Acts 13:52
"And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit."
In spite of being expelled by the government from Antioch, Paul and Barnabas were said to be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. Like these early believers, our joy is not related to other people's acceptance of our message, but instead comes by the touch of the Spirit.
I've always hesitated to preach about joy. By nature, I'm not one who is naturally joyful in the face of life's difficulties. Even when things are going relatively well, I tend to dread the trials still to come. Even as our soldiers return from Iraq after being gone for 15 months, I'm already thinking about the struggles we'll face in the next deployment.
Still, the Bible teaches that joy rightfully belongs to believers in spite of life's circumstances. In whatever situation we find ourselves, we can and should have joy. And as with the disciples at Antioch, this joy is that which comes by a fullness of the Holy Spirit.
When a believer doesn't have much joy, you can bet it's because they've been crowding out the Spirit's presence. Instead, we need to be about the business of nurturing the presence of God's Spirit. We do this by directing our minds to Christ when we have a quiet moment, or by refusing to doubt God's faithfulness when we don't know how a situation will turn out, or by filling our thoughts with the word of God or in prayer.
Just as feeding takes effort, being filled with the Spirit requires our active participation. If we want joy in the world's troubles, it begins with our faithfulness to God. In response, the Spirit fills us full and gives us joy.
LORD JESUS
Lord, I thank you for the possibility of being filled with joy in the presence of your Spirit. May I nurture this relationship until joy is the natural response of my life. Amen.
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