Spreading Joy!

What puts a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and a skip in your step? What brings you JOY?

Oh, there are so many things that have brought me JOY!!

•  The day that I trusted Christ as my Savior and repented of my sins… they are forever G-O-N-E! Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:18 If Jesus is your hope, and you know the truth of His Word, you can have everlasting JOY! And when your heart is overflowing with JOY, you can’t help it when it overflows and spills onto the people around you! JOY is contagious!

•  The day that I had the privilege of leading someone to Christ for the first time! Wow! I can’t describe how I felt that day! I was literally jumping up and down for JOY! The girl that was saved had the biggest smile on her face, and we were able to rejoice together! The first thing we did was to tell everyone around us what had just happened! That is spreading JOY! I know that the angels were rejoicing too! Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. Luke 15:10 

• The Word of God! Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. Jeremiah 15:16 Reading the Bible has brought JOY to my heart so many times when I was down and discouraged!

• Jesus! Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2  I have read this verse so many times, but this time I understood that it was a JOY to Jesus to endure the suffering of the cross, despising the shame of my sin and the sins of the whole world that were placed upon him. It was a JOY for him to suffer because of his great love for me and for you! He loves us so much that he paid for our sins so we could be set free and live with him forever! There is JOY in the presence of the Lord: Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Acts 2:28

 Listen, you can’t have true JOY until you know Jesus! There is a difference between happiness and joy. There are many things that can make smile, or make you happy for a while, but there is nothing that comes close to the JOY that comes from having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!

 I am NOT saying that if you have a relationship with Jesus, everything will be perfect and you will never have any troubles or pain again! The Bible tells us this about the church of Macedonia: How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. 2 Corinthians 8:2 They had a great trial of affliction and deep poverty, and yet they still had an abundance of joy!

I would love to hear from you!

 What brings you JOY? Do you have JOY today? If this encouraged you today, please share it with someone else and SPREAD JOY!

Disclaimer: You can have JOY without putting an exclamation point (or two!!) at the end of every sentence… but it makes reading fun!! 🙂