Celebrating the Light of ChristmasVoorbeeld

Use the Force of Joy

So many people—believers or not—rightly associate Christmas with joy. It is a joyful time in the Body of Christ! The coming of our Savior is a time of great celebration. Yet when the focus of a holiday is on feeling joy, many realize it has gone missing in their lives.

But joy is so much more than a feeling. Joy is one of the most powerful spiritual forces in the world!

Nehemiah 8:10 says, “…the joy of the Lord is your strength.” If you were to diagram that scripture and remove the phrase, “of the Lord,” you would find that it’s truly saying this: Joy is strength. The two are interchangeable.

That’s what makes joy so crucial. You can’t live a life of faith without being strong in the Lord—and when God wants to make you strong, joy is what He uses to do the job!

Joy is not just a state of mind. It is not a fleeting emotion. Joy is a very real force, and the devil doesn’t have anything that can stand up against it. Just as fear has to yield to faith, discouragement has to yield to joy.

That’s why when the devil tries to put sickness, poverty or depression on you, the greatest response you can have is to laugh at his attempts. You have to stir up your faith with joy. It may feel forced at first, but when you keep at it, a supernatural joy will come bubbling up out of you until you are laughing under the influence of the Holy Spirit! 

That’s the kind of joy that says, “Devil, I’m not afraid of you. You have no power or authority in my life, so I’m just going to laugh at your attempts to steal, kill or destroy anything in my life!”

Since joy is one of the fruit of the spirit, you already have it residing within you. But you must develop it, confess it and live by it if you want to enjoy its power. Walk in it even when you don’t feel joyful at all. Using the force of joy is a decision.

Whatever circumstances you are facing this Christmas, you can be full of joy. You can be strong in the Lord. You can draw on the supply of the Holy Spirit within you and come out on top.