Four Things That Rob Us of Our Joy

The Bible teaches that the Joy of the Lord is our Strength. Meaning, that during tough times, we can still have Joy even though there may be things that are going on around us that are not that wonderful. During this Christmas, you may not be that joyful. Maybe you're not where you want to be, or you have bad memories about things from past Christmases. Its real easy to not have Joy during this time of year.

I want to share with you 4 things that can rob you of your joy.

1. Circumstances. Things just happen to go wrong. These are the things that you can't really change, but seem to happen inevitably. You lose a job, a relationship isn't going well, you just can't seem to get ahead etc. These circumstances have a way of stealing your joy. There was guy in the Bible named Paul who knew about circumstance, he was in prison and was beaten and tortured. But do you know what? He still served God. He still had joy in the midst of those times because he knew that the circumstance was temporary but his relationship with God was eternal.

2. People. For some reason other people have a way of stealing your joy. Family members, or co-workers or someone who cuts you off on the freeway. Whatever it is, somehow we allow other people to steal our joy. DON'T LET THEM! I love the expression "don't let people rent space in your head". Just because someone else is not well adjusted and chooses to take their pain out on you doesn't mean that you have to let them.

3. Things. 10 years ago I didn't have a cell phone, and do you know what? I got by just fine. But now, its become a necessity, or at least I've made it one. Whats the point? Things, that is the stuff we have that we don't really need, or the stuff we don't have that we don't really need, has a way of consuming our minds if we let it. Something breaks, something gets stolen, or we don't have the thing that we want. Things are just that: things. Let them stay that way. You can replace a thing you cant replace a person.

4. worry. And what do we worry about? circumstance, people and things. Jesus said we can't add even an hour to our lives by worry. He takes care of the birds of the fields, how much more will he take care of us? Give up worry today. Let the Lord take that burden and move on. Life is alot easier when you're not clinging to worrying about things you can't change.

Be blessed today. If you're in the Seattle area STAY WARM! Its cold out there today!

matt