Fear No Fear

“I have spoken these things to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11, MEV). God loves us enough to provide us with His joy. It doesn’t feel great when people tell you to just be happy. As if it was something we never thought of doing. Yet because of God we can choose to be joyful. We might not feel happy, but we CAN be joyful. God provides it to us like He provides salvation. It’s all about whether we accept it. It isn’t about US, it’s about HIM. “Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet drink, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”” (Nehemiah 8:10, MEV). The men who came to Nehemiah were NOT happy. But they were told the TRUTH. They didn’t have to wallow in their own feelings. They didn’t need to be limited by themselves. They could enter into the Lord’s strength. We can accept this gift from the Lord. We can take this Fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) and we can use it whenever we don’t have the feelings to enter into joy on our own. More than that, we can take the seeds of that Fruit and plant them in our own hearts. So that we can grow our own Fruit. We can grow His joy in our hearts. If we’ll do that, it will ALWAYS be available to us. Right there. We won’t have to accept it from Him, we can reach into our own hearts and take what He let us grow there. Holy Spirit lives inside us. His Fruit is always available. But it is better to grow His Fruit in our own hearts. It becomes part of us when we do that. We don’t have to stretch. We don’t have to take the extra few seconds to receive. We can simply engage what we’ve grown. Enjoy the harvest as needed. Being able to side-step negative feelings is a HUGE blessing. Being able to take from Him instead of from the world is a HUGE blessing. We can CHOOSE to engage His joy at ANY time, ANY where. It is founded in HIM, it is HIS strength, and we are allowed, encouraged, and empowered to use it. What a GOOD God!