Our world needs the power of joy
This is our weekly post here at deposition of our faith. Thank you for joining us.
This is Week 18.
(Although you can start from anywhere, we encourage you to read up on previous posts as well as some articles lead into the next one).
Scripture Reading: Habakkuk 3:17–19
Before we begin,
Joy is not happiness. Happiness depends on happenstance. Money can give you happiness. Or, at least, It can give you things that can make you happy. But, because happiness is situational, it only goes as far as circumstances allow it to.
This is not the same thing with joy. Joy is a fruit of the spirit. It is always important to note this because the flesh will try to convince you that it is a state of mind. It is not a state of mind. Your state of mind can be determined by hormones, experience, lifestyle, eating and living habits. There are many people who have genetic makeups that make it easier for them to be sad than happy. However, joy is not reliant on hormones. It is a fruit of spirituality. Nothing spiritual relies on your natural man. In this realm, what is good for the goose is genuinely good for the gander.
And guess what — to make it even more controversial, I’m just going to say that joy is a choice!
Hang on.
Just because I said that joy is a choice doesn’t mean its a light switch! Many people are of the opinion that anything that is a choice is an easy decision to make. That is not the definition of choice, however. Choice, by dictionary definition, is an act of picking between two or more possibilities. As I’ve often said, possibility doesn’t mean “straightforward-ability” or ease. Choice doesn’t connote an action that doesn’t require discipline. Choice simply means, you can make a decision to go one way or the other.
For instance, for most human beings, it is a choice to get in shape. This doesn’t make it easy to do though. It’s just possible.
Joy is a choice — at least, biblically it is.
Although the fig tree shall not blossom,
neither shall fruit be in the vines;
the labour of the olive shall fail,
and the fields shall yield no meat;
the flock shall be cut off from the fold,
and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Habakkuk 3:17–18
I don’t think it gets any worse than this. The things that should be working aren’t working anymore. The harvest has failed. Labour has failed. Livestock (money, a store of value) has failed, herds (property, also a store of value) failed.
Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.
You want to see another one?
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee:
my soul thirsteth for thee,
my flesh longeth for thee
in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
To see thy power and thy glory,
so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Because thy lovingkindness is better than life,
my lips shall praise thee.
Thus will I bless thee while I live:
I will lift up my hands in thy name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness;
and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
Psalm 63:1–5
Do you know when David wrote this particular Psalm? When he was exiled from his kingdom by his own son, Absalom!
One thing that will always help us to make the choice to be joyful is to realise that we haven’t been through the worst things in the world. Many of us, I’m sorry to say, are stuck in self pity. We think that the world is singling us out to punish us relentlessly. However, no matter how much it feels that way, that is seldom the case.
We used to have a proverb when we were young kids. Right now, I don’t remember it verbatim though. The proverb basically says that if people could gather around a table and throw all their troubles and problems upon it, upon the examination of other people’s problems, everybody will pick their own troubles up again and leave.
Why am I hammering on the fruit of joy? The devil knows something that many believers don’t know, even if it has been revealed to us in God’s word.
Hosea 4:6 (my people are suffering, for lack of knowledge. Note that: My People).
What is this thing? Our strength comes from joy.
Nehemiah 8:10 :->The joy of the Lord is my strength.
Our rewards in salvation are drawn out with joy. “With joy shall ye draw waters out of the well of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3).
And guess what,
Proverbs 24:10:-> if your strength faileth in the day of battle, it is because your strength is small.
Devil did the math already. Attack joy, attack strength. Attack strength, cause failure. Cause failure, reduce faith. Reduce faith, cause more failure. More failure, less joy. Less joy, less strength. The cycle continues.
Every attack of the devil is targeted on our joy. If we can pick ourselves up, we can dust ourselves off. However, if we are not joyful; if we are downcast, we will stay down on our own volition.
That is what Jesus refers to as, “to he who has little, even the little he hath would be taken away..”
Now, if Joy is a choice, how does one get to make that choice?
That is the question I expect most believers to ask. We’ve started to see on social media, a “rebellion” so to speak, against people who say, “Be Happy!”. People who prescribe medicine that is the exact thing that the pharmacy doesn’t have. “If I could just ‘be happy’, I wouldn’t come to ask you for help”.
That is also how I’d expect anybody to feel if I ever just said, “Be Joyful”. Although, guess what Paul said in Philippians 4:4? Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice!
