Joy - The 2nd Fruit Of The Holy Spirit

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Galatians 5:22)

In the rough and tough world we live in with all of the crime, disorder and bad things that can happen to anyone of us at anytime - many Christians have lost a lot of their joy in the Lord as a result of some of the beatings they have taken in this life.

I remember I had a bank teller tell me one time that she very seldom sees people smiling anymore when they come in and do business with her. She says no one seems to be happy anymore and everyone seems to be carrying around the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Again, with the imperfections of our own fallen nature, and then you combine that with how people react differently to adversity - some Christians have literally had most, if not all of their joy in the Lord, knocked right out of them.

This is why the above verse from Galatians is so powerful and so needed by every single Christian today. In this verse, God is telling us that He can transmit some of His godly and divine qualities right up into the middle of us like filling up a new car with its first tank of gasoline. Many of God's people need a fresh infusion of His divine qualities due to the leaks that have occurred as a result of some of the beatings His people have taken during the course of their lives.

And the quality of joy is a much needed quality in this day and age. No matter how bad of a beating you may have taken in this life - God can still fully heal, deliver and restore you if you are willing to work with Him in this healing process.

And one of the things that God can fully restore in you is your joy in Him. And not only can the Lord fully restore what joy you used to have in Him, but He can also increase it to a much greater degree and intensity due to the wording in the above verse - with the quality of joy being one of the 9 specific fruits of His Holy Spirit!

Here are some of the different definitions of what real joy is all about:

Great delight; gladness of heart

The happy state that results from knowing and serving God

That deep, abiding, inner rejoicing in the Lord

To rejoice, to be glad

Happy, joyful, cheerful, rejoicing, festive

Realize that God can transmit this divine quality right up into your personality - and this will be His joy, not your joy, once it starts to flow up into you. And once God starts to release His joy into your system, you won't be able to help but feel it. And once you are able to start feeling it again, it will become much easier for you to learn how to walk back in it in your daily walk with the Lord.

The Bible says that the joy of the Lord is your strength. This is why it is so important that every Christian have some level of God's joy operating through them in this life. Without God's joy operating in your life, things can begin to dry up. Nothing is ever fun anymore. Everything can start to become a chore. Before you know it, you will want to start to withdraw from others and life in general.

The joy of the Lord can really give you an incredible surge of strength in your daily walk with God - especially when you have to take on some really tough situations. This is why each Christian should work very closely with the Holy Spirit in not only getting Him to release His joy into your system, but to keep it running through you on a regular and consistent basis.

The Holy Spirit will do this for you if you are open to receiving this divine infusion from Him and are willing to work with Him to keep it properly flowing through you on a regular basis.