How to Fight for your Joy
What is Joy
Joy should not be confused with emotional happiness. Rather joy is deeper. It refers to that sense of satisfaction, delight and pleasure in the knowledge of God. His promises to us, his gifts, and what it means to be loved by him. So that even when our happiness is far from us, we are able to dip into this well of satisfaction and like Job declare that though he slays me yet will I trust Him (Job 13:15). Or declare like the psalmist “whom have I in heaven but you and on earth there is nothing I desire but you. My flesh and my heart may fail but you are the strength of my life and my potion forever.” (Psalm 73:25-26)
This is the essence of the joy of the believer, and this is the joy we must fight for even more now than ever before.
Why should we fight for our joy?
- Because the enemy of our joy is evil. The enemy is unbelief, and the satanic forces behind it, and the sins that come from it. When you decide to fight the forces that try to make you delight in yourself or your accomplishments or your possessions more than in God, you oppose a very evil enemy. Therefore it is a good fight.
- Because we are not left to our own strength in the fight. In other words, when a child of God fights for joy in God, God himself is the one behind that struggle, giving the will and the power to defeat the enemy of joy (Phil. 2:12-13). We are not left to ourselves to sustain the joy of faith. God fights for us and in us.
- Because it is not a struggle to carry a burden, but a struggle to let a burden be carried for us. The life of joy in God is not a burdened life. It is an unburdened life. The fight for joy is the struggle to trust God with the burdens of life. It’s a fight for freedom from worry. It’s a fight for hope and peace and joy, which are all threatened by unbelief and doubt about God’s promises.
- Because, unlike most fights, it does not involve self-exaltation but self-humbling. Most fighting is not good because it is a proud attempt to prove our own strength at someone else’s expense. But the fight for joy is just the opposite. It’s a way of saying that we are weak and desperately need the mercy of God.
- Because by it God is greatly glorified. When we devote ourselves to resist the idolatrous power of every craving, every desire, every pleasure that is not of God, then God is exalted as the superior Treasure of our lives.
How do we fight for our Joy?
Through the knowledge of God
You can’t maintain your joy if you don’t know your God, through our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ and you can’t know him as you should if you don’t study His word. You must be deliberate about studying the word of God. How can you do this?
- Start with a plan of how you are going to spend time with God
- Decide when and where you are going to do it
- Memorize scripture and meditate on scripture during your special time and throughout the day. Memorize verses and paragraphs and chapters and even whole books of the Bible.
When you memorize the Word of God, it’s there directly giving joy to you and (if you speak it) to others, and it’s there indirectly serving your joy by transforming your mind. - Write the word of God and what God says to you in your time with Him.
- Meditate on the word of God. The word meditation in Hebrew means basically to speak or to mutter. When this is done in the heart, it is called musing or meditation. So, meditating on the Word of God day and night means to speak to yourself the Word of God day and night and to speak to yourself about it—to mull it over, to ask questions about it and answer them from the Scripture itself, to ask yourself how this might apply to you and others.
- Listen to the word. If you happen to miss that special time or you are unable to do so right away for whatever reason, listening to the word can be a creative way of engaging with God’s word.
I must emphasize that the times are not going to get better, but we Christians can become better people, even in bad times. We must separate ourselves from that which is false, devote ourselves to that which is true, and continue in our study of the Word of God. Then God can equip us for life and ministry in these difficult days, and we will have the joy of seeing others come to a knowledge of the truth and experience joy in Him.
God bless you as you continue to traverse the difficulties of this life, remembering to rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!
This work is based on the opinion, expertise and/or experiences of the guest writer/blogger. The opinions expressed by the guest writer/blogger and those providing comments are theirs alone. Royalty Press United does not claim to own the rights to any information shared by guests as this is their own intellectual property and it is contributed as such at their own volition.
Don-Rae Wilkinson
Don-Rae is a young minister from the island of Grenada. With a passion for missions, the word and Christian integrity, Don-Rae serves as a full-time minister of the gospel, with formal training in missions and pastoral theology.
