10 secrets to harnessing Joy

Have you ever ridden a horse?

One of the essential pieces of equine tack is the harness.  To control the horse, you must put his harness around his head, and attach the reins.  Unless you are a professional cowboy, the horse will get away from you if you try to hold on to him and direct him without a harness or reins!

So often we set out on our spiritual journey thinking we have found joy and we know how to hold on to it.  We don’t realize that it takes planning, effort, and encouragement, to harness joy.

God has shared His secrets on how to harness joy.

1.  Start with God’s presence:  Are we meeting with God?

Joy is slippery like a wet infant, but much easier to hang on to when we are in the water of God’s fellowship.  

Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place.  1 Chronicles 16:27

When we meet with God, He blesses us with His strength and joy.

2.  Obey God’s commands

We reap what we sow.

If we sow obedience, we reap the joy of God’s blessing.

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love….I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.       John 15:10-11

God delights in us when we are completely satisfied in Him.

3.  Give God a sacrifice of praise

God desires that we voice our love for Him.

Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.  I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.  Psalm 43:4

When our hearts are full of His praise, our lives are full of His joy!

4.  Ask God to restore our joy

 

God longs for us to find our joy in Him.

God will always answer our prayers when we are praying according to His will.

Pray this prayer with the psalmist David:  “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”  Psalm 51:12

God loves to give good gifts to his children.  Ask Him for Joy.  He’d be delighted to fill your cup.

5.  Find pleasure in meditating on God’s statutes

It takes an acquired taste to enjoy the statues of God.  By making a habit of exposure to God’s truth, we will enjoy it more and more.

Psalm 119:111 Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.

Practicing the discipline of studying God’s truth with produce the fruit of experiencing God’s joy.

6.  Put your spiritual hope in Jesus

The object of our hope will directly affect the amount of joy we have on our journey.

The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hope of the wicked come to nothing. Proverbs 10:28

If we are looking to find joy in Jesus, we will find it.  If we are looking other places for joy, it will elude us.

7.  Promote peace!

When there is peace in a home, we will likely find joy.

There is deceit in the hearts of those who plot evil, but joy for those who promote peace.  Proverbs 12:20

When we become peacemakers, God not only gives us peace, but multiplies our joy.

8.  Joy comes from unity

We find joy when we die to ourselves and live to love God and to love our neighbor as ourself.  It takes humility and patience to come to a spirit of unity.

Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  Philippians 2:2

We can’t expect God to give us His joy if we are still putting ourselves first.

9.  Joy breeds generosity

Generous people are joyful people.

Out of the most severe trial, their overwhelming joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.   2 Corinthians 8:2

When we are thankful for what God has given to us, we will be generous towards others.

10.  We have to work!

Our job is to be working with God to accomplish the work that He has given us to do.

For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.  Deuteronomy 16:15

When we are productive, God will bless our work.

If we desire to harness joy, keep ahold of it and not let it run away from us, we need to grab the reigns of the spiritual disciplines that will deliver.

This post was shared with #rara linkup

http://purposefulfaith.com/cheerleading-link-up/