Don’t misunderstand. Indestructible joy won’t remove issues and catastrophes and disasters from your life. We live in a fallen world packed full of all sorts of bad events that infiltrate our lives up until we walk through the door into our eternal lives. Sam Storms described the conundrum of the co-existence of God’s joy and life-created despondency: Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering; it is the presence of God.
That hints at the most important truth of anyone’s life. No one—not even the wealthiest person on earth—can possess indestructible joy unless he knows for certain his name is written in the Book of Life.
The billionaire able to buy the original Louisiana Purchase if he so desires may experience temporary joy, which only send hims on his search for his next episode of temporary joy. What does a person with a million dollars want most? A second million dollars.
Indestructible joy can only come from a source outside ourselves. No one can build indestructible joy. Many authors have wasted gallons of ink attempting to write books about how to find lasting joy, and they’ve all come up short.
Indestructible joy can only come from God. His delivery is simple. When a person becomes a Believer, the Father sends His Spirit to dwell within the new Believer. When the Spirit arrives, He deeply desires to grow nine God-amplified qualities within the Believer: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control (Galatians 5:22).
If a person’s joy is God’s version of joy rather than his own, then how can it be destroyed? It cannot. If the Spirit grows His version of joy within us, will He ever remove it from us? He will not. If we possess God’s joy within us, will it be superior to human-produced joy? It will be.
That’s why 1 Thessalonians 5:19 is such an important command to follow: “Do not quench the Spirit.” Amazingly, we have the power to stop the Holy Spirit from working in our lives. It follows, then, that if we stop the Holy Spirit from working in our lives, we stop Him from growing the aforementioned qualities in our lives. In that case, only temporary joy can be ours—only joy produced by ‘happy’ events in our lives. We can hope a myriad of temporary ‘happy’ events fill our lives, but what if they don’t? Imagine an incredibly horrendous event slams into you, knocking you so far down, you don’t think you’ll ever rise again. To whom or what will you turn?
A person has lots of options in those circumstances. The more negative ones include escape tools like alcohol or drugs. Fairly positive ones include self-help books, counseling, breathing exercises—just to name a few.
Yet the God of the universe—our Creator and Savior—offers His indestructible and ever-present joy to help you weather the storms of your life. Why not take full advantage of this amazing gift from Him?
If you’re a Believer, you do this by simply allowing His Spirit to grow His premier version of joy within you. It’s what He desires to do for you. Allow Him access.
Do this and you begin viewing the harsh issues crashing into your life differently. Instead of anger, frustration or sorrow boiling away your inner soul, you will see those despairing setbacks as a path to bring God into sharper focus, not just for you, but for everyone around you. From seemingly nowhere, praise will rise from your lips towards heaven. Those around you may gawk at you as if you’ve suddenly grown two heads.
What an opportunity you will have to share how your name came to be written in the Book of Life, and how you are the proud host (hostess) of the Holy Spirit, who is growing indestructible joy within you. If you can do that, you will end your day with praise, saying, “All in all, it was a fantastic day!” Amen.