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Today's devotional was all about joy, and believe me when I tell you that I struggle with this one a lot. Not because I am not a joyful person, but because I tend to associate joy with circumstances. I forget to put things in perspective. To be joyful doesn't just mean to be happy. Happiness relies on circumstances. When life is good, you are happy. When you are having fun, you are happy. Happiness comes from this world and the things in this world, and it can be wonderful. However, happiness disappears when the good times are gone. It becomes hard to be happy when we face trials and life gets hard. However, joy is a much more intense experience. Joy can live in hard times because joy doesn't depend on good times; it depends on a good God. Joy is being mindful of God's presence in your life. When you realize you are never alone and that God has a perfect plan for you, you can relax and be joyful. Even when times are rough, if we know that God is with us and that everything He does is perfect, then we have no reason to worry.Through every trial, we can have a reason to rejoice because that is God's Word. I am so thankful for the gift of joy and that I can know God is with me always. I pray He allows me to hear his voice in hard times and respond to it with a joyful heart despite the circumstance.
It took me awhile to realize that God's goal isn't to make me happy... it's to make me holy. Sometimes this comes in the form of hard trials. In these times all happiness may seem to be lost, but God is not concerned because He knows that a symptom of a holy life is pure joy. When you understand the purpose of suffering and pain, then joy comes from wanting the same thing that God wants... your holiness. When we see things through God's eyes, we suddenly have no reason to worry, complain, or criticize. Why would we want to find faults with God's ways if we know they are perfect? So when we let God color our perception of the world, joy flows out and we have no room for bitterness. This isn't to say there will be no suffering in your life, but the suffering will be purposeful and it will mean something to you. The suffering won't be to bruise you or break you, but it will be to remake you and build you in God's image. Through the filter of God and through the filter of joy, our pain is used for good and not destruction.
Romans 15:13
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. "