It's been said that peace and joy are a choice that we can make, but what does that choice look like and how do we truly choose a life filled with peace and joy? The Bible tells us that by choosing to walk with Christ and His finished work, we are given the power through His spirit to bear fruits of joy, peace and so much more.
The world and Satan want you to believe that peace and joy have to be earned. Many people believe that peace and joy come only when we work hard enough to remove circumstances that cloud our minds. But did you know that you can have peace and joy even when everything around us is falling apart?
Consider the example of Job, who despite all of the turmoil and suffering, found it in himself to remain faithful to God. Joy and peace is not an external condition but a fruit that comes out of an internal revelation.
Galatians 5:22-23 tells us, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Joy, peace and so much more come not because of what our conditions are made of, but by what we are made of.
Are we made of self-reliant behavior, or are we built up on the foundation that is Jesus Christ, who has now given us the access and power to be connected to the enabling Spirit of God who gives us peace in the midst of circumstances?
God never promises that Christians will have storm-free lives. He never said that our problems and troubles will disappear when we give our lives to Him. As long as we are alive here on earth, we will have challenges. But Jesus does promise that He will overcome the world for us, and that we can have peace knowing that it is God himself who gives us peace, not our circumstances.
That's what Jesus referred to when He told the parable of the wise man who built on the rock and the foolish man who built on the sand (Matthew 7:24-27). To put our hope in the foundation that is our circumstance is like building on sand -- always shifting and always changing. However, when we put our hope and trust in the God who remains the same yesterday, today and forever, we can be assured that we can withstand any other storm.
Where do you claim your peace and joy? Is it out of the abundance or lack that you face or through the name of Jesus Christ who gives us a Spirit that bears fruit to love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?
