Joy
the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation: She felt the joy of seeing her son's success.
a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated: Her prose style is a pure joy.
Joy is the next fruit of the spirit I am looking at. I found it kind of challenging because of all the different meanings of Joy. How do we feel joy in our life with Christ?
First of all look at the first meaning of Joy "the emotion." Something has happened that is good so we feel Joy. I know I struggle with this because I don't always accredite the good things in life to works of God. I always get excited, thank someone else, and completely forget to thank our Lord who made this possible. During this study I have really noticed and made a conscience effort to start thanking God for everything and realizing he is the supplier of all my needs and he provides me with all I need.
"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever." Philippians 4:19-20
The next states "something or someone greatly valued." This to me is easy I am greatly valued, I greatly value God, my Husband, my Mom, my Dad, my family etc. So they bring me great joy! The Lord our God gave his only son for us!! If that does not prove we are greatly valued I don't know what does!! That is amazing to me! But, with that comes great pressure. Since we are greatly valued by God, does everything we do in our life bring him joy? I struggle with sin like everyone does. It is now that I need to look at what I do not only in church but outside of church as well. I need to make a more conscience effort to bring God joy everyday in everything that I do.
"Nehemiah said, 'Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.'" Nehemiah 8:10
I hope all of us can bring Joy in the lives of others and to our Lord dear God!
Have a Blessed Day!!
Remeber to check out Katie's blog and see how Joy is working in her life!
P.S. Next Tuesday I will be on a plane coming home from a nice vacation!! I will be posting my next Fruit of the Spirit study on Thursday!!
I pray that you will not only find joy in all that you do, but I pray you will see the joy that is Jesus. Thanks for this today.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I finally got mine up, better late than never...haha. This puppy business is taking it out of me.