From A Park Bench - Joy

Joy

“Don’t worry, be happy,” are lyrics that my teenage often quotes at me, when he sees me in a state of perplex. He often reminds me that I am the one who is supposed to be overflowing with joy and if the joy of the Lord is my strength, then I need to let joy flood my life.

My spirit is perfect. It’s a part of God. It’s one with God. It has his nature in it. It’s been given the fullness of Christ. The fruit of the spirit is in my spirit. When we walk by the spirit the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, humility, gentleness, self-control starts to permeate into the very core of our being. The more we walk by the spirit the more our natural mind begins to be flooded with and lines up with to spiritual truth.

Joy is something we already have but may not experience. Being dull to our spirit and awake to natural man means that lies and worry, and natural senses dominate over the fruits of the spirit.

One way we can start to release what we already have is to rejoice and give thanks for all God has done. The reason most of us don’t rejoice always, is because we don’t know that we already have been given joy.

We have these fruits regardless of our emotions. Just as a tree produces fruit naturally, because we are rooted and en-grafted into Christ, so naturally God produces the fruit in our spirit.

Outward circumstances may sometimes be against us but inward joy can always be ours because we are united with Christ.

Our joy is in the Lord. We always have joy but we choose to rejoice.  No matter what our circumstances we can always be glad, take pleasure in and enjoy the Lord.