For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! Ephesians 5:8 (NLT)
We weren’t created to live defeated, monotonous lives. We were designed to walk in love, joy, peace, and every fruit of the Spirit! Although trials will threaten to steal our joy and peace, we have been given the power to resist the enemy and keep expressing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.
Let’s say you’re excited to meet up with friends, but they show up looking emotionless and bored. One of two things happen: either they catch your level of joy, or their emotional state transfers onto you. But you have a choice: you can refuse to live outside of the fruit of the Spirit and refuse to marinate in hopelessness or give in to judgement or gossip. If you want joy, get up and be joyful!
The same goes for peace. Jesus says He gives us His peace. Not the world’s version, but He gives us His steadfast, relentless peace that can still be ours even when life gets messy (John 14:27). But the choice to hold on to it is ours. The decision to give someone else control over whether you walk in peace, gentleness or joy is yours. Don’t let anything or anyone take it—not family members, parents or that problem you’re facing right now.
No one else has the right or the power to pull you out of joy, yank your peace away, or remove your patience and kindness. The more this sinks in, the more you’ll thrive in relationships as you consistently walk in love, grace and kindness.
We were designed to live this God-given life to the fullest. Make the choice today to hang on to what’s yours!