The joy of the Lord is our strength

Tim La Haye says that pessimism is a grave fault.

Indeed it is. Pessimism takes away the gracious emotion of joy that our Creator wants His children to have. It kills hope. Without joy and hope, life becomes meaningless.

I believe that this is the reason why the second trait of the Spirit's fruit is joy.

The world accept joy as fatuous, that is it comes only when the circumstance is good and joy giving. The devil certainly wants to rob us of our joy. Quite simply, when joy is gone, our strength to stand up to him will also be gone.

The Holy Spirit, on the contrary, is a joy giver.

The joy that the Holy Spirit gives is enduring and not limited by circumstance. It bubbles up from the grace of God that is in us, from knowing the blessedness of being in an intimate relationship with our Abba Father. This joy remains even in the midst of tribulation. This is a supernatural joy that is available only from the Holy Spirit's work in our life. This joy comes from being filled by the Holy Spirit.

From this holy joy comes strength. Strength to live for His glory, strength to overcome challenges and grieve..... Nehemiah 8:10b says, "Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

I know this first hand. I lost my joy for a short period recently and I lost my strength. But I thank God that He extended His hand towards me and rescued me. He assured me that as I yield to the Holy Spirit, the joy of the Lord will be my strength. Hallelujah!

In John 15:1-17, our Lord Jesus urges us to remain in Him so that "my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." (v11).

I urge you to ask the Holy Spirit to fill you constantly so that you can remain in Him and receive His joy - indeed, the joy of the Lord is our strength!

God bless.

Steven