Think Joy

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Joy! It’s lost to a lot of people because they think it comes from being problem free. Still others think it is a perpetual state of happiness - NOT!

No other book in the Bible embraces joy like the letter to the Philippian Christ followers. If you know something about this letter, you know that it was not written while Paul was seated on the Mediterranean coastline, catching some rays, and sipping something with an umbrella in it. That wasn’t the case. Paul was a prisoner in Rome when he wrote it, and yet Philippians resonates with joy.

How could this be? How could Paul exude joy under those circumstances? Maybe a better questions is, can I experience joy in my circumstances?

The answer is a resounding yes! Joy was not something unique with Paul; joy is for you. Paul said the same thing in a letter to the Romans, “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and JOY in the Holy Ghost” [Romans 14:17 - KJV, emphasis mine].

While joy permeates the Philippian letter, there is another word that is often overlooked — the mind. It is used ten times, linked to thinking five times. and coupled with remember once; sixteen references to the mind.

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not talking about positive or possibility-thinking, word-faith, or mere optimism here. The Bible is not a self-help book that puts a little spring in your step and a smile on your face. The Bible wasn’t given to us to make us a little happier. When Paul wrote about the mind, he was thinking biblically, along Scriptural lines. 

Joy is not found in a problem-free world, there is no such place. Rather, joy is found in the way we think about who God is and what He can do!

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your mind on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8