Overflowing with Joy! If you’re anything like me, you know quite a few people that have a bad attitude. They are unhappy, and they aren’t satisfied unless everyone around them is unhappy too. They don’t have a positive mindset. As a matter of fact, sometimes when a person has made a habit pattern of thinking the worse about themselves and others, they become pessimistic about everything. Some of them think that positive thinking is only for people who refuse to accept reality, that it’s only for New Agers that are flighty and unstable. They don’t know that the mind of Christ is as stable as it gets, and that it is wise for us to believe the promises of God’s Word. To people who think the worst, reality to them is being overcome by problems and looking to conditions and circumstances to tell them how to feel. If they go to work and everything is fine, they might feel pretty decent. But if something happens to get them upset, they allow this one event to spoil the rest of their day. This is living from the outside in, and Heavenly Father created us to live from the inside out! Some of us are afraid of opening ourselves to joy, thinking that it is better to be unhappy than to be disappointed. We develop a shield around our hearts and never allow anything or anyone to penetrate it. When this becomes our habitual way of responding to everything around us, the way we talk, act, and feel mirrors what is happening at the core of our being. We’re blocked. We can’t be lifted up where joy abides because the gravity of negativity pulls us down. The answer to this dilemma is to be led by the Spirit in such a way that we tap into that place where our joy is full. John 16:13(NLT) tells us about the work of the Spirit. It says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” The Holy Spirit will lead and guide us to all truth, and this truth includes the inner joy that all and any believer can experience if they truly wish to know God. Galatians 5:22 tells us that we must seek to bear the fruit the Spirit brings; these are fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. God would not give us tasks to complete without also giving us everything we need to get the job done. Our problem is that many of us ignore the task and look to the world to equip us for whatever we want to do. The world cannot give us joy. God has given us joy through the Spirit of Christ, so we should never look to the world to provide those things that only the Spirit gives. It doesn’t make sense to seek to find water from an empty vessel, and then wonder why our thirst is not quenched. God wants others that do not know Jesus Christ to look at the life of the believer and see fruits. He wants people to see His glory through us. For many of them, we are the only glimpse of Jesus Christ they will ever see. So, Heavenly Father doesn’t want us walking around every day with a lackluster existence. Romans 15:13 tells us that our Heavenly Father is a God of hope who wants to fill us up with ALL joy and peace, so that our believing (not doubting) lives are filled to the brim with the life-giving energy of His precious Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is doing a work within us every moment of every day. He is perfecting us in Christ, so we might walk in total alignment with the footsteps of our Father God. Because of the Holy Spirit we are able to commune with God and receive information on how to navigate through our lives. Galatians 5:16-17 tells us, “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.” The Holy Spirit is the giver of a certain kind of desire. They are the kind of desires that pull us towards God’s Will. The question we must ask ourselves is whether we are leaning on the Spirit for this. To lean on him is to choose the right side in the battle that is fought within. Happiness and joy to an unbeliever might come across as synonymous, but to the believer, there is a distinct and undeniable difference. Happiness is a feeling that isn’t permanent; it is based on external situations and circumstances. Joy is an inside job! It is anchored at our cores through the Holy Spirit, and it is a constant reminder of our identity in Christ. Living from the inside out means that we must have God’s Word anchored deep within. Ephesians 5:1-3 instructs, “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people.” When we live a life filled with the love of Christ, we are pleasing to our Heavenly Father. He will back our footsteps as we make decisions to override our circumstantial surroundings and rely totally on the Spirit for what we need. The Spirit will produce his fruit on the inside of us, and the sweetness will spill over into everything we touch and fill our lives with joy.■ Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. “Overflowing with Joy”, written by Vince Mack. Blessing Beads and More© 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.