The Fruit of the Spirit 36 (How to Walk in Joy 4)

How to Walk in Joy- Part 4

In recent articles, I have shared how we can live joyfully and walk in the victory that God has given us—Joy! The first point I emphasized is the need to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. Since He is the one who produces joy in the heart of a believer, we must allow Him to do what only He can do. I also discussed how to cultivate the presence of the Holy Spirit, highlighting three key elements: determination, focus, and passion. In this article, I will share the fourth and final element: energy.

"You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." – Psalm 16:11 (NKJV)

From this scripture, we understand that there is a path that leads to joy in God's presence—a path that God has revealed to us through His Spirit, the path of life. As those who have received the life of Christ, we have unlimited access to God's presence, and we can choose to remain in it forever. If we are not people of His presence—those who long to dwell in fellowship with Christ and His Word—then we cannot remain joyful. True and lasting joy is only found in God's presence. We must be intentional about cultivating this presence because God Himself is the source of our joy. Christ is the reality that makes us glad.

Imagine someone who bought a car ten years ago. Would that car still bring them joy today? The joy that Christ gave the early apostles over 2,000 years ago is the same joy He gives us today, in 2024. The Christ you received ten years ago is the same Christ who gives you joy now. Nothing else has that kind of sustaining power.

So, what am I saying? Nothing brings joy like the reality of our identity in Christ. This is why we must treasure and remain in His presence. God has shown us this path of life in His presence. Now, it is our responsibility to stay in it. This requires our determination, focus, passion, and energy.

What Do I Mean by Energy in the Context of Cultivating God's Presence?

Energy refers to the spiritual, emotional, and mental vitality we invest in pursuing a transformative relationship with God. It is the enthusiasm of our entire being to remain constantly in God's presence. The wonderful thing is that, no matter how much energy we expend, God will return it to us in far greater measure.

"But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." – Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)

The eagle sheds its old feathers so that new ones can grow, enabling it to be renewed and soar higher. Similarly, whatever strength we gain from being with God is to be spent in drawing closer to Him. But that doesn't mean we can now go on our own. No! We need to be emptied of our strength so that we can be refilled with an immortal vitality that enables us to soar even higher.

Beloved, we cannot continue in a convenient form of Christianity and expect to cultivate God's presence. We must be ready to go all the way. Even when you feel weary, you must be willing to fellowship with other believers. We must exert our energy to pray, read, and meditate on Scripture—even when we feel weak.

Though our flesh may be weak, our spirit is willing. What we must do is focus on the desire of our hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to fuel us with His energy. But we must be willing to relinquish our own strength and resources. We must not give in to the desires of the flesh. Don't give your flesh what it craves!

This is why fasting is encouraged. Fasting helps us deal with the flesh, which often stands between us and our Savior. One of the things our bodies cannot do without is food. But when we deny our flesh this essential need, our flesh begins to understand that there is something far more important to us—the presence of God.

Similarly, vigils are significant—not because God doesn't answer prayers during the day, but because our bodies are naturally inclined to sleep at night. When we sacrifice sleep to seek God in prayer, our bodies recognize that there is something more important to us than sleep—the presence of God.

As I have said before, no matter how much energy you expend in seeking God and striving to remain in His presence, He will repay you in multiple folds. The reward is joy—the source of your strength.

Beloved, prayerfully meditate on these things.

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2024 at 12:30 PM

    Wow! What a great message 😀
    Well done, sir.
    More inspiration sir.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE VICTOR’S MENTALITY 17 (Knowing Jesus Is Knowing Truth)

Calvary greetings, my beloved readers! Today, we’ll continue exploring the armor of God, focusing on the belt of truth, which we began discussing last time. This armor equips us to stand against the wiles of the evil one. We’ve shared quite a bit about the belt of truth already, so to catch up, please check out our blog site for the full teaching . Here’s our key text:“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,” (Ephesians 6:14 NKJV) One thing I don’t want us to forget is that truth is how God sees things. That’s the truth! For our belief system to be firmly rooted in Christ, we need to see things the way God sees them. So, today, we’ll dive into how to see things as God does. This is foundational to cultivating a victor’s mentality. Let me start by declaring that Jesus is the truth:“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14:6 NKJV). No one—living or dead...
Read more

THE VICTOR'S MENTALITY 9 (The devil is a Liar)

  In this article, I will begin sharing about the second phase of our series: understanding who our opposition is. We’ve already explored the first phase, which focused on the type of strength we have and its source. Let’s revisit our reference text:   "Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11 NKJV)  It is crucial to know who our opposition is—the one who does everything possible to hinder you from walking in everyday victory. Many grace-based believers argue that it’s unnecessary to talk about the devil. Sure, we are not devil-conscious, but as ministers, there’s nothing wrong with presenting the devil the way Jesus and His Apostles did. My issue is with those who attribute to the devil what he does not possess. Nowhere in Scripture do Jesus or the Apostles describe the devil as having any power or authority. If we can see the devil as the Bible presents him, that alone is the victor’s mentality. Th...
Read more

THE VICTOR’S MENTALITY 20 (Knowing Jesus Is Knowing Truth 4)

By God’s grace, in today’s article, we’ll finish what we started about knowing Jesus intimately in the Scriptures. We’ve already discussed three ways to see Jesus intimately through the Scriptures: • Photographically in the Gospels • Doctrinally in the Epistles • Prophetically in the Old Testament By God’s grace, I’ll share two more in this article. You can check the previous article to get the full experience of what we’ve taught. Another way we must know Jesus, who is the truth, is: 4. Experientially in the Believer’s Life We need to understand that knowing and seeing Jesus goes beyond theological or intellectual knowledge; the aim must be to know Jesus personally and experientially. That’s what I intend to share with you in today’s write-up and this is the aim of the Scriptures. We’ve talked about knowing Jesus through the Gospels, Epistles, and Old Testament—all to these is to an end that it leads us to a living relationship with the person of Christ. To have an experiential relat...
Read more