Diva Zone ™ Magazine 2019 Holiday Issue - The DIVA Zone Magazine | Page 17

“
Th e Good News
is that God has
given each believer
the ability to
receive and live in
abundant joy each
day, through the
work done by the
Holy Spirit in our
lives.”
I
look forward to the holiday season each
year. For me it is full of love, friends and
family, and most of all fellowship, but
for some it can be a time full of sadness
and emotional barriers, that keep you from
experiencing the joy of what this season
represents. I can admit it is a challenge,
with the hustle and bustle of planning, the
reality of lost love ones, shopping for gifts,
fi ghting through those long lines, holiday
gatherings, and those ringing bells of
excitement, that lead to false expectations
of what the world defi nes as the holiday
season and what should bring you joy. When
focused on those false interpretations of
joy, it can cause you to become frustrated
and miss out on the joy that we as believers
are free to experience.
The good news is that God has given
each believer the ability to receive and
live in abundant joy each day, through
the work done by the Holy Spirit in our
lives… and Him equipping us with the very
fruit required to experience joy (Galatians
5:22). Biblical joy is a word that expresses
exceeding gladness or rejoicing and it
applies to the disposition of our heart. It is
usually associated with the people of God,
who celebrate God’s blessing at a number
of occasions- feasts, victories in battle,
the entrance of a new king, and we are
encouraged to serve God with joy, so that
we would not lose out on the blessings of
God (Deut. 28:47).
The best display of joy in the Word of
God is the dramatic announcement of the
greatest king to be born on this earth…
the birth announcement of Jesus! In Luke
2019 Special Holiday Edition
17
BY TOSHA J. BROWN
2:10 the angel declares,” Do not be afraid, for
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy
which will be to all people. For there is born to
you this day in the city of David a Savior, who
is Christ the Lord.” Hallelujah! In essence, the
angel said, come and see the gift that I have for
you from God. It is a gift of joy for the entire
world. I bring you Jesus, the Savior of the world
and all you have to do is open the package and
receive it. Therefore, we can see it is the will of
God that we receive and experience joy.
Let me share with you a few practical
steps of how we as believers can continue
to operate in joy.
The Bible teaches us that in the presence
of the Lord there is “fullness of joy” (Psalms
16:11). When we spend time with the Father
in prayer, praise and worship, and studying His
Word, we experience God’s fullness. When we
concentrate on pleasing God we have no time
to be unhappy and sad. His presence alone is
liberating and when we spend enough time
with Him we experience joy.
The world’s standard of joy is temporal and
based on circumstances and conditioned by
how you feel. The problem with this type of joy
is that if external conditions change, your joy
changes with it. This is not God’s best for you!
God declares that every good and perfect gift
comes from Him (James 1:17), and that He
will never leave you, nor forsake you (Hebrews
13:5). The Apostle Paul teaches us in Romans
12:1-2, that instead of being molded by this
world, we as believers should be transformed
by the renewing of the mind. Living by God’s
way requires a spiritual transformation, which
starts in the heart and mind. A mind dedicated
to the world and its concerns, will produce
a life tossed back and forth by the currents
of culture; never being able to experience
joy. But a mind dedicated to God’s truth will
produce a life full of joy.
As the people of God we have to resolve
in our hearts the true meaning of this time of
year, so that we will not uphold the world’s
standards of joy, which will only leave us
empty and left with a false sense of joy. We
can take up the cause of this world and wrap
ourselves in a false security blanket of joy, or
we can choose to receive our gift of joy that
God has appropriated for each of us. Our
focus should always be on Jesus and His birth
into this world as our Savior.
The bait of Satan is to trick you to believe
your emotions and lock you out of God’s
best. He wants you depressed, unhappy,
and focused on your circumstances and
conditions long enough that he can lure you
out of the presence of God. He is counting on
you to babysit your feelings and sulk in your
emotions. When we take our focus off of God,
we back out of true fellowship with God; and
with other believers and then Satan seeks,
roars, and attacks (1Peter 5:8-9). As believers,
we must operate on the truth of God’s Word
and not on our emotions. When we fellowship
with other believers we draw upon them for
strength and encouragement (Nehemiah
8:10).God takes great pleasure in your joy. He
says that He will give you the desires of your
heart. If you like reading… you should read.
For me, I love making jewelry … so I make
jewelry. Whatever God has given you desire
to do, glorify God and do it (Psalms 21:1-2).
During this season, I encourage you to
unwrap your Gift of Joy and walk out each
day with its benefi ts and blessings.