I’ve been considering why is it that the enemy strives to attack our joy. And why is it that many of us get confused with the concepts of joy and happiness. For me real joy is an inward sense of peace, contentment and delight, due to our righteous standing in Christ. Knowing that we are sealed in the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption.

This state of joy should be present in the disciple of Jesus regardless of their circumstances or challenges they might be facing. Biblical joy is a supernatural experience that cannot be explained outside of a supernatural act of God and His wonderful grace. Reminds me of an old song that had a lyric in it that went like this, “…the world didn’t give us joy so the world can’t take it away….”

Jesus told His disciples that He spoke His words to them so that His joy would be in them and their joy would be full or complete (John 15:11). It was for this reason that Paul told us to ‘rejoice always’ (1 Thessalonians 5:16); even in his sorrow Paul was able to rejoice (2 Corinthians 6:10). The book of Nehemiah teaches us that, the joy of the Lord is our strength. (Nehemiah. 8:10) On the other hand, happiness is based on what ‘happens’ to us. Thus, it is merely an emotionally good feeling (which is a pretty alright feeling to have) when things go according to our desires. The fact that many Christians live their lives based on the pursuit of happiness instead of cultivating the joy of the Lord, in obedience to God and faith in the finished work Christ, is an indictment of the shallow theology that seems to be around today. This shallowness of teaching has succumbed to the worldly ideal that equates success with material prosperity, comfort, and the ability to live a life of ease.

As a minister of the gospel for almost 30 years, I’ve seen many Christians’ uproot their families, leave their church families and friends, and move to another place, region, state, sometimes even country, merely for economic gain or to escape some other external pressure, all without hearing from God first. Many I’m sure were more led by a belief system based on the pursuit of happiness rather than pursuing the mind of Christ for their God-given purpose. (I’ve seen many of the same people either fall away or never maximized their purpose and calling in Christ.) As a follower of Christ since my early twenties, I would say that maybe more than half of the things I am called to do are difficult or just mundane, often they are things that don’t make me happy necessarily. Things like paying close attention to details, endless meetings, conflict resolution, dealing with tragedies in families, financial challenges, persevering in the ministry in spite of discouragement, and, hardest of all, the continuing challenge of dying to self and putting on Christ instead of choosing immediate pleasures and taking the easy roads presented to me in life.

When Jesus told His disciples that He must suffer many things and spoke of His pending death and resurrection, Peter began to rebuke Jesus. (Perhaps Peter equated God’s will with happiness at this stage of his development in Christ – who knows?) Jesus’ response was so sharply opposed to Peter’s perspective that He called him Satan (Mark 8:31-33). Jesus then used this interface with Peter to teach His disciples that following God involves taking up their crosses. Following God involves suffering, not just happiness. Those who use happiness as the greatest gauge to tell if they are in the will of God or not, have totally missed it! The greatest gauge for a believer’s success in life is obedience to the revealed will of God, not fleeting emotional sensations that accompany happiness. Success in life is more about knowing that you are walking in the purposes of God, than anything else. That’s where we are to find real and lasting joy.

Finally, Paul the apostle said he was delivered from the “mouth of the lion” (Satan) when he stood defending the faith before Caesar. He then said he knew the Lord would deliver him from every evil attack, in spite of noting in this same passage his imminent martyrdom for the faith (2 Timothy 4:6-18). How could Paul, in the same sentence, say that both God would deliver him from every evil attack (verse 18) and yet also that his life would soon be taken (verse 6)? Because he knew that all of the evil satanic attacks against him were meant to stop him from obeying the Lord; it had nothing to do with happiness or living a long, comfort-filled life without conflict or pain. It was knowing that he was in the centre of God’s will.

May God deliver us from the false notion that gets us to believe, that happiness and joy are the same thing.