Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength! Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT)
As believers, we’re supposed to have the joy of the Lord in us, but it doesn’t always look that way on the outside! Sometimes, if we’ve grown up around legalistic religion, we even view God as overly serious and Christians who are too happy as fake. But if that view were correct, why did God bother to give us a sense of humour or a desire to enjoy life? If life was not meant to be enjoyed, why didn’t God put Adam and Eve in the desert of Eden? He put them in a garden filled with laughter, joy and good things!
A life filled with joy is God’s original desire for us. We need to make sure our belief system is based on what God’s Word actually says!
The truth is, we do have the joy of the Lord in us, but to experience that deep, unquenchable joy, we need to learn how to cultivate it. We need to renew our minds so we can think, laugh, enjoy and believe, in the midst of whatever we’re facing in life.
God is not some robotic spiritual blob in the sky. He has emotions, and you are made in His image and likeness, so He’s designed you with emotions too! It is still His plan for you to have joy and happiness!
As believers, we are in God’s family. Jesus dwells inside of us and we’re bound for heaven, but He also wants us to enjoy our time here on earth. After all, happiness and joy were designed by God for you to experience deeply in your daily walk with Him!