Got Joy?

God's been creating a joy necklace over the last week.  How sad is it that a lot of us Christians walk around with anxiety, anger, despair, annoyance, sadness.....Myself included.  Not the best witness in the world, huh?  I know we all have problems, things that we struggle with....whether major difficulties, or just a series of minor concerns or inconveniences.  Most of us probably have a especially annoying mix of the two !! LOL

For some reason (hmmm,  the Holy Spirit maybe?), the word JOY has been on my heart for about a week now.  And it seems to keep popping up here and there in readings, and teachings, keeping it forefront in my mind.

I've written about my quest to give up complaining for Lent.  And I am still going with that!  Well, as I was listening to a Joyce Meyer teaching as I exercised the other day she spoke on maintaining our joy.  One of the things we do, according to Joyce (and I can attest to it in my own life) is rehearse and rehash our problems over and over and over.  To ourselves in our own mind, and especially to others....we talk and talk and talk an issue to death....complaining to anyone who will listen about bad circumstances.  This is a joy stealer!!  Joyce had a little saying she made up.  "Pray and say."  Instead of praying about a situation and then going out telling everyone how bad it is, or how we are having such hard time with it, we should be praying and then talking about how God is working in our difficulty, how we trust Him to work things out in the best possible way.  What a great concept! What a way to fan the flames of joy in my heart instead of giving into the anxiety of living by sight only.

I was reading a book by Nancy Mehl called "Unbreakable."  It's set in a the fictional Mennonite town of Kingdom.  The characters practice non-violence.  Some were struggling with this belief in the face violent attacks against their townspeople.  Could they really live out what they say they believed? And this was the second gem on my necklace.  I say I believe that God gives us joy, that its a fruit of the Holy Spirit that lives within me.  I say I am joyful about my salvation and having a relationship with God....but can I live it out in the day to day?  Do I live it out in the day to day?

And then the third jewel came this morning.   During the night, I feel like I awoke a few times with Bible verses about joy in my head....I can't pinpoint them, they are just out of reach, you know, like the shadow of a dream that vanishes with the morning light.  But I woke up with the verse I have been saying aloud upon waking each day....Psalm 118:24 This is the day the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.  I then checked my Daily Bible app on my phone for their verse of the day....John 16:24  You haven't done this before.  Ask, using my name and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.  And you want to know the really strange part....I just looked at it again to get the location of that verse, and it has a completely different verse as today's "verse of the day!"   Although, it's a great verse and kind of fits in here....Matthew 6:33  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.

So not only did God make a necklace of joy for me to wear....it almost feels like He is making one of those charm bracelets for me this year as well.  You know the ones where you get a new charm on special occasions, each representing something special or important in one's life.  On my bracelet is a charm for gratitude (God want's it to be my byword for the year), then came the charm for "NO MORE COMPLAINING".    And now a new one to hang on my bracelet...JOY.   These definitely seem strung together to make a beautiful story of how my life is supposed to look.

Abundant joy.  Overflowing, overfilled.  That is the joy You promise Lord.  And this is the joy I want to show the world.  Joy, being what I operate out of when things are so wrong around me.  Joy that comes from being in Your hands and being Your child.  Lord, help me to live this truth out in each step I take today, and everyday.  Zechariah 4:6 ....it is not by force nor by strength, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies.   Joy is a fruit of Your Spirit.  Galatians 5:22-23  But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives, love JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control...I pray to see evidence, and that others will see evidence of this fruit in my life.   Lord, thank You for this joy.