Tuesday, November 8, 2011

What Is Joy?

The joy of the Lord is your strength.  Nehemiah 8:10

  Some people think Christians should always be smiling and happy, and something is wrong hey aren't.
 But this isn't necessarily true. Jesus stood outside the tomb of His friend Lazarus, and we read that "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). As He approached Jerusalem "He saw the city and wept" (Luke 19:41) because of its spiritual blindness and guilt. He knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane and was in agony...and His sweat became like great drops of blood" (Luke 22:44).
 Don't confuse happiness with joy. Happiness comes with happy circumstances; joy wells up deep inside our souls as we learn to trust Christ. Joy does not mean that we are never sad or that we never cry. But joy is a quit confidence, a state of inner peace that comes from God.
 Life's troubles will rob us of our happiness, but they can never rob us of the joy God gives us, as we turn in faith to Him and seek His face.

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