Unleashing Joy
Have you ever looked for something only to find that it was on your side or in your pocket or purse all the time? I remember my pastor’s wife recalling how she was asking a friend if they had seen her nursing son only to have pointed out to her that the child was on her hip. We may laugh but it is only because we can all too well identify with her at one level or another. We all get caught up in the pull and demands of life not to mention the heartaches and pains that come with this earthly existence. In all the hustle and bustle, pushing and pulling, pain and sorrow we often lose our joy, and we just can’t find it anywhere. I have some good news for you! It is right there besides you. It’s been there all the time. The reality is that Joy is within you or can be in you especially if you have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you. If you are “saved”, “born again” a “believer” in Christ Jesus then the Holy Spirit lives inside you. The Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father to all who believe. He is the comforter, councilor, the one who “was with you but is now in you”.
In the letter to the Church at Galatia, Paul the apostle writes …. the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…. Fruit is the sweet fleshly product of a tree or other plants that contains the seed and can be eaten. Put this in context of what Paul was saying one could come to the conclusion that the sweet, satisfying and edible part of the Spirit is Joy. A couple other things to take notice of…. one, joy is reproducible, in you and in others. Second, Joy comes from within, it is not external or to be confused with happiness. Happiness is tied to happenstance, things that happen to you, good things. Happiness is an important component in our lives but is not what Jesus died to give us. He died to give us “Joy unspeakable”. If the Spirit of God lives within us and joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit then joy is always within us simply because God says that the Holy Spirit in us is the guarantee that we are forever sealed, forever His.
So, how do we unleash all this joy on the inside of us? Saint Paul told Timothy to “stir up the gift that was given to him….” and Saint Peter says in his letter to the Church…. I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken …. I propose that you take some time, just a few minutes each and every day to remember times God has brought you Joy, a moment that you felt his closeness, it could be the birth of child, an unexpected gift, a fulfilled promise, someone lighting up when they saw you enter the room etc. Take a moment to meditate on these things and watch how joy begins to well up and be released from within you. In fact, joy is contagious. Be careful some of those joy seeds might just get planted in someone else's heart.
~ pastor Tim
How can I pray for you?