The Bottom Line, Ministries Christian News, Articles, & Poetry 
‘God will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.’ (Job 8:21)
Sometimes, well, quite often, we find it hard to feel joy. We know we should have it in our hearts, as Christians. We do, after all, have more to be joyful about than anyone else in the world. We have Joy itself…we have Jesus!
But life is hard. It’s difficult even when it is at its best. We never know what is going to come against us, when or where, or how. But we know it is the enemy’s mission to do so. He cannot stand it when we feel joy, or even a little tiny shred of happiness. He hates our smiles and laughter, he hates our love for each other, he totally hates, despises even, our love of God.
But his is not the final authority. God’s is. He sent His only begotten Son to make a difference here on our earth, here in our temporary home. And He has set us apart, equipped us in ways we sometimes do not even recognize, and has provided us with all kinds of reasons to be consumed with joy. There is no reason, none at all, that we cannot move forward through this life as ambassadors of Christ, smiling and spreading that joy to those who have none. It is our responsibility, as born again Christians, to share that joy, to be the example, and to use joy in our influence for the cause of Christ.
For ourselves,personally, when we are burdened, when we are hurting, when we experience loss of loved ones, or illness that may take our lives, we have the perfect answer for our pain. Our Jesus. He brings joy to us just in the knowing of Him. He is the one who brings overflow of love and life. He gave His all, that we may have His all. And His all is all we need, to make us laugh, jump and dance, sing, and love, and celebrate. Jesus is the only reason that we will never, ever, lose all of our joy. Because His joy, and His love, lives within us. Remember, when we become Christians, the Holy Spirit comes into us, and lives and guides, and instills great joy.
So when we are at our lowest point, we can reach down, way down, deep inside of our souls, and we will find that joy, that laughter, those shouts of joy! It is one of His gifts to us. It is pure joy. Trust in Him to keep it alive within you, always!
‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ (Romans 15:13)
Blessings!
Thank you for this reminder, Lili. The devil is on a mission to steal all my joy, He’s working overtime to suck all the happiness out of my life, and replace it with depression. I won’t allow that to happen though! There is too much promises in His words. Thanks for the confirmation. 🙂
The Joy of The Lord is Our Strength! It is what He births in us and makes those positioned in Christ to become the recipients of this unique possession. It is our weapon against the troubles that press upon us. It’s when we chose to pull it out and use it against the enemies of our soul that it works for us. It shows The Lord that we chose to trust Him for the outcome.
Other times just thinking of how The Lord takes care of His own and provides their needs causes us to express this joy by a hearty laughter and tears because we become overwhelmed by such love! 🙂
Absolutely!
I know my joy comes for the Lord. It is unmistakable. There is no other explanation for it. Oddly enough, I sometimes have a hard time reconciling the joy that I have with the (legitimate) sadness I feel about certain things. People don’t see me sad, they see joy – not because I hide the sadness, but because I can’t help being joyful. When they don’t see pain, they may not know just how much the Lord has overcome. It’s hard to be sad, and joyful at the same time….at least its had to show both of those feelings at the same time.
I’m certainly not complaining about having the joy of the Lord. 🙂 I’m just trying to figure out how to show hurting people that they can be joyful too, in spite of their circumstances.