We may need moments to feel happy, but to always experience the joy of the Lord, we need faith in all of God's promises:. When you look through the scriptures, we are often told to rejoice, always be full of joy in the Lord, or be of good cheer. You will notice that these statements do not come as a recommendation, but rather as an instruction. This shows us that joy is something we must practice as believers.
Therefore, whatever the surrounding circumstances or situations, your disposition should be to rejoice, not just in a vacuum, but in the Lord, because you know that he is with you and his word to you stands sure unfailing. If everything in life went well and without hitches, it would seem almost unnecessary to tell you to consider it all joy in every situation. However, I like to say that life is not all roses and cupcakes. There are diverse trials we pass through in life, and even in this God's word remains the same position. You must consider it all joy.
The truth is that, no matter what we are going through in life, the most important thing always ends up being the resolve we arrive at. For example, two people can come out of a broken home, and one of them decides to make sure to get it right with his own future family, while the other decides to break the homes of others that have any trace of happiness in them. It's the same situation, but the resolve of each man is what sets him apart from the other. God makes us go through trials because he knows they can help us become better people, but we can only get this out of trials when we choose to count it all joy, look away from them and look to God. Nothing gets the enemy angrier than when he sees you rising above the situations that he intended to pull you down with, and the way to rise above them is to embrace the joy of the Lord. In the book of Nehemiah 8:10. The word of God says
Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
During Nehemiah's day they had gotten approval to rebuild the city of Israel. The city was so badly destroyed that a look at it could push you to reconsider your decision. However, the journey of rebuilding did not start with fear, but with faith, and the people had to be intentional about continuing with faith in the middle of building being harassed by the enemies of Israel and many other discouraging factors. We see a very profound statement to the people. The joy of the Lord is your strength. When we practice rejoicing in the face of the trials we face and counting them all joy, only then can we truly get the good out of those situations.
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