The Joy of the Body

As Christians we are part of one body, each playing a different role. Being part of this large body should bring us joy but if the body is missing a part a little of the body’s joy is lacking. I know I’m lacking in joy because of my absence from my community. I pray to be returned to my own little community soon. I miss them and their joy as I’m sure my absence takes from their joy.

Being part of a community is necessary for our spiritual as well as our mental and emotional health. I do have a rich online community that I enjoy being part of. They bring me joy as I believe I bring some joy to them as well. I am so thankful for those dear online friends who have allowed me to rant during these frustrating weeks (and you know who you are). While my online communities have been a good substitute during my time in seclusion it doesn’t replace community in the traditional sense, that is being part of the day-to-day lives of friends and family, living life with them.

Remember – you are the joy that someone else needs today. Your joyful presence is necessary for your community to thrive.

Power in Joy

Quotes For a Joyful Attitude

Meditate on these quotes to help you find joy everyday

“Our joy does not have to be based on our circumstances.” ~ Joyce Meyer

 “A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love. She gives most who gives with joy.” ~ Mother Teresa

“Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.” ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.” ~ Pope John Paul II

“When we are powerless to do a thing, it is a great joy that we can come and step inside the ability of Jesus” ~ Corrie ten Boom

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” ~ E E Cummings

“A vital part of the happiness formula is self-discipline. Whoever conquers himself knows deep happiness that fills the heart with joy.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale

[Believers] have joy and comfort—that joy that angels cannot give, and devils cannot take. ~ Christopher Fowler

“Life is a bowl of cherries. Some cherries are rotten while others are good; its your job to throw out the rotten ones and forget about them while you enjoy eating the ones that are good! There are two kinds of people: those who choose to throw out the good cherries and wallow in all the rotten ones, and those who choose to throw out all the rotten ones and savor all the good ones.” ~ C JoyBell C

“You can enjoy anything if you make up your mind to.” ~ Joyce Meyer

“If there is no laughter, Jesus has gone somewhere else. If there is no joy and freedom, it is not a church: it is simply a crowd of melancholy people basking in a religious neurosis. If there is no celebration, there is no real worship.” ~ Steve Brown

“Joy must be one of the pivots of our life. It is the token of a generous personality. Sometimes it is also a mantle that clothes a life of sacrifice and self-giving. A person who has this gift often reaches high summits. He or she is like sun in a community.” ~ Mother Teresa

“There is no joy in the soul that has forgotten what God prizes.” ~ Oswald Chambers

Next Week: Secret formula for happiness

The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength

The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength – by –  Margaret Cagle

When you are sad and feeling blue
And really don’t know what to do,
Open God’s Word, and you can read
Scriptures to give you the strength you need.

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
God’s joy can end depression’s length,
So don’t mope around with a long, sad face
If you have accepted God’s merciful grace.

There’s not a problem that God cannot solve.
In our hearts, we should resolve
To take our problems to Him in prayer,
Give Him the burden, and leave it there.

I know it’s easier said than done,
But was it easy when God gave His own Son
To die for our sins on a cruel tree
To give eternal life to you and me?

If we can trust Him to save our souls,
We can trust Him with problems that take their tolls
And steal our joy that we need to display
To others that we meet along life’s way.

Little Things

How to create your own Joy

Happiness is determined by our thoughts, we must drive off thoughts that depress or discourage. We simply must decide to do it, visualize yourself as filled with joy. I know all too well this is not an easy task but with the help of the Holy Spirit it is possible. We were meant to be over-comers and conquerors (1 John 5:4; Romans 8:37)

Ways to find greater joy:

• Keep your heart free from hate
• Keep your mind free from worry
• Live simply, expect little, give much
• Fill your life with love

Cure for unhappiness

Say out loud “this is the day god had made and I’ll rejoice in it” (Psalm 118:24), better yet, personalize it. Say:

“I believe I’m going to have a wonderful day. I believe I can successfully handle anything life throws at me today. God is with me and he’s going to see me through. I thank God for every good thing and I rejoice in all he’s done for me.”

Attitude Challenge

Memorize one Thought Conditioner each day for forty days.

Books on Joy

Thought Conditioners by Norman Vincent Peale
Choose Joy by Kay Warren
Seven Things That Steal Your Joy: Overcoming the Obstacles to Your Happiness by Joyce Meyer

Verses on joy to meditate on

Rejoice always!   ~  1 Thessalonians 5:16 (ESV)

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.   ~  Proverbs 17:22 (ESV)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.   ~  Romans 15:13 (ESV)

Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!   ~  Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT)

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.   ~  Psalm 30:5b (ESV)

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.   ~  Romans 12:12 (ESV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness   ~  Galatians 5:22 (ESV)

To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.   ~  Isaiah 61:3 (NIV)

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.   ~  Psalm 118:24 (ESV)

May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy     ~  Colossians 1:11 (ESV)

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.   ~  Philippians 4:4 (KJV)

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.   ~  Romans 14:17 (ESV)

You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.   ~  Acts 2:28 (ESV)

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!   ~  Psalm 126:5 (ESV)

Back to: A Joyful Attitude
Next: Quotes for a Joyful Attitude

A Joyful Attitude

When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem,
it was like a dream!
We were filled with laughter,
and we sang for joy.
And the other nations said,
“What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”
Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!
What joy!
Restore our fortunes, Lord,
as streams renew the desert.
Those who plant in tears
will harvest with shouts of joy.
They weep as they go to plant their seed,
but they sing as they return with the harvest.
Psalm 126:1-6 (NIV)

 God and laughter go together. God is joy…the joy of the lord is our strength.

This month we take a look at a Joyful Attitude and we move from attitudes of the mind to attitudes of the heart.

What is joy and what it’s not

We’re not talking about those with a joyful gene like my daughter, you know those annoyingly happy people. And we’re not talking about fake joy, a manufactured joy, those you equally want to smack upside their head (NCIS style). It’s not dependent on what’s going on, what’s happening (as in happy). We are talking about joy that comes from our restored relationship with God, like living a dream (v1). It is not the joy we find apart from God.

Living the Jubilee life is about restoration. We experience deep joy as if it were infused into our very cells. With joy comes laughter and not like laughing at joke, but from an easiness in the heart.

Why are we to be joyful?

The joy of the Lord is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy so that we lose our joy – no joy, no strength. Jesus came to give life in abundance – an abundance of joy that can only be found in him. (John 10:10). Without joy filling our hearts we cannot live and enjoy the life Christ so selflessly and painfully came to give us. Without joy we cannot show others what a life with Christ means for who would want to follow Christ if all his followers are wearing frowns. When we show our joy in the Lord to an unbelieving world even when our own world is falling apart to make them wonder and want.

A Prayer for Joy

Help us to remember Lord, that joy in You give us strength and to joy in all circumstances.

More posts on a joyful attitude

Quotes for a Joyful Attitude
How to create your own Joy

Links to other Attitudes in this series
Introduction to Attitudes

Attitudes of the mind:
A Positive Attitude (negativity)
A Confident Attitude (insecurity)
A Contented Attitude (anxious)
A Patient Attitude (impatient)

Attitudes of the Heart:
A Joyful Attitude (depressed)
A Kind and Caring Attitude (selfish)
A Courageous Attitude (fearful)
A Determined Attitude (quitting, distracted)

Attitudes of the spirit:
A Hopeful Attitude (hopelessness)
A Humble Attitude (proud)
A Trusting Attitude (doubt, double minded)
A Peaceful Attitude (frustrated, anxious)

Joy Cometh in the Morning

Nights can be long and so lonely
Filled with such anguish and pain,
But joy cometh in the morning
Like sunshine after the rain.

Sometimes your heart can be aching
Filled with such grief and sorrow,
But joy cometh in the morning
Bringing hope for the morrow.

For God hath not always promised
Sunshine and blue skies above,
But joy cometh in the morning
Bringing God’s peace and His love.

They say it always seems darkest
In the hours before the dawn,
But joy cometh in the morning
Giving us faith to go on.

Thus we should trust Jesus always
Give him each sorrow and pain
For joy cometh in the morning
Like sunshine after the rain.

Mary E Harrington

A Photo a Week Challenge: Joy

His middle name is JOY, or at least it should be. Joy oozes out of every pore.

In case you aren’t sure, that was him in yesterday’s post too.

Check out this and other “A photo a week challenges”

Rejoice

Rejoice – by – Chris TomlinSee the morning, see it rising Over the mountains high See the mercy in the mighty hand of God Living Water come and fill us Only You can satisfy Turn our sorrow into singing The song of life Rejoice, Rejoice Sing with the angel voices Rejoice, Rejoice All Heaven and earth rejoice Lord, Your strength is a tower The righteous run into Lord, Your love is a banner over us And we hold on to the promise That Your hold on us is true There’s no other like you, Jesus No one like You Always Again I say rejoice

Weekly Photo Challenge: Joy

Check out this and other themes at Weekly Photo Challenge