The Bible says in Nehemiah 8:10 that the joy of the Lord is our strength, but many times we may find ourselves just not feeling exceptionally joyful.
How do we become joyful?
To me, one of the best ways to find joy is one that is so elementary that many of us may have learned it as children in Sunday school.
To become more joyful you must first ensure that your number one priority in everything is serving Jesus. The Bible says in Matthew 6:33 that if we seek first the kingdom of God everything else will be added to us as well.
The second way to find joy is by putting other’s above ourselves. Philippians 2:4 says that we are not look to our own interests, but rather to the interests of others. If we busy ourselves by serving others, especially the less fortunate, it is impossible to focus on ourselves and our own problems.
The final way to find joy is by learning to love ourselves. Matthew 22:39 says that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. If we don’t have a godly love for ourselves it is much more difficult to love others.
To break this entire concept down as an acrostic that many of us may have learned as children it would come out like this:
J – Jesus
O – Others
Y – You
If we focus on putting Jesus first, other’s second and ourselves last we will never find ourselves lacking in joy or strength.