Regaining Your Joy

"Joy of the Lord" is really just a state of mind and a state of heart.

It is being thankful because you know, first and foremost, that God has given you eternal life in a world of happiness. It is remembering that, above all the frustration and turmoil you may be experiencing in your present state, or the lethargy or boredom that you have with your present circumstances, when it comes down to it, you realize what the priorities of life are—what your life is all about.

To regain your joy of the Lord, you have to look past all your other priorities; all the things that keep you busy, all the things that bore you. You have to realize that, despite all those things‚ you have already obtained the most valuable prize you could possibly gain in any walk of life: Eternal life!

Whether you are a successful world leader or a simple person, because you know the Lord, you have the asset of the joy of the Lord deep within your heart. You can keep this asset no matter what anybody does to you, and no matter what circumstances you may find yourself in. It's like you've already won the main, top prize, Eternal life in Heaven and the extremely wonderful thing about it is: You can never lose it!

This time period you are living in is very short and temporary and "passes away" (Matthew 24:35), day by day, but your spirit is saved and lives on forever.

The joy of the Lord is to realize: That you are a sinner, but God has forgiven you; That He unconditionally loves you & will never give up on you; That at any point when you reach out and take His hand, He will take it immediately into His and forgive you.

The Joy of the Lord is realigning your priorities in proper order and proper perspective. All these other nagging, incomplete, and sometimes frustrating details, that are imperfect and that tend to get you down‚ are really insignificant points that will some day pass away. Yet your spirit will remain and live for eternity.

The Joy of the Lord is fixing your gaze, which determines your attitude and actions, on the eternal values that you'll be living by forever, and cut yourself loose from the temporary setbacks.
You will be among those who fulfill the Scripture, "The spirits of just men made perfect" (Hebrews 12:23). Perfect in love, perfect in joy, perfect in creation—that's you! That's where you're headed. ‘Regaining your joy’ is realizing the truth of this, and not being set back by the façades of the temporal!

The Joy of the Lord is your strength! (Nehemiah 8:10b)

Author: Unknown