One key difference between a victorious Christian and a defeated one is the level of joy they each experience. This is generally because the defeated Christian does not realize that there are two kinds of joy: the joy we receive from God as a gift and an attitude of joy that we must consciously choose to maintain and display to the world.

Because it is a choice, the second form of joy is in our control, not God’s. It can best be defined as deliberate thoughts, words, and actions that evidence the goodness and blessings of the Lord regardless of what our physical sensesâ€"or other peopleâ€"tell us. It is a proclamation to the world that we don’t put our faith in the things around us, but in the God who surrounds and sustains us.

James 1:2 says, “consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.� The word, consider, is derived from a Greek root which means to induce or bring forth from a position of authority or rulership. So James is saying we have control over our own level of joy and must bring it forth out of ourselves whenever we are in the midst of the storms of life.

This attitude of joy is vital to victorious living because it is the action behind our faith in any given situation. We have to realize there is an entire world out there full of people who are watching everything we do and listening to everything we say. God wants us to be light in their darkness by showing them we walk with a God who is bigger than any situation! Negativity doesn’t accomplish this, but an attitude of joy can and does.

Let’s look at a perfect example of someone who understood the power of joy: Paul. The second half of Acts 16 recalls a major trial in Paul’s life that few of us could endure at all, let alone endure with joy. The story begins in verse 16 and explains how Paul and Silas were being followed and harassed by a slave girl who was possessed. Eventually, Paul rebuked the spirit, and it left her.

When her owners realized she could no longer predict the future, they became very angry. They dragged Paul and Silas into the marketplace where Paul and Silas were “stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks (Acts 16:22-24).�

Anