The 2nd fruit of the spirit is Joy.
I can honestly say I don’t have enough joy in my life. How about you?
I get so busy, trying to manage too many responsibilities…and it all just gets to be too much at times. That steals my joy.
So, I can’t offer much advise on the topic of joy… Except to say that joy MUST be a choice. I make choices which lead to joy or choices that lead to the lack of joy. So what are we to do to experience joy and reflect God’s joy to the world? I say we try the following as a start: when tempted to complain, argue, or be moody…let’s pause. Let’s make a choice to be joyous instead.
Think about how wonderfully God has blessed you. And if that isn’t easy to do in your current phase of life, instead, think about how much more suffering Jesus Christ endured for your sake. What you are experiencing is nothing compared to that.
Let me know how it goes…I want to hear from you!
You know- I somewhat believe that this one particular fruit of the spirit is sometimes the most difficult to experience. Because if what you said is true, that we let our own flesh sometimes get in the way of recieving joy, then when we worry or sin, or preoccupy ourselves in any way, it can be tough to feel pure joy. I feel like God has once bestowed upon me the gift of what PURE joy feels like. It was during a service at church and I’m sad to say that it was rather fleeting. But it was a moment of exhileration where I felt so much grace and un-adulterated love for everyone around me, that I just wanted to start hugging people and just praising God for all His works! At that moment I recognized that this was a feeling I’d never felt so completely before, and as I tried to hold onto the feeling, it rather faded. I still know that I should love my neighbor and Christ…but it doesn’t come as fully- saturating my whole body, as it did that one service.