Joy of the Lord

Christians are to rejoice always,*Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always
[delight, take pleasure in Him]; again I will say, rejoice!* The problem is
that "joy" seems to be the easiest fruit of the Spirit to lose. There are
many in the body of Christ that are tired of fighting and struggling
through this life because they have lost their joy and some cannot even
remember what joy is, much less understand the "joy of the Lord". The joy
of the Lord is the gladness of heart that comes from knowing God and His
word, and what brings the most joy to the believer, is "forgiveness". The
joy of the Lord may be unable to be explained or accounted for to the one
who does not possess it. But, for the believer in Jesus, the joy of the
Lord comes as we abide in Christ and desire to live in His will for us. How
do we maintain the joy of the Lord? We do it the same way we obtained His
joy in the beginning: First, we love, honor and hunger excitedly for God's
word. Second, we continually walk in repentance. And third, we separate
ourselves from all worldly influences. The people of Nehemiah's time didn't
need to have God's word pushed on them. A hunger had developed among them.
And they were fully prepared to submit to the authority of God's word. We
must understand that "Joy" produces strength. And strength is needed to
fight. *Nehemiah 8:10...this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be
worried, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and your stronghold.”*

Douglas