The Fruit of the Spirit 34 (How to walk in Joy 2)

How to Walk in Joy - Part 2

In today's article, I will continue sharing how to walk in joy. In the previous article, I began by discussing how to embrace joy by opening our hearts to the Holy Spirit. To do this, we need to learn how to cultivate the presence of God.

The second point I want to share in this article is: Cultivating the Presence of God.

What does it mean to cultivate God's presence?  
It means being aware of God's presence with us and being sensitive to it as it is manifested through the Holy Spirit. Cultivating God's presence involves yearning for nothing but God. It's a state where we don't want to see, hear, or experience anything apart from what comes from the Lord. And what comes from Him includes joy.

Understand this: the Lord is always with us, but we are not always aware of it. However, a person who knows how to cultivate God's presence is constantly aware of it.
 
Let's explore some scripture to see how important it is to cultivate God's presence so that we can consistently walk in joy: "You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore" Psalms 16:11 (NKJV).

The Psalmist emphasizes that the fullness of God's joy is found only in His presence. This is why we need to learn how to cultivate this presence: "For You have made him most blessed forever; You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence" Psalms 21:6 (NKJV).

Joy comes from staying aware of God's presence. You will be exceedingly excited and glad to be there! If we can always remember that the Lord is with us every day and truly understand what that means, we cannot stay in depression. No way! Nothing can weigh our hearts down. Knowing that the God of all flesh has chosen to dwell with us is incredibly exciting. However, being aware of God's presence doesn't happen automatically. It takes intentionality on our part. You don't stay connected to His presence by merely browsing or just being interested. No!

"And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart" Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV). God guarantees that we will always find Him because He is always there. But He wants us to be intentional about it. He desires that we long for Him, which enables our fellowship with Him. He wants our minds to be engaged with Him, our thoughts to be fixated on Him, and our emotions to desire Him. If we are to stay connected to His presence, these must be true.

To intentionally cultivate God's presence, we need to focus on these four elements:
1. Determination 
2. Passion 
3. Focus  
4. Energy

1. Determination:
Determination is the unwavering commitment to the spiritual journey and the pursuit of a closer relationship with God. Challenges and distractions will come, but we must reach a point where we are determined to fellowship with Christ. We must resolve in our hearts to connect with God through fellowship with His word and interaction in the place of prayer. Our hearts must be committed to receiving from the Spirit what is of Christ, despite the different happenings in the world.

Paul spoke about the determination to pursue the goal of knowing God through Christ: "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" Philippians 3:14 (NIV). Many things could have distracted Paul, both successes and persecutions, but he was determined to press toward the goal—knowing Christ and growing in His knowledge: "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me" Philippians 3:10-12 (NKJV). Beloved, this must be our determination, our plea, and our heart's desire—that we may know Jesus, and that we may see Him in the Scripture through His Spirit who reveals Him.

How determined are you to know Jesus? Do you truly want Him? Are you merely interested, or are you just a browser? No matter how much we know, there is still much depth the Holy Spirit wants to take you in Christ. Beloved, we need to always come to Jesus to drink the water of life—not because we lack it, but because we understand that there is nothing else that can satisfy our souls.

In the next article, I will share about the other elements.  
Prayerfully meditate on this truth.

By Peter Ayoola Fakeye (PAF)

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