SWITCH TO JOY
Acts 16

How are you serving Him? If, in your serving Him, the fullness of joy is not in place, then you are not accessible to Him. Regardless of how costly or painful your services are unto Him let joy be present, so you can be present in His presence. The Psalmist stated in Psalm 16:11, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy…” Think of it, if you have missed His presence, how can you claim to have served Him? Many services are being rendered unto Him, but only the Lord knows how many are actually getting to Him in His court. Serving God can be looked at from different angles, but it has to be in the fullness of joy. Serving is not only when a celebration is going, or whereby praises are being rendered and emotions are high. Serving Him can be in a time of great challenges where all ways to having life is blocked. It could be where the only way out of a situation is death, but praise and worship is going on with joy. The apostle Paul and Silas demonstrated what serving in a time of challenges with joy could do in Acts 16:25-26, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. ” What happened to Paul and Silas was not a make-believe story, it was a true life documentation, that is written for our learning. God is only accessible through joy. Do you want to gain access to Him? Praise Him with joy, not with the burden that brought you to the place of worship. Paul and Silas were at the point of death, but they did not let their situation interfere in serving God. They switched unto praising Him in joy, because without joy you cannot praise Him, and their service became an acceptable sacrifice that led to their breakthrough. “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth…” (Psalm 48:1-2) By going through the pages of the Bible, it should not take forever to clearly identify that joy is the key for living a victorious life. Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” From experience, Paul, the apostle, also stated in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” It can be easier said than done, but the fact of the matter is, without joy, God is not accessible. Laughing or smiling is not an expression of rejoicing, before Him. Rejoicing goes deeper into the heart and it is about knowing and trusting that He is beautiful for all situations.
Prayer for today: Let your joy fill me up; o Lord let your joy overwhelm me in every area of life, in Jesus’ name.