Joy

In the summer of 2019, I found myself using a certain word when I ran into people and they asked me how I was doing.  They would say, "How are you doing?"  And I would say, "I'm content."  I couldn't figure out where the word came from or why I would say it; then, I dived into Scripture.  I started to learn a lot about the difference between happiness and contentment.  And that quickly turned to the subject of joy and how joy differs from happiness.  Years later, I still live by what I learned that summer and wanted to share with you what the Holy Spirit put on my heart all those years ago - about joy versus happiness, how to gain joy, and how to keep it when you have it.

By definition, happiness is a state of pleasure or satisfaction.  Happiness can be deceptive because it is often based on want instead of need, usually fluctuating based on what we are experiencing in that moment.  Joy, on the other hand, is defined as a state of contentment.   As opposed to happiness, joy acknowledges wants but focuses on needs.  Ironically, the Bible mentions joy way more than it mentions happiness.  Nehemiah 8:10 says, "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is our strength."  David declared in Psalm 16:11, "In Your presence there is fullness of joy."  The teacher said in Ecclesiastes 9:7, "Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do."  God wants us to have joy for two reasons: (1.) It makes us acknowledge Him as the Source for our joy, and (2.) it involves us actively choosing to take ownership of our joy rather than waiting for the world supply us with happiness.  In other words, it gives our freedom back to choose to have something that the world is limited to giving us.  This means that we can have joy even when we don't have happiness at that moment.  We can start to see our unhappiness as just a battle to get through as part of a war that we've already won.

Good news and Encouragement:

So, how do we get joy and keep it when we have it?  We get joy by simply choosing it.  You do not have to be happy to choose to have joy.  You choose to have joy by rejoicing in the fact that God has already supplied you on every need and has given you the victory of walking in His Presence.  This is a day that the Lord has made, you can choose to rejoice and be glad in it, regardless of what the world is saying.  You can choose to remain in favor in spite of your frustration.  You can choose to do this despite what is going on at home, despite the politics going on your job, and despite what you experienced growing up.  You may be frustrated, but you are also favored; it is all about what you choose to own.  But how many of us know that keeping something has a different set of instructions that gaining something?

We keep joy in three ways:

(1.) Spending time with God (Psalm 16:11)

(2.) remembering that no trouble lasts forever, and

(3.) remembering that God allows us to go through certain situations for the completion of His will.

So, even in our setbacks, we are being set up - set up for something greater, something stronger, and something far more longstanding than our current struggles.  Because of this, we can count it all joy when we go through bad situations (see James 1:2).  We retain and reclaim our joy in the fact that God has already set up our finish in the midst of the fight.  It is not in process; it is already finished.  We are just working to get to what is already finished on our behalf.  The key to these things is that they all involve the mind.  Keeping joy starts and finishes right in the mind, with us taking control of our thoughts.  When you own your mind, it is at that point that you have taken ownership of your joy.  And when we have learned to take ownership of the joy that God gives us, we can witness it more of it day by day.

By: Minister Micah