Philippians 4:4 (NIV) Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Joy is not just a feeling; it’s a way of being. We can have joy on the worst days of our lives, because it’s not just “happiness”. Pure joy comes from the love of God. When we have God on the inside, we have joy. Whether we acknowledge it or not is up to us. We have the power to decide to have a great or terrible day.
The Bible tells us that Jesus went to the cross out of joy. (Hebrews 12:2 (NLT)) Physically He may not have been joyful, but I believe He was thinking of us on that cross and rejoicing that we would be able to have a relationship with Him when it was all over.
Joy is not always our first thought when things go wrong, but if we are joyful, things have a way of working out for good. God takes bad and uses it for good. He is a good God and can only do good things. We have to go through trials, but how we react to them exposes where our joy is.
When we find ourselves in a negative situation, we need to stop and purposefully say out loud, “I’m not going to let satan steal my joy!” Then smile. We may have to pretend at first, but eventually our spirit will take over and we can’t help by rejoice. It depends on our faith and how we let God flow in our lives. We need to surrender to God daily and allow His joy to flow through us.