Joy Restored

Nehemiah 8:¹⁰ “…Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”

We are going to start our devotion today with a survey and the question is, what would you say is the easiest thing for you to lose? For me it used to be my keys until I solved the problem by creating a house for my keys. What is the easiest for thing you to lose? For some it is their wig, or earrings, or wristwatch, or wedding ring, or cufflinks and so on. Yet for some other people, the easiest thing for them to lose is their temper or their patience. The truth is one of easiest things for us to lose, if not the easiest thing for us to lose as believers, is our joy. You wake up in the morning fired up, then something happens, and your joy is gone. You spend time with God, and you are fired up to face your day. Then something happens and you begin to dread the day. In this season, by the grace of God, God is going to teach us how to get our joy back.

Interestingly, some people and some circumstances appear to connive and rob us of our joy. It is as if their mission is to trip us and take our joy. Have you met such people? No matter how joyful you are, it is as if they are just looking for you so that they can trip you up. God is going to show us how to handle them because we are going to get our joy back and we are also going to keep it. If every time you see your friend’s spouse or children, they are always unhappy, always sad. What will you think about your friend? The truth is that every time, as children of God, we are not joyful, we give God a bad reputation. Some Christians are just waiting for rapture to happen. They will be surprised that rapture is for the joyful. Every time we look gloomy, we give God a bad reputation. Guess what? Cranky Christians are a bad witness.

Rom.14:¹⁷ “The Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and JOY in the Holy Spirit.” (emphasis added). Every season for a Christian is about the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit brings goodness, peace and joy into our lives. How can your life be filled with tongues and filled with sorrow at the same time? Something is wrong with that. The Holy Spirit brings the Kingdom of God to us and it is represented in goodness [righteousness], in peace, and in joy in the Holy Spirit. Every time you are not joyful, or you are living a life that is not joyful, you are misrepresenting the Kingdom of God.

Listen everyone on earth has problems. In fact, if you hear about other people’s problems, you will dance when you think about your own. But sometimes, like Jeremiah in Lamentations, we lament. Lam. 5:¹⁵ “The JOY of our hearts has ended.” (TLB, emphasis added). Sadly, this is how some of us feel right now. If this is you and you are wondering how do I get my joy back? Congratulations, you are going to get it back this season. The joy of your heart will not end in the Name of Jesus. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, I enthrone You in my life, reign supreme and cause me to overflow with goodness, peace and joy, in Jesus Name. Amen!