JOY, THE REALITY WE SHOULD BE OPERATING FROM...

We have heard it said that joy is a most powerful spiritual weapon, and it is very true. Yet it seems to me that we Christians don’t seem to grasp this… If the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10), then we should be waging all of our battles from a place of intense positivity and happiness, no?

Most prayer meetings I have attended, during my years as a charismatic, were dramatic, serious, often tearful, waling and pleading kinda warfare moments. I don’t think there is much power in that, and I have many reasons for saying this, but right now I do not want to focus on what we shouldn’t be doing… let’s rather consider our alternatives!

So yes, joy is a weapon, but it is much more than that ! A weapon can be picked up and put down, and is by definition something we only use when needed. The Word, however, tells us that joy can be our reality. There is fullness of joy in the presence of God, It says. (Psalm 16:11). Since we know that walking in union with Christ brings us into Father’s Presence, and since union with Christ is not a now-on-then-off thing, but a permanently-grafted-into-the-vine thing, we should, actually, constantly live in God’s presence and therefore have access to fullness of joy 24/7….

Then why don’t we live in continuous joy?

Because we do not believe it and therefore do not make it our own.

Remember that faith is a choice that we grow into untill it becomes our reality. In the same way, living in fullness of joy starts with a simple faith-based choice, and as we consistently practice that choice, we will grow into living in joy 24/7!

This article was sparked by a comment my mom made this morning (and I am NOT saying this to blow my own horn or to seem as if I have it made 🙈). She said that she was amazed at the level of joy I maintained during all of our trials, and that I am able to turn a dramatic event into something light and funny (the dog vomited all over the sitting room this morning)

I had the lightbulb moment right then and there as I answered her: “Mom, I don’t think it’s by my own doing, I think it’s because I get it in the Presence.”😌

Ask yourself: « Am I living from the Presence, or am I just dwelling in a place of miserable striving and trying to make it work from my own strength? »

Remember that posivity is much more powerful than negativity, and joy is very much more powerful than sadness, not to mention guilt and shame.

I hope that you are going to start, as from today, to choose to live in His Presence, 24/7. Of course it will take time to grow into it, and you are still going to fail miserably some days, but you need only repent and go back and try again. (We don’t do guilt-trips because once it is under the Blood, it is over and done with!😉)

Be blessed and be HAPPY!!😁