More Than Happy: The Secret to Joy When Life Hurtsنموونە

Before we go, I want to share one more lie that Satan may whisper in your mind: “Be careful about sharing your joy.”

When you've lost something, you hold it tighter. Sometimes, when we've struggled to find joy, we hoard it. We white-knuckle it, afraid to lose it. Yet, in the Scripture, we're invited to share our joy!

In Matthew 11:19 NIV, we read how the religious leaders criticized Jesus. “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

Jesus obviously enjoyed a party. He enjoyed having fun. While he didn't sin, he was a great person to have at a party. He was a friend of tax collectors and sinners. When Jesus had joy, he often shared it over a meal with food and drink. It wasn't just Jesus by himself hoarding joy!

Paul says in Romans 12:15 NIV, "Rejoice with those who rejoice."I know I’m feeling joy when I want to share it. If I get good news, I want to tell people. When something good happens, I want others to know about it.

So, as you think about living with and sharing joy, here are practices to cooperate with the Spirit in cultivating joy.

First, begin each day by marinating your mind on these five words: “I am beloved by God.”
Before you reach for your phone, seek to satisfy anybody's expectations, or perform anything, you are “beloved by God.” Beloved means “deeply loved, loved in a unique way, loved like nothing else.” God’s love for you is never achieved; it can only be received.

Second, give thanks for what you have, even if your heart is broken over what you don't. Earlier, Dave told us about holding both joy and pain at that game with his dad. His heart broke at the thought of not watching games with his dad again, but he was grateful for the game they were sharing.

Third, pray conversationally throughout your day. When something painful happened to me recently, I literally said, "God, you're killing me right now!" That's how I felt. I just cried out to him. He didn't undo the bad news, but He gave me what I needed to walk through that day and the next day.

Fourth, embrace joy even as it interrupts, surprises, or leaves you longing for more. Joy doesn't show up on a calendar with advanced notice. Some of us are too busy for joy. If God didn't send us a calendar notice in advance, we have no time for it.

When you're going through pain and the Spirit brings the fruit of joy to life in you, a watching world says, "Where did you get that?! How do you have that?" We live in a culture that's obsessed with happiness but is missing out on God’s joy. Read the comment section of any viral post on social media.

God uses joy to redeem our pain and bring others to him. That's why joy has to be shared! God offers us a rich, yet unfinished joy in this life. The fullness of joy awaits us in eternity, but even now, in the midst of whatever you're walking through, the Spirit wants to birth this fruit in you.

God is not interested in fake joy. He offers you and me genuine, transcendent, and shareable joy that points others to the source of all joy - Him!

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