Enjoy Your Life Today
Study The Word
Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)
“Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Let me give you something today, and I want you to receive it as an instruction and not merely as a nice sentiment: no matter the season you find yourself in, be intentional about enjoying your life. There is always something to be grateful for, even in the darkest moments. Always. It simply takes a willingness to reframe your mind, and to look, on purpose, for the joy.
Because joy really is a choice. Sometimes circumstances seem not to align. Things do not work out exactly the way you planned them. Or you find yourself walking through something genuinely unpleasant, and your emotions and your mood want to run in the direction of all that gloom. Do you know what that moment actually is? That is not the moment to surrender. That is your opportunity to activate the joy of the Lord.
And when you are a Christian, this joy is not a mood you have to manufacture. Now let me be precise here, because this distinction matters: it becomes a fruit of your human spirit, When you got born again, you received a recreated human spirit, and that spirit came to you already carrying the fruit of the spirit embedded within it. Do you see what that means? The joy is not somewhere else, waiting to be sent down to you. It is resident on the inside of you right now. Your job is simply to recognise it and to activate it, and not to ignore it.
So this joy is a function and a weapon of your recreated spirit. Do you understand the difference? The joy of the Lord is not human joy, the kind that depends on every circumstance perfectly aligning and every outcome looking favourable. The joy of the Lord chooses gratitude. It chooses to see every blessing hidden inside the circumstance. It is supernatural, and it produces strength.
So let us look closely at our scripture, because the Word tells us exactly what this joy does. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” This is inner joy and gladness, present and constant, irrespective of what is happening around you. And the Bible says it produces strength. Now sit with the word used there for “strength”
מָעוֹז maoz strength – a place of safety, protection, refuge, a stronghold; which is different to might and ability.
Did you catch that? It is not primarily talking about muscle. It is a place. A refuge. A stronghold. So the joy of the Lord is your source of strength, your protection, and your stronghold. This is why activating the joy of the Lord in a challenging circumstance is so completely to your advantage. And think about what that also means: responding in the opposite spirit, sinking into the gloom, takes you into a place outside of that protection and outside of that strength.
So how do we actually activate the joy of the Lord? It comes through speaking in other tongues and being filled with the Holy Spirit. It comes through singing to yourself in hymns and psalms. And it comes through deliberately choosing the outlook of gratitude, again and again, until it becomes the settled posture of your heart.
And look at what else our scripture hands us, because it is so beautifully practical. “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.” Do you see it? Enjoy something good. And then give some of it away to someone who has nothing prepared. What wonderful tools we have been given to place ourselves in a state of joy. Hallelujah!
Now I want us to look at one more portion of that verse, where it says “Do not grieve,” or as the King James puts it, “neither be ye sorry.” Look at the word:
עָצַב atsab grieve – to hurt, to pain, to be displeased; and further still, to shape, to fashion, to manufacture pain
Can you imagine? To manufacture pain. The word carries the sense of shaping and fashioning something with your own hands. So grief, in this sense, can be something we build for ourselves, brick by brick, by fixing our gaze on everything that is going wrong. So do not do that. Do not look at all the things that are not working and then take up residence in a perpetual place of pain. Actively choose to enjoy your life, because God’s Word told us to.
And please hear me on this one: do not postpone your joy. Do not put it away on a shelf until the big contract lands, or until you get the car, or until that thing you have been praying about finally materializes. Joy that waits for an outcome is not the joy of the Lord at all.
Because when you are intentional about enjoying even the little things, you will not be so blinded by pain and delay that you miss the bigger things happening all around you. And that really is the danger, beloved. Some people become so consumed by their pain that they miss all the wonder God is working on their behalf. Do not let that be your story. Enjoy your life today, because the joy of the Lord is your strength, your refuge, and your stronghold, and it is available to you right now, in this very season.
Pray The Word
Heavenly Father, thank You that the joy of the Lord is my strength, my refuge, and my stronghold, and that it does not depend on my circumstances lining up perfectly. Forgive me for the times I have fixed my eyes on what is going wrong and fashioned pain for myself, and teach me to look on purpose for the joy. I choose gratitude today, and I refuse to postpone my joy until something finally materializes. Fill me afresh with Your Spirit, and let my heart sing, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Speak The Word
The joy of the Lord is my strength, and I live in it as my place of safety, my protection, and my stronghold. Joy is already embedded in my recreated human spirit, so I recognise it and activate it deliberately, no matter what my circumstances look like. I refuse to manufacture pain by staring at everything that is going wrong; I choose gratitude and I look for the blessing. I do not postpone my joy for a future outcome, because I enjoy my life today. I see the wonder God is working on my behalf, and I am glad, in the name of Jesus Christ!
Soul Wellness: An Introduction To Receiving Healing In Your Heart
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