Reclaim Your Joy: 6 Principles to Help You Walk in God’s Joy

Joy is one of the marks of a Christian. Unfortunately, we get to lose it at different times due to various challenges. For example, we lose our joy when facing challenges and trials or have issues in the workplace. 

As someone said, once you notice that you dread waking up, it means that you have lost your joy. It isn’t God’s desire that we remain joyless. After all, one of the fruits of the Spirit is “Joy.” As such, we must find ways to reclaim our joy as quickly as we lose it. We will show you six principles to help you walk in God’s joy in this post.

How to Walk in God’s Joy

Jesus Christ wants ones to bask in abundant joy (John 15:11). As such, when we lose our joy, he wants us to get it back. The question that begs an answer is, “how do you reclaim your joy?” We cannot create joy by ourselves; we can only walk in God’s joy. See the principles below to know how:

True joy comes from God

The first principle to understand is that the only way to access true joy is by being in God’s presence. He is the only source of true joy. Psalms 16:11 tells us that in God’s presence is fullness of joy. In other words, we can never find true joy outside Him.

If you have been lacking joy for a while, likely, you haven’t spent time in God’s presence. It is time to find your way back into His arms and spend time with undivided attention. 

Watch your thoughts

One question you need to answer when your joy tank is low is, “what have I been thinking about?” Your thoughts have the power to affect your mood so having or losing joy depends on your dominant thoughts. 

It is easier to brood on negative thoughts than positive ones. If you let negative thoughts hold sway in your mind, they dampen your mood and make you lose joy. To reclaim your joy, you must be conscious of your thoughts. Philippians 4:8 tells us the kinds of ideas that should rule our hearts. 

Thanksgiving

It is almost impossible to be grumpy after giving God thanks. For you to give thanks, you must first spend time thinking about what God has done in your life. The more you ruminate over these things, the more you see that God has been faithful to you.

How does thanksgiving make you joyful? Psalms 126:3 helps us to establish a link. This verse tells us that joy fills our hearts because of the great things that the Lord has done. The only way you can remember and appreciate what God has done is through thanksgiving. Learn to give thanks and watch your joy return to you in its fullness.

Delight in God’s word

How do you feel when someone reassures you amid pain or sadness? It seems to calm you down and make you feel better. Now, imagine that you keep hearing the voice of God during your storm. His words will be like an ointment to soothe your pains.

God has given us this opportunity through the bible and other Christian resources. Psalms 119:111 says that God’s statutes are the joy of our hearts. We must consider the word of God as a price treasure that conditions us to bask in God’s joy. It is full of promises for all kinds of situations, testimonies of His great power, and the experiences of other people. All of these give us the assurance that God can come through for us regardless of our situation.

Service

Offering service has a way of brightening your day. We all derive a certain satisfaction from putting smiles on the faces of others. One way to walk in God’s joy is to become selfless and start to serve others.

There are so many opportunities to serve in our immediate surroundings. You can visit a sick friend and help out with their laundry or volunteer at an older adults’ home. Service doesn’t always have to be in church; the idea is to put joy on someone else’s face. 

Speak to someone

If you have tried all of the above and still have issues, you should speak to someone. Your best bet is to seek professional help by talking to a counselor or doctor. If you can’t afford to, you can reach out to your pastor or someone you can trust. 

When doing this, you must be as plain as possible so that the other person knows how you feel. With this, you can learn from their experiences and develop strategies to reclaim your joy.

Conclusion

What other ways do you think we can walk in God’s joy? Please share them in the comments section below. You can check out other impactful posts on GodKulture for different aspects of life and ministry.