However, guess what Paul said in Philippians 4:6–8 :
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
This is how you get to rejoice in the Lord always. You get to rejoice in the Lord always when you are always thinking on the things that are true, just, lovely, and of good report.
Philippians 4:4 is not isolated. There are things that yield joy! And they are everywhere. In every pharmacy, if you could just find these things, then you’d find joy just around the next corner. In fact, joy will find you.
Number one: Are you filled with the Holy Ghost?
Although, Kenneth Hagin has said that joy is a fruit of the spirit man, not just the Holy Spirit, it is still important to be filled with the spirit of Goodness. I want to write about the Holy Spirit more extensively in another exhortation, so I’m not going to dwell too much on the fact that he is our comforter, our helper, and so on.
Just stick with me as I show you why this number one is very important.
Firstly, the Holy Ghost will remind you of the things that God has said concerning you (John 14:26). Now, if you remember that Philippians 4:8, you need to think on things that are just, lovely, of good report, praiseworthy, and virtuous. What is more just, perfect and lovely than God’s Word concerning you?
So we see that the Holy Spirit helps you to think good thoughts!
Now, what you will see from this is that in handling depression and being downcast, one must be very thoughtful.
We also see it in the 63rd psalm that we listed up there.
When I remember thee upon my bed,
and meditate on thee in the night watches.
Because thou hast been my help,
therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
My soul followeth hard after thee:
thy right hand upholdeth me.
But those that seek my soul, to destroy it,
shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall fall by the sword:
they shall be a portion for foxes.
But the king shall rejoice in God;
every one that sweareth by him shall glory:
but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.
— Psalm 63:6–11
Here we see that even “happy-go-lucky” King David also needed to be thoughtful in order to be joyful.
However, many depressed folks will tell you that they are actually thoughtful. In fact, many will swear that they are more thoughtful than joyful people! “Ignorance is bliss”, they’ll say. “The wiser we are, the sadder we become” is another mantra. “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.” They’ll quote! (Eccl 1:8)
However, many depressed people don’t know that they aren’t being thoughtful at all. Many are just always worried. They are always ‘supposedly thinking’, but are not in control of their thoughts. Their thoughts are thinking them!
Thoughtfulness here and worry are two different things. Worry is not being thoughtful. Worry is being bombarded with thoughts. Worry is being lost in thought. Worry is the unproductive antonym to the “thinking” that Paul is referring to here in Philippians 4:8.
Worry is replaying a problem again and again and again without hopes of finding an out. It freezes you in a state of perpetual anxiety. And guess what Philippians 4:6 says? Be anxious for nothing!
This is what worry does to you:
What happens when you zoom in with a microscope on a strand of hair?
It becomes a terrain in the eyes of the lens.
Worry doesnt help you solve problems. In fact, it magnifies them.
So, we have to realise that clarifying this thinking part is so essential.
What are you thinking on? What fills your thoughts each day? Are you waking up to the newspaper and a cup of coffee on the counter everyday, or a scripture and a short prayer? Are you filling your mind with junk that people say, books say, magazines say, the television says? Or are you filling yourself with what God is saying or reminding you of through the help of the Holy Spirit?
Job 22:21–22
Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace:
thereby good shall come unto thee.
Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth,
and lay up his words in thine heart.
The scriptures above lead to:
Job 22:29
When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; (Joy)
and he shall save the humble person.
Need another example of thinking on the promises of God leading to joy?
Jeremiah 15:16
Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
Number 2: Perspective.
This is very important for a child of God to have. Remember when the people laughed Jesus to scorn when he said that the little girl was not dead but was merely asleep? That is what I mean by perspective. Look at the world through heavens eyes, not yours. See good in bad. See light in darkness. The perspective of God when he saw the earth was “Light”. The perspective of the writer who chronicled the events of the Genesis was “The earth was without form, void and dark”.
Remember something wonderful: 12 spies went to spy the land. 10 saw bad, 2 saw good.
The Israelites perished in the wilderness, because all they saw was bad, never any good thing to say.
Remember the scripture I quoted up there, about how those that have little even the little they have will be taken away? Well, that is what happened to this people. They may, to this day wherever they are, think that the world cheated them. They will not realize that they were never going to get anything fortunate out of the world, despite their numerous misfortunes. At least, not with that attitude.
