Joy Abundant

How easy it is to let someone steal your joy? We have wrapped our identity so tightly around others that when they let us down and disappoint us, our joy and happiness dissolve. The evil one has a way of using even the smallest of disappointments to take our joy from within our spirit and crush us with it.
As children of God, we should cling to the Scripture, which says, “there is no condemnation for through who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). We should not let the circumstances of any person define who we are or the feelings that we have. Instead of letting Satan manipulate our feelings, we should accept Christ’s Lordship over our feelings. We shouldn’t wrap our feelings around the actions of others because no matter how much we love and care for them, they will cause hurt.
By knowing this, we must choose to accept that we need to hide our hearts in the safe arms of Christ. We must refuse to let our identity and dignity be hijacked by others. We must accept that God’s love in our heart is purer and greater than any other love and he will never disappoint us. We must not let the evil one steal any opportunity for us to learn about Christ’s love. But this does not mean we will never be hurt again. We must embrace the pain and ask God to minster to us in the darkest places.
As the song says, “Because what if God’s blessings come through raindrops and what if his healing comes through tears? What if the trials and pain of this life are his mercies in disguise?”
The power of the cross and the resurrection is greater than any thoughts or negative inner voices. We must pray against the darkness that tries to overcome us, but welcome in the light of Christ as it penetrates our hurting and broken hearts and let that light comfort and heal us. We must be willing to wrestle with God as long as it takes until he gives us the peace he has promised because we know we cannot do it on our own. Let us be willing to admit our weaknesses and submit them to God and trust him to turn it into strength. Through the power of Christ, our identity is secure, our hearts protected and our joy will be abundant.