How do you guys maintain joy?

Hey Antipas,

Let me start by welcoming you to the Church! You became one of us about a year ago, we are glad to have you! I have some thoughts to share with you about the lack of joy you are experiencing right now.

So let me start by telling you something I hope you already know. When a person becomes a Christian, God begins bringing all of the corruption in their hearts and minds to the surface so the Church can help them take out the trash. We call this sanctification. Sanctification is hard. I mean very hard.

But let me share some hope with you...are you ready for this?

"For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." (Romans 8:18 ESV)

So let me tell you a little about the glory that is to be revealed. When we become a believer, Jesus Christ puts our lives into an Eternal Rewards program, and I want to tell you how it works...you are going to love this...

Let me put my explanation into financial terms. Since you live in the United Kingdom, I am going to use British pounds as the currency (I hope I picked that one right!) In British pounds, the eternal rewards program looks like this:

If you give me one pound today, I will give you ten thousand pounds tomorrow.

With an exchange rate like that, how much suffering would you endure for an offer like that? How many risks would you take? How much discomfort would you tolerate today for a pay off like that?

This is why in the Psalms it says sorrow may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning...

yeshuaslavejeff said:

As written, the Ekklesia were CONTINUALLY full of righteousness, peace and joy.....

and , the strength of my joy is (daily) union with Yahushua Hamashiach.

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But Paul once said they suffered so much they longed for death

Is Antipas taken?97 said:

That makes a lot of sense, I wish I knew what was ahead

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Are you doing anything you feel guilty about? This is not a judgment, just a question. It was the first thing that came to mind when I read your post.
Abraham Lincoln said when asked about happiness that he guessed people were just about as happy as they made up their minds to be.
Since you mentioned a silver spoon, I am also wondering if you have too much time on your hands. One thing that helps me is to get busy for others...see other people's real suffering and do what you can to help. Like how about using your resources to end homelessness. And/or help build housing with your own two hands with Habitat for Humanity, or just do whatever you feel led to do, for others, who are less fortunate than you, you know?
And give thanks. Remember, there are so many people here and around the globe that have it so much worse than you. That helps me a lot...to listen to Democracy Now and realize things could be a whole lot worse, and get busy praying for others...individuals to whole nations.
And finally, happiness is not the most important thing. We all go through ups and downs and times of life. Maybe it is a testing of your faith. The most important thing is to remember the suffering Jesus went through for us...to be thankful he made a way for us to be saved...to "just believe."
God bless you. I will pray for you.

Whenever I am feeling blue or sad I prefer to visit my local church. Or I contact a friend for support. I also find walking during the day time helps clear my mind and makes me feel better. I used to keep a diary but after a while I stopped. I still have it somewhere in my apartment. Talking to other people who understand me is the best and quickest way to make me happy.

Is Antipas taken?97 said:

Been christian for maybe almost a year or over, my memories fuzzy. It was really great for starters but overtime I've just spiralled into an unstable mess. The more I tried to get closer to God the further I got. Other people get saved and sure they struggle, but they always overcome, and their filled with joy and assurance, and many of them have more reason to be sad than me. I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth, so I know I'm a spoilt brat saying this, but Seeing people like that feels like a knife on my heart these days. I'm happy others are being blessed, but I sometimes don't want to even hear other people testify, every time they talk about how good God is to them I just remember how pathetic I am and feel alienated. I've stopped projecting my insecurities on God and I'm willing to admit I have no idea what his thoughts are. The real issue is me. I don't get why I'm such a faithless mess and others are so joy filled with God. Before being saved I was spiritually miserable but content physically. I never got depressed, I barely worried (which wasn't good as I had no sense of urgency). But now I'm miserable and a complete wreck. When I should have more reason for joy and less reason to worry. I'm just not good at this, at all. In fact, I feel like some of my faith is strengthened just knowing there's no way on earth I could be doing any of this if it weren't for God's grace. Sometimes he works but you just don't notice. Its not that I rely on feelings. I could handle feeling down, its never progressing, no direction, I have NO joy, I don't want to live like this. I have a hard time finding assurance. I obey God to the best of what I've been given, I prayed daily, morning and evening and in between, I read through scripture, but all the knowledge I've gotten hasn't made my countenance any better. And now I'm effectively starting to backslide out my prayer life.

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Having joy does not mean you are happy all the time. But a sense of satisfaction or peace may come when you find a purpose and something to look forward to. Discovering what that purpose is or what small project for the time being to get involved in to occupy your thoughts or activity may at first present as a challenge. When as Christians we try to be something we are not... ie: a part of the body that we were not made to be... we feel bored, discontent, lackluster, and empty. Someone else's purpose for the kingdom may seem more noble and so we may try their "hat" on for a while, but it just doesn't seem to suit us for the long term. We see many things around us that we cannot control and we become discouraged. Comparison is a joy killer... we cannot trade with others who seem to be suffering more than we are and we cannot borrow joy from others who seem to be more content than we are either. What can we do? It may be time to discover yourself as a part of the body of Christ. What really interests you... (not comparing to what you think should interest you) that is of good merit. Brainstorming how you think that might help encourage the body of Christ. Its ok to be creative, its ok to think out of the religious "box" and its ok not to have your current interest be permanent. Some in the body of Christ have the gift of helps... for some this may manifest itself as one gift... but for others it may be multiple talents in which they switch around a lot so that they are not bored.

God wants us to stimulate our mind, stretch our comfort zone, risk loving someone without expecting in return, falling in love with his creation and being grateful for simple things... I pray as you search for whatever is good, noble, excellent and praiseworthy, encouraging, uplifting, worthy ... you'll find your niche and your experience of contentment and interest in life will return. Have patience... be honest with God how you feel but never stop searching ... just be patient to wait as you seek. Its part of the journey.

Depression can devour your spirit but please don't give up. Many times I felt like giving up but I pray and go to fellowships. Also both of my therapist are Christians in a place where I don't expect it so it helps talking to them too.

Is Antipas taken?97 said:

Been christian for maybe almost a year or over, my memories fuzzy. It was really great for starters but overtime I've just spiralled into an unstable mess. The more I tried to get closer to God the further I got. Other people get saved and sure they struggle, but they always overcome, and their filled with joy and assurance, and many of them have more reason to be sad than me. I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth, so I know I'm a spoilt brat saying this, but Seeing people like that feels like a knife on my heart these days. I'm happy others are being blessed, but I sometimes don't want to even hear other people testify, every time they talk about how good God is to them I just remember how pathetic I am and feel alienated. I've stopped projecting my insecurities on God and I'm willing to admit I have no idea what his thoughts are. The real issue is me. I don't get why I'm such a faithless mess and others are so joy filled with God. Before being saved I was spiritually miserable but content physically. I never got depressed, I barely worried (which wasn't good as I had no sense of urgency). But now I'm miserable and a complete wreck. When I should have more reason for joy and less reason to worry. I'm just not good at this, at all. In fact, I feel like some of my faith is strengthened just knowing there's no way on earth I could be doing any of this if it weren't for God's grace. Sometimes he works but you just don't notice. Its not that I rely on feelings. I could handle feeling down, its never progressing, no direction, I have NO joy, I don't want to live like this. I have a hard time finding assurance. I obey God to the best of what I've been given, I prayed daily, morning and evening and in between, I read through scripture, but all the knowledge I've gotten hasn't made my countenance any better. And now I'm effectively starting to backslide out my prayer life.

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Tune into Charles Stanley’s podcasts.

Is Antipas taken?97 said:

True, but if I can pretend to be clever, aren't the last first?

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On the day of the Lord I would say that will happen