Two weeks ago, I was in my gallery relaxing and admiring the view and suddenly I felt like there was something heavy in the atmosphere. A kind of depression and spiritual heaviness was just lurking around, looking to see who it could fall upon and consume.

Then I thought about all the people who are currently going through a hard time, those whose hearts and minds are susceptible to throwing in the towel. Individuals who have a heightened sense of despair and fragility because of their present season and circumstance. My heart truly went out to anyone who felt that the flood waters were too much to bear.

So how do we solve this problem? How do we keep ourselves from drowning and entering the abyss? I would like to submit to you the words of Ezra the Priest:

Nehemiah 8:10 – “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

If you are looking for strength today, then you need to be looking for Joy and not just any joy, but the Joy of the Lord. This special type of joy cannot be obtained from anyone but the Lord. There are things that the world gives in a certain measure, but God gives in full measure (e.g., John 14:27). My dad always used to say, “One must always go to the head of the fountain, because that is where the water is always the clearest”. In like manner, if we need to get pure joy, then the head of the fountain for us is the Holy Spirit which is given by our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 16:7  – “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter (Holy Spirit) will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.

Jesus had to die in order to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Even in His absence, His love was manifested because He left us the Holy Spirit to comfort us. This is because no father wants to see his child without joy in their life, so this gift had to be given.  It is this Comforter that is classified as our joy giver and much more.

1 Thessalonians 1:6 (NIV) – “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.”

Galatians 5:22-23 – “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance:, …” –

Yes, the seed of joy has been planted in us via the gift of the Holy Spirit. But right there is the problem for many of us, it is still just a seed. Year after year, our seed of the Spirit is  there dormant and unplanted in the soil of prayer, bible study and true surrender to The Almighty God (The best Horticulturist, Agriculturalist, Agronomist – EVER!).  

This joy of the Lord is right there for the taking, if we can only learn to walk in the spirit more (Galatians 5:16-18). Personally, every time I follow the Holy Spirit to the letter, I always get blessed and my joy becomes full. This morning, for example, I got up at 4:30 and prayed for half an hour, then went to my computer to do some work. Then about an hour after, I felt God say read your bible now. So, I immediately got up without hesitation and went and read His word for about 35 minutes.

This obedience to the leading of God’s Spirit opened up a flood of joy and peace for the next 10 hours of my day. If you saw your boy today (yours truly), rejoicing and blessing Him nonstop, and in return the faithful one does what He does best, He remained faithful and shared His Heavenly joy with me (😊).

Am I an expert? No! But I have a roadmap. We have a roadmap. We have to decide if we want to continue getting railroaded on this journey to finding joy and ending up at dead ends after dead ends. Or are we finally going to let go and let God lead us by His Spirit, to where happiness lies.

I came across a blog last week, where the blogger listed numerous celebrities and wealthy individuals who committed suicide over the last 10 years. If you saw the long list of people who had everything, but yet still they had nothing. It saddens my heart! They ran towards things and people who they thought could have brought happiness, but it failed them in the end. I remind us all today, to be careful what we are running after.

Let us set ourselves to wholeheartedly obey the Spirit of God. In doing so, we will find joy no matter what circumstances befall us and in this joy, we will get endurance to deal with anything life presents.

PS: Dane Miller was last seen walking along a riverbank in order to reach its source.

Your Brother in the Lord,

Dane Miller | Author

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