy that is in you and that it will make a lasting difference to your life.