| In this episode, here’s the specific question on the table, as it comes to us from Susan in Chattanooga, Tennessee. “Pastor John, hello and thank you for this podcast. My question is pretty straightforward. Can you tell me if joy in God is a choice that we make? Or is our joy in God a feeling that comes to us after we do a certain something else first that will lead to joy?” |
Teaching
Is Joy a Choice or a Feeling?
Oct 10, 2023
3 responses to “Is Joy a Choice or a Feeling?”
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I love this! Like most, my life has been filled with highs and lows. When the lows brought me down to what felt like the depths of despair, I made the conscious decision, “Nobody is going to take away my joy.” This didn’t mean I wasn’t hurting or sad at times, but I pushed myself to embrace the joy around me. By choosing joy, I felt joy. Truly, the joy of the Lord is my strength!
Glad it worked for you . at 77 I am sad, bitter, & it seems impossible for me to ever have joy again since I lost my wife 5 yrs. ago
To Dan Berry, I have great compassion for you. I have been struggling to have joy after losing my sister in June to ovarian cancer. It has been hard at times to find the reason for living. What keeps me going is knowing God is our Creator. He holds life, death, and eternity in His hands. As brutal as death can be and as harsh and dark the loss is, I know that God has promised to one day raise our bodies up from the grave new and whole. And that even while we wait, the spirits and souls of our loved ones are with Him now. This is joy in our salvation, because Jesus died for ours sins, we can have eternal life in Him.
One Bible verse that stood out to me while my sister was sick was true while she was sick and still is true after she died: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”-Isaiah 55:9.
I think for myself that I cannot experience joy, but instead fall back into sadness and depression whenever I think too much. Trying to figure it all out, but I can find peace when I remember that God is in control and His ways and thoughts are higher than mine. When I have peace, I can find joy. I cannot say that I am living in constant joy though, I falter daily and have to choose to remember God’s truth and promises over and over. Maybe this is what abiding in Him is. John 15 talks about abiding in Jesus. And Jesus says in John 15:11 “I have told you these things so that you will be fill with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”
Dan, I hope you find some comfort in all this and that you will find joy again.