How do we live a life filled with joy? Where does joy come from? Is joy the same as happiness? Is it a feeling or is it something more?
Sometimes the idea of joy is confused with the idea that it is a state of happiness. This leads to the notion that joy is related to our emotions. Sometimes we are up emotionally and sometimes we are down. If joy is a feeling, or a state of happiness as the dictionary defines it, then joy can come and go depending on what we are experiencing in life.
The root of the word joy comes from the Latin word for rejoice. If we look at the origins of the word and not the modern interpretation we get closer to understanding what joy looks like from a spiritual perspective.
In Philippians, Paul exhorts us to rejoice in the Lord always. Later he says, “I remind you again, to rejoice!” This is a call to live a life filled with joy. Joy is not an emotion. Nor does it have to be transitory where one day we feel filled with joy and the next day we do not.
Joy is directly related to our connection with Spirit. Joy is experienced when God speaks to our soul. This is beautifully understood through the incarnation of Christ. When God incarnated in the human body of Christ, humanity was filled with divinity. Christ came to restore that which had been lost through rebellion against God. By living a life perfectly connected to Source and by taking on the penalty for our rebellion, He created a bridge for the Spirit to connect us once again with the power of God’s original intention for our lives.
The power of the living, resurrected Christ is available to us every day. This is good news! We now have power available to us to experience joy all the time! So why don’t we experience more joy more of the time? If we can truly be connected to God it means that we can start to experience “heaven on earth”. What keeps us from entering “the promised land” now instead of waiting until “the sweet by and by”?
This wonderful power and joy are available to us everyday through prayer and meditation. If we are not experiencing joy in our lives, it is directly related to our neglect of time spent connected to the Spirit of God.
We would like to look at our circumstances as reasons why we are not filled with joy. We would like to believe it is outside of our control because of whom we live with. We would like to believe it is because we don’t have enough time to spend in meditation and prayer. We can believe anything we want. But the only way to experience joy on a consistent basis is to be connected to Source. God is the originator of joy, the Creator of joy, the essence of joy itself.
To rejoice is to acknowledge that all that we have and all that we are comes from God. To rejoice means to acknowledge all that God has done for us and that everything we have and are comes from the hand of our Creator. To rejoice in all things, means to be filled with joy because we understand that God is in control and has a perfect plan for our lives—we are on a path, a joy-filled path that can be trusted to take us safely to where we need to be in order to best serve—in order to best love—in order to best Be.
Joy is best defined then as a state of rejoicing. This implies a choice. This is accomplished by a connection to the Source of joy. This is where we choose to manifest joy in our lives by taking the time to be connected to Joy Itself.
Important questions to ask:
“Do I want to be filled with joy on a daily basis?”
“How can I make better choices to make time to be connected to the Source of joy?”
Walk forth today choosing to connect with All That Is and be filled with Joy!
Sometimes the idea of joy is confused with the idea that it is a state of happiness. This leads to the notion that joy is related to our emotions. Sometimes we are up emotionally and sometimes we are down. If joy is a feeling, or a state of happiness as the dictionary defines it, then joy can come and go depending on what we are experiencing in life.
The root of the word joy comes from the Latin word for rejoice. If we look at the origins of the word and not the modern interpretation we get closer to understanding what joy looks like from a spiritual perspective.
In Philippians, Paul exhorts us to rejoice in the Lord always. Later he says, “I remind you again, to rejoice!” This is a call to live a life filled with joy. Joy is not an emotion. Nor does it have to be transitory where one day we feel filled with joy and the next day we do not.
Joy is directly related to our connection with Spirit. Joy is experienced when God speaks to our soul. This is beautifully understood through the incarnation of Christ. When God incarnated in the human body of Christ, humanity was filled with divinity. Christ came to restore that which had been lost through rebellion against God. By living a life perfectly connected to Source and by taking on the penalty for our rebellion, He created a bridge for the Spirit to connect us once again with the power of God’s original intention for our lives.
The power of the living, resurrected Christ is available to us every day. This is good news! We now have power available to us to experience joy all the time! So why don’t we experience more joy more of the time? If we can truly be connected to God it means that we can start to experience “heaven on earth”. What keeps us from entering “the promised land” now instead of waiting until “the sweet by and by”?
This wonderful power and joy are available to us everyday through prayer and meditation. If we are not experiencing joy in our lives, it is directly related to our neglect of time spent connected to the Spirit of God.
We would like to look at our circumstances as reasons why we are not filled with joy. We would like to believe it is outside of our control because of whom we live with. We would like to believe it is because we don’t have enough time to spend in meditation and prayer. We can believe anything we want. But the only way to experience joy on a consistent basis is to be connected to Source. God is the originator of joy, the Creator of joy, the essence of joy itself.
To rejoice is to acknowledge that all that we have and all that we are comes from God. To rejoice means to acknowledge all that God has done for us and that everything we have and are comes from the hand of our Creator. To rejoice in all things, means to be filled with joy because we understand that God is in control and has a perfect plan for our lives—we are on a path, a joy-filled path that can be trusted to take us safely to where we need to be in order to best serve—in order to best love—in order to best Be.
Joy is best defined then as a state of rejoicing. This implies a choice. This is accomplished by a connection to the Source of joy. This is where we choose to manifest joy in our lives by taking the time to be connected to Joy Itself.
Important questions to ask:
“Do I want to be filled with joy on a daily basis?”
“How can I make better choices to make time to be connected to the Source of joy?”
Walk forth today choosing to connect with All That Is and be filled with Joy!
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