I write fiction and poetry so I like to be dramatic and graphic at times. Just to visualise things in my head. I sometimes Imagine that heaven is not covered in gold, or all these precious things. And that hell is not covered in fire and brimstone and bad smells. However, the key distinctions between heaven dwellers and hell raisers is that heaven dwellers have good perspective. In my little tiny allegorical world, Hell is a place where people just cant seem to see good in. And heaven is a place where people just cant seem to see bad in. DISCLAIMER: I am not saying that this is how it works in reality. I wouldn’t know. I’m merely demonstrating an analogy to buttress a point!
Anyway, back to the point:
We need perspective.
Despite what the world would have you believe, depression is not okay. It’s not “fine”. It drastically reduces the quality of your life. I’m not saying depressed people should be stigmatised or that suffering depression should be a thing of shame. I am saying that depression itself, is not a good thing at all. Faeces doesn’t have to be treated like chocolate cake just because it is a natural waste product. It is still discarded and flushed and treated with a sense of hygiene. I’m sorry if that analogy threw you off, but I needed to do that, sorry! It’s something we need to discard. It is not something that we tolerate because it will destroy us.
Depression is a weapon from hell. Depression is a demonic spirit. If you’re a reader of this blog, you already know that evil spirits are not just malevolent, thoughtless characters with horns, 69 wings and 8 tongues, screaming eerily every time they fly. The things we call evil are also things like the flesh. Things that seem so normal, they just go right over everybody’s head.
Many people overlook a very powerful story in the account of Judas Iscariot. Not only was it greed that made him sell out Jesus, but it was also depression that made him commit suicide. He couldn’t forgive himself.
This leads us to number 3.
Number 3: Forgive yourself.
Matthew 37:3–5.
Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. If it has not set you free, then it is not the truth. If it is the truth, then maybe you haven’t known it yet as you ought — Dr. David o. Oyedepo.
The point of self-forgiveness is very important. Do you know that the only things that matter when it comes to forgiveness is your forgiveness of self, your forgiveness of others and God’s forgiveness of you?
If other people who you may have wronged fail to forgive you, that is not against you in any constitution book of heaven. That is now their own battle to fight.
Many have forgiven others. Many, God has forgiven (all. God has forgiven all.). However, most have, like Judas, failed to forgive themselves.
You’ve made a mistake. Own up to it, and move on. God has moved on from it, why are you still sulking on it? Remember how I told you that all the devil needs to actually do to destroy a believer is to steal their joy? Do you know that even attacks on your faith, are intended to deplete your strength (joy)?
Learn from your failures. If you’ve made a mistake, find closure and move on. How the story started is not as important as how the story ends. Proverbs 24:16 says, A just man falleth 7 times and riseth.
Wrapping up, why do we need this joy?
Simple. Because without joy, we cannot be thankful. Without thoughtfulness, self-forgiveness, a change in perspective, we cannot be thankful for all the good things that God has done. Without thankfulness, we cannot get to Psalm 67:6–7 :
(Then shall the earth yield her increase;
and God, even our own God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us;
and all the ends of the earth shall fear him).
Also, without thoughtfulness and thankfulness, we can’t appreciate the things that are working for us in our lives.
The things we take for granted are the most important things. In fact, the most important things are the things we don’t even think about. The things we think about are the things that are supposed to be used in service of the things we don’t think about at all. Your heart beats for free involuntarily. Your lungs oxygenate blood using gases that your nostrils inhale.
Any of these stop, and they’ll be most noticeable. Yet, we care more about tummy rolls, crooked teeth and knees, and balding heads! This is a nature of our humanity. We undermine the importance of things because we often let those things escape our minds. They are so constant, we just take them for granted.
Many live in houses and are too occupied with anxious thoughts to realize that they could easily be on the street.
Listen to things that people actually say:
I can’t believe I’m going to leave work now, all tired and stumped, and have to talk to my chatty wife and play with my kids till they fall asleep. I hate my life.
I can’t believe I now have to go to the car repair shop and spend a whole day on body work for my car that was bashed in by my knuckle head son. I hate my life.
I can’t believe I have to drive all the way to my wife’s hometown to see her two parents. I hate my life.
It’s easy to see why these people would “hate” what they are doing, but imagine Person A got home and saw his family had been burned to ashes in a house fire.
Imagine Person B lost his son in the accident too.
Imagine Person C didn’t get to see his in-laws safely. Just drove and drove and heard a loud *crash* and met himself at the pearly gates!
Thoughtfulness helps us to check how much we dramatise our problems. Many of us are living our dreams and are too sad to notice it!
Welp. We’ll meet again next week!
God be with you till then.
