Today we're going to be talking about joy and letting it shine through to others. So if you don't have your happy pants on by now, you're going to by the end of this episode. This episode is the second of nine episodes that we're going to be doing about the fruit of the Spirit. Last week we went over love, so if you haven't checked out that episode yet, go check it out and then come back to this one. I'm so excited to do this episode with you guys about joy. I know that if you take this journey with me to really dive deep and reveal the fruit of the Spirit in our hearts, that it can and will transform your heart.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." -Galatians 5: 16-26
First I want to say a quick prayer before we get into this... Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. I pray that you open up their eyes to see the truth of your words and that you open up their hearts to receive joy and to let their joy shine through to others. I pray that you open up their minds, their ears, and every bit of themselves to you Lord, and that they see all of the things that they have to be joyous and happy for. I pray that they see the truth of your words and the amazing things that you've done and that you just reveal joy in their hearts. I love you so much Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.
So now that we've got our hearts open to receive joy and let it shine through to others, I'm going to go ahead and get into some verses about joy in the Bible:
"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." -Proverbs 17: 22
So many things have happened in 2020 and there are a lot of reasons why we could be crushed, anxious, or just be down and out, but there's also so many more reasons to be happy and joyous. The biggest reason of all is having Jesus Christ in our hearts. There's so many blessings that we know of that Jesus has done, and also blessings that we may not even realize that God has done for us. This Bible verse is so true because whenever I'm feeling down and out, I'm just feeling depressed or I've let things get to me, and I start thinking of all the things that I have to be grateful for and all the things that God has done for me, it is really good medicine and it helps me to let my joy shine through to others.
Whenever the world feels like it's crumbling down and when everybody's freaking out through the chaos of this virus, with the election ,and just all of the things, whenever things are just so uncertain in this world, we want to let our joy shine through. Be that crazy person that's dancing to Christian music and so happy all the time. We need more of those people in our life and we need to be that person for someone else.
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." -Romans 15: 13
It's so important for us to pray to God and ask him to reveal joy in our hearts and to let it shine through to others, because we may not always feel joyous. But He is the God of hope and he will fill us with joy and peace as we trust in him. So we have to trust in him with our whole hearts and he will fill us with that joy, that peace, and overflow us with hope by the power of the Holy spirit. We just have to lean on God, trust Him, and ask Him to reveal the fruit in our hearts. We also need to do daily things to help us to keep revealing that joy in our hearts and letting it shine through to others, which I'm going to go over some things that we're going to work on for this next week at the end of this blog.
"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." -John 15: 11
Now this verse may not make sense, just reading it by itself. But last week we talked about love and I went over John 15: 9-17, so this verse was right in the middle of those verses that I went over last week. So in those verses Jesus was talking about how he commanded us to love one another and then he says that he told us this so that his joy may be in us and our joy may be complete. So joy and love go hand in hand. If we love one another, we do what Jesus has commanded us, and we see the love that God has for us and that Jesus Christ has for us, it will allow the joy of Jesus to be inside of us and our joy will be complete.
It's nearly impossible, if not impossible, to not be happy and joyous when you think about the love that Jesus has for us and the love that God has for us. When you really think about how God loved us so much that he sent his only son to die on the cross to forgive us of our sins. And Jesus loved us so much that he performed with these miraculous signs, taught his disciples all these things, and died on the cross for our sins. If you really think about the love, mercy, and grace that Jesus has for us, it's nearly impossible to not feel joy.
"You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound." -Psalm 4: 7
No wine, food, or anything can cause us to have the joy that the Lord can give us. The joy of knowing that God is right here by our side, and that we're saved and going to heaven (whenever we ask Jesus Christ to come into our hearts.) There is no greater joy than knowing that when it's our time to go, we're going to be going to heaven and we're not of this world. Nothing in this world can bring us down or there's nothing that we can't overcome in this world with God by our side, because the battle's already been fought and it's already been won. God has already won the battle and all of our sins are forgiven. There's nothing in this world that can cause us more joy than the joy of knowing that we have the almighty by our side, helping us through every step of the way. We can lean on God, ask him for guidance, he gives us so much love, he loves us so much, he gives us peace, knowledge, and understanding. When we really ask God to reveal joy in our hearts and let it shine through to others, there's no greater joy than that.
I wanted to just finish this episode off with some reflection and some questions that you can write down, ask yourself, and really just reflect on it. I want you guys for the next week to really focus on joy and revealing joy in your hearts and also letting it shine through to others.
Questions to Reflect on and Ask Yourself This Week:
1. What brings me joy? (Think if the things you are writing are worldly or godly)
2. What are some blessings that have happened recently that God has done for me?
3. What is something that I can do every day that brings me joy?
4. How can I let my joy shine through to others?
Next week we're going to go into peace, so make sure you stay tuned for that.
I just want to let you guys know that you bring me so much joy, this podcast, being able to spread the gospel to you guys and to help you guys with your God led journey, all of it brings me so much joy. I just wanted to say thank you for every single person that reads/listens to this and comes back week after week, that does the Bible studies with me, and all of that. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, business, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.
For weekly Bible Studies, tune in every week to my podcast. Every week I go over a new chapter/s of the Book of John.
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