Are you happy, genuinely happy? Do you have true joy? Is your happiness sustainable or is it dependent on your circumstances? For most of us, our happiness is dependent on our circumstances. We let our circumstances dictate how we feel at any given time.

I must point out that there is a difference between happiness and joy. You don’t have to be happy to be joyful. In other words, you can be unhappy but still be joyful. (Take a minute and ponder on that). Now let’s talk about how they differ.

You see, happiness is an emotion, a feeling, but joy is an attitude or posture of the heart; it is a choice. We feel happy based on our current emotional state or situation but we choose to be joyful despite our emotional state or situation. Happiness is on the surface but joy is deep within us.

I want you to know that God wants you and I to be happy and joyful, but He wants our happiness and joy to be from Him. He wants us to have true, genuine happiness that is centered on Christ. According to Joyce Meyer, this is the only way our happiness can be sustained. Sometimes He will remove us from our worldly happiness to bring us into true, genuine, permanent joy that cannot be taken away by the enemy or our circumstances. I have known this to be true in my life. The caveat to that is that sometimes it happens through trials or storms that we face; because you see, majority of the time, it’s through those life storms that we encounter the different dimensions of God.

I remember a time in my life when I felt like I was finally in a place where I was happy and content. I felt like I had everything I needed, and I was living my best life, at least so I thought. Little did I know that happiness was not going to last a very long time. Then one of life’s major storms hit me full force and shattered my entire world. In the midst of this storm was when I got the revelation that the happiness I once felt was actually from worldly things and possessions and would not be sustainable much longer if it was to stay that way. Through the storm, God showed me not only how to seek after true happiness that only He can provide and sustain, but also how to always choose and keep my joy. He said in John 15:11,

“I have told you these things so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” [New Living Translation (NLT) version].

God wants us to choose joy!

Sometimes we might feel like wow, really God? I barely just got to a happy place and then another storm comes with full force and hits me like a ton of bricks, but it is vital that we recognize that everything that happens is actually for our good. Jeremiah 29:11 says

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

I know everything I just said is probably hard to receive right now; I know! I have been there. In the midst of the storm I was facing, the last thing I wanted to hear was that this storm or trial is happening for my good. How can a storm that is about to destroy my entire life be happening for my good? I couldn’t quite understand that. However, the more I leaned towards God, the more He showed me and gave me revelation of that truth, which helped me to hang on to my joy despite the situation.

When you choose to hang on to your joy, it sends the enemy into a panic state. He can’t understand why a person would be joyful even in the midst of chaos. It paralyzes him into submission, and you get your victory! Now if that doesn’t get you to hang on to your joy, then we need to talk some more. Here’s a scripture for you to hang on to in John 10:10 in the Amplified version,

“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].”

I once heard Jerry Savelle, a pastor and president of Jerry Savelle Ministries International, put it this way (a revelation given to him by the Holy Spirit), “if satan can’t steal your joy, he can’t keep your goods.”

A radio station, 89.3 FM KSBJ, in my home town has a yearly challenge where they ask listeners to take the joy pledge; it goes like this: I choose joy And when I keep my eyes on Jesus, I have joy When I lose it, I will choose it, I choose Joy!

So I want to challenge you today to also take the joy pledge, no matter where you are in life, no matter what you are currently facing, choose joy!

Until next time, remember, keep your hope in God for He loves you and has promised to never leave you nor forsake you!