5 Simple But Powerful Ways To Fight For Your Joy

“No one can get Joy by merely asking for it. It is one of the ripest fruits of the Christian life, and, like all fruits, must be grown. ~Henry Drummond

The other day my daughter said something to me that was simple but powerful. She said, “Mom, keep fighting for your joy.“‘

The words, “fight for your joy” made me realize that joy doesn’t just fall into our laps, but rather is something we have to defend.

I’m pretty confident that I’m not alone when I say that finding joy this year has been a challenge. The Covid19 pandemic along with the political unrest in this country, have brought fear, anxiety and stress for many. Personally, I have faced a lot of loss this year. Our daughter (who is also one of my very favorite people to spend time with) moved across the country, I lost a job I loved, lost a sponsor I found a tremendous amount of support from, and recently I was given a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease. I have struggled with managing feelings of fear, worry, anxiety and depression. I even began questioning the depth of my faith. Since joy is a fruit of the Spirit, shouldn’t joy be a natural outflow of the Holy Spirit that lives within us? However, when I heard the words, “fight for your joy,” I was reminded that joy is a fight-it’s part of the good fight of faith (1 Corinthians 16:13).

By standing firm in our faith, we are choosing to fight for our joy.

In Proverbs 24:10 we are told, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” As Christ followers we have been given all the tools we need to fight our battles. For one thing, we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. This means that even if we feel weak at times, we can lean on Christ and in Him we can find strength (Philippians 4:13). The word of God also tells us that when we are weak the power of Christ still works through us (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Knowing that God is with us in our trials gives us incentive to not faint under pressure, but to fight the enemies harassments of fear and worry.

I’m on a mission to find my way out of fear and anxiety to get to the abundant life Jesus promises, a life filled with His joy.

In order to reach my goal of living a more satisfying life, a life of joy and peace, I’m learning that I must become fearless in my pursuit. This means taking control of the things I can and surrendering to God the things I can’t. It also means being intentional-in my action steps as well as in my faith. We have to ask ourselves, “how badly do I want to feel joyful, and what am I willing to do to fight for it?”

So lately, as my daughter reminded me, I’ve been fighting for my joy and here’s what I’m learning. I hope these tips will be an encouragement to you to fight for your joy as well.

1. Evaluate the condition of your emotional, physical and spiritual health.

The very first step to recover the feeling of joy is to evaluate the health of your mind, body and spirit. Are you aware of what your joy-robbers are? I wrote a blog called “Five Joy Busters That Rob You“, but there are many more than five joy busters. Ask yourself what is preventing you from feeling peace and joy. Once you’ve given this some serious thought, write them down. Writing down your struggles will help you clarify what you are battling.

You may need to re-evaluate your mental, physical and spiritual health. What was acceptable once, may not be acceptable today.

For example, for me my physical health has been robbing me of my joy lately. I have allowed my health issues to consume me to the point of feeling sad and depressed. It seems like the minute I turned 60, a few months ago, a switch went off inside of me and I became obsessed with my physical health. I believe this fear came from some deep rooted trauma of my mother dying at 65, and my grandmother dying at 63.

Ask yourself “what am I willing to do to fight for my joy?

2. Small action steps can make a big difference to your joy.

In my case, I set up all my annual doctor appointments, including an eye and dental exam. I also got all my basic blood work done. I felt a sense of empowerment by being pro-active. Once all my results came back I had so much peace. Things weren’t as bad as I had made up in my thoughts. Yes, I found out about an auto-immune condition, however, it’s a blessing that I found out now and can most likely still manage it better now that I know.

Another thing I did this year was to seek out a trauma healing therapist to help me understand my fears and anxieties. I am finding a lot of healing through her counseling.

I encourage you to look at your joy buster list, and see what you have control over so as to be equipped to fight for your joy.

What action steps do you need to take for yourself? Is it changes within an unhealthy relationship? Maybe you need to break down the walls of unforgiveness and extend grace to someone in your life? Do you need to find a medical doctor? Or perhaps you need to find community? Looking at your joy buster list will aide you and guide you to where you need to make changes.

3. What are your dreams?

When I began to think seriously about my dreams, I realized that I wasn’t doing anything to move towards them. This is a subtle way the enemy robs us of joy. We all need to have a vision of what joy looks like for us so that we can strive for it. My dream is actually quite simple, but it’s my dream and that’s all that matters. I dream of my family living near one another one day. I imagine eating meals together, or simply enjoying life in one another’s presence.

Something I learned from a course I took from Dr. Amen (a famous neuropsychiatrist) that has helped me is to make an album on my cell phone where I can collect pictures of what brings me joy. For example, I have pictures of my family. I also have pictures of me going for walks in the forest preserve with my husband. This is another dream of mine-that I will stay healthy enough to be able to go for long walks for many many years to come.

The Bible is very clear about us having dreams and visions for ourselves. Proverbs 29:18 says, “When there is no clear prophetic vision, people quickly wander astray. But when you follow the revelation of the Word, heaven’s bliss fills your soul.“

Take time to meditate on the dreams you have for yourself and then write them down and make a plan on how you can reach them.

4. Practice practice practice.

Lately I have been trying to be very mindful of my every thought. By human nature, we fall into habitual patterns of learned behavior. For example, I am naturally a negative, worst-case-scenario type of person. Resisting the automatic negative thoughts (Dr. Amen) that pop into my mind is honestly my biggest challenge. I have to intentionally practice what 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, which is to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

We all know that the battlefield is the mind. Our attitudes and behaviors all start with our thoughts. Satan, the enemy of our soul, wants to keep us enslaved to our self-defeating ways of thinking. Keep reminding yourself that with Jesus on your side, you have the upper hand.

It takes a lot of practice to walk in joy, so keep practicing living in joy and never give up.

5. Never forget the power of prayer.

Asking God to help you, moment by moment, and day by day is the single most critical step we can take in fighting for our joy. We simply cannot fight our battles alone. There are supernatural forces all around us, and we need the power of Christ to help us fight for our joy. Cry out to Jesus and ask Him for every need you have: for your healing, for that relationship that is causing you pain, to strengthen you when you feel weak, etc. The Bible says in James 4:2-3, “You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives...” and in Matthew 7:7-8 we are told, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

God cares about every detail of your life because He loves you and He wants you to ask Him for His help.

Fighting for joy has to be a priority. Put a stake in the ground that you will not be faint of heart and that finding the joy Jesus died for you to have is a mission that you intend to fight for. And then fight for your joy. Life is too short to live any other way.

One final thought on joy and the most important one is this-our joy is ultimately found in Jesus Christ. Whatever you are fighting against to find joy in your heart, give it to the One that is Joy Himself. His faithfulness will carry you through, all the days of your life here on earth.

Worship leader, Steffany Gretzinger, sings a beautiful song called “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus.” This song is a great reminder of God’s amazing love for us. Here are some of the lyrics:

No one ever cared for me like Jesus
His faithful hand has held me all this way
And when I’m old and grey
And all my days are numbered on the earth
Let it be known in you alone
My joy was found
Oh my joy, my joy

Please take a minute to soak in the lyrics of this song and as you do, may you allow the Holy Spirit to minister to your heart about the truth of lasting and genuine joy being found in Christ alone. Steffany Gretzinger is spot on-no one cares for you like Jesus does. So allow His presence to be your joy.

“. . . Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” ~ Nehemiah 8:10

Photo credit: Unsplash by Jessica Delp, Zoe Schaeffer, Sagar Patil, Amaury Gutierrez