Have you ever asked yourself about Joy and Joyful living? What is Joy? Where does your joy come from? Who is the source of your joy? Can you be joyful no matter what season you are in?
The past few weeks has been busy yet joyful. GROW in His Word has started the Spring Session on Facebook. They changed it up a little this session. This session, we are doing a 37 day study on the book of Philippians. We are starting to wrap up it. I wanted to include you in this journey as we studied but I couldn’t figure out how to incorporate it here without posting everyday. Why is because of everyday life, daily studying of Philippians and working on my homework for our Wed. night Bible study at church. I’ll give you a sample of some of the things I have learned in the first few verses of chapter one.
So what is all this joy and joyful living all about? Is it really attainable? Even when we are going through trials, tribulations and persecution? Or is joyful living only for when things are going good? The good news is yes to all of the above!!! The key verse in chapter one says,
“For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” Philippians 1:21
There is so much truth to joyful living in this one short verse. Verses four through eleven give us great insight to where and what we can have our joy in. Here is a brief listing:
- Joy in prayer.
- Joy for the spreading of the gospel.
- Joy in the good work God is perfecting in us.
- Joy in our chains and God’s grace.
- Joy in fellowship with fellow believers.
- Joy in wisdom and knowledge.
- Joy in the fruit of righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ.
When we express these joys in our lives then living is Christ because we are living in Christ. Dying is gain because our ultimate reward will be, being present with our Lord forever.
If you have never sat down and went through this book verse by verse, digesting what you have learned. If it has been awhile since you have studied Philippians, I encourage you to dig into this book and see what God has to show you.
In His Love, Crisi