Joy

Imagine your life saturated with unstoppable joy. You wake up every morning with a smile on your face and fall asleep at night with the same smile in place. Nothing can take away the joy you feel.

God wants us to have that kind of intense, unshakable joy. What is this joy? It’s joy as in fun. Joy as in deep happiness. Joy as in belly laughs that reach down to our bones. God isn’t just about our happiness, but he does want us to be happy: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).

But how do we get this joy? Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16:24). We receive joy from the Lord. It’s part of the fruit of his Spirit (see Galatians 5:22 – 23). And it comes from being in his presence (see Psalm 21:6).

God wants us to experience and live in his unshakable joy. True joy from God doesn’t come from living in a bubble, nor does it come from living in ignorance of the world’s pain. It comes from a deep assurance that God is good and is working for good in all things.

God wants us to trust so deeply in him and his good heart and good plans that even the world’s toughest situations don’t shake us because we know that our Daddy is on the job. He wants us to walk through life at peace and rest because we are trusting in him.

Part of the full life God wants for you is for you to be joyful. So when he says, “Cast all your anxiety on [me]” (1 Peter 5:7) and “Do not worry about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34), he’s steering you to him so you can rest in him and find true joy.

God wants you to experience deep joy — not to remove you from the world around you, but to give you the strength to live and to love others in the midst of it. Come to him and take him up on his offer.

Galatians 5:22-23

Taken from NIV The Great Rescue Bible