#Ichoosejoy

I have made a huge decision today. Yes probably one of the biggest decisions I have made in my life. I have decided to choose joy in everything that I do. I bet you thought it was something bigger huh. I choose joy and not happiness. When I have been feeling like I am in a rut, overall lethargic and maybe a bit oppressed, I notice that I have chosen to put my happiness in my circumstance and not a joy in the Lord. Well that stops today! #Ichoosejoy. I am realizing that happiness is fleeting and can change with the shift of the wind. Joy is everlasting and can’t be taken unless you give it up. God’s full intention for us was to have happiness coupled with joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength! I repeat the joy of the Lord is our strength. Happiness is not a characteristic of God because it changes. If we are created in God's likeness and image, we should have a stable emotion state. God doesn't shift of change and is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Happiness doesn't allow stability because it is fleeting based on our apparent possessions and ideals. Happiness is tangible. It can come from money, family, career, what you own, friends or even your physical appearance. Those things can be here today and gone tomorrow. Just look at Job in the Bible. Everything that he had was taken from him rather quickly. Joy is supernatural and can’t be touched unless you allow it to be usurped from your authority. Yes you have control of your joy! It is part of your dominion. Joy is a fruit of the spirit and in essence is an attribute of God who is a supernatural and eternal being so therefore it can’t be shaken by natural things. If you want to be happy then put your happiness in the fact that you are redeem and set free. Place your happiness in the fact that God has given you a garment of salvation and a robe of righteousness. (I mean who doesn't like clothes) That is the kind of happiness that God wants us to have. So as I look at my surrounds and probably have a little bit of a reason to not be happy, (but just think that even at your lowest, there is someone who has it worst so REJOICE) I choose to grasp my authority and choose joy!