Why you're happy but not joyful

World Changer,

Joy is not happiness. Happiness is circumstantial. You can go on a roller coaster, jump on a trampoline, have an awesome first date, have one too many beers and be really happy. You can also lose a loved one, get fired, or get hurt because someone said something you didn’t like and lose your happiness.

Joy, as I see it, is an awareness of God’s presence. It’s a part of the fruit of the Spirit. That means the Holy Spirit is a joyful person. He’s not an angry God waiting to whoop your ass because you messed up. Don’t get me wrong he definitely disciplines but even his discipline is out of love and he leads us to correction through kindness. If you’re a believer Joy is in you through the Holy Spirit and you can’t lose it, but you can ignore it and not tap into it.

If you want more joy have more of him. God invites us to eat of him and drink of him. Be carefully because once you get a taste of the joy of the Spirit you might get drunk and addicted. That’s a good thing. Read your Bible and ask God to reveal his heart of joy to you. Worship in the Spirit and ask for him to give you more joy. Encourage people around you and be generous with your gifts.

As a leader every follower wants a joyful person to be around. Over time I realized the main reason people wanted me around wasn’t because of my skills or talents it was because of the energy I brought. I brought the joy energy of the creator of the Universe. They wanted him!

Everyones joy looks different. I’m not asking you to be peewee herman. I’m asking you to up your intake of God’s presence daily. The joy of the Lord is your strength! Let’s get it!

Joyfully Forward

-Justus