AGAPE JOY
I can be Joyful in unhappy situations.
NONE of the Fruit are the result of favorable circumstances outside you. Just as agape doesn’t depend on circumstance, neither does Joy. “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” 1 Pe 1:6. Joy can only be the result of favorable circumstances inside you: Holy Spirit.
Calibration Key:Increase Faith, increase Joy.
Fruit grows by faith. When you face doubt, anguish, fear, and pain, you are being invited to embrace Holy Spirit and His fruit in spite of the obstacles. The outcome of unconditional faith is unconditional Joy. You are constantly called back to the path of faith with each doubt, anguish, fear, and pain you face.
In faith, KNOWING Holy Spirit is working, reconnect with Him. There, in connection, is the perspective that opens the door to joy inexpressible: “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while… you have been grieved by various trials… Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” 1 Pe 3-9.
You CAN have joy inexpressible – in unhappy situations. It is His power in you that makes this possible: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” Jn 15:11.
I will watch my first reactions. It’s where satan that has a clear advantage.
Faithless thoughts and feelings are typically the first reactions of flesh. “Desires of the flesh” are also called “sinful desires” or “desires of the body and mind,” which are where satan works your flesh to control you. Wherever your thoughts, feelings, or desires disconnect from Holy Spirit and God’s Word and take you off Agape Trail, you are vulnerable.
At these very same Cross Points, the goal is to reconnect your thoughts, feelings, and desires with Holy Spirit and God’s Word at the very same time, Holy Spirit is inviting you to “fear no evil, for You are with me” when you go “through the valley of the shadow of death” Ps 23, where “the joy of the Lord is my strength” Neh 8:10.
Exactly what the Lord described above, in 1 Peter 3-9, the type of perspective through which unconditional faith can grow. It is only from this perspective, that you can “Consider it all joy… when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” Ja 1:2-4.
Faith is powerful. I use it to enter Joy. Joy is in the Lord’s presence: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence, there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” Ps 16:11. Faith weakens your connection to your sinful nature and strengthens your connection to God. In connecting with the Lord, Holy Spirit releases His power so “joy may be full” Jn 15:11 even in the face of trials.
GPS Calibration Key: Your reaction is an indicator of your current level of faith. Be the one who stops letting the desire of the flesh steal your Joy. Keep your feet on the Agape Trail – so His Joy may be made complete in you (Jn 15:11.) Overcome the first reactions of the flesh! The Lord is still working for good (Rom 8:28.)
By remaining attuned to Holy Spirit, your GPS (God Positioning System,) you can choose to trust, knowing that the “testing of our faith,” has its “perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” James 1:4. To be made perfect and complete.” Anything else, no matter how much we want it, how much value it, how much we have invested in it, is a lesser thing.
By faith, be the one still humming when the music stops, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” Rom 12:2. Only by faith.
Can you be truly Joyful in unhappy situations? Yes! Even in the most brutal? Yes! Your reaction is an indicator of your current level of faith. Choose to be transformed by renewing the focus of your mind. Trust what the Lord is doing in and through it, whatever it is, and join Him in it. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” Joshua 1:9.
PRACTICE
Counting blessings is like a nuclear bomb to satan’s schemes and lies. In the increase-Faith, increase-Joy equation, gratitude is fuel. Spiritual growth is not automatic, and it’s not easy, but it’s always worth it. The crazy thing is how embarrassingly simple, yet frustratingly difficult it can feel, but much of the effort it takes is simply:
- Start by putting a smile on your face and counting blessings. (Right now.) Notice the little shift caused by just smiling. Feel it in your heart. (Your heart can smile too. Feel the warmth radiating from. It will gradually increase as you practice.)
- Pay attention to the infinite blessings all around you and acknowledge your blessings,
- Remember our eternal destination.
- Be humble and faithful enough to consciously trust the Lord with it all.
Counting blessings is a frontal assault on satan! Fear and doubt are defeated because Gratitude has the power to transform any negative emotion or experience.
Nehemiah told the people of Israel at the incredibly difficult and dangerous rebuilding of Jerusalem: “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10.) Are you at this place of centered strength?
If you have all the world has to offer, but have not gratitude, do you have anything?
But if you have nothing that the world has to offer, but have gratitude, do you have everything!?
Not there yet? You can be. You will be.
Stay on Agape Trail and keep climbing Disciples Mountain! The air is so much clearer the higher you climb. Keep practicing! There are always new levels of Fruitfulness waiting to be unleashed to meet every challenge before you. Battle the flesh for new steps in your soul and step into victory. Onward!
Can you be truly Joyful in unhappy situations? Yes! Choose to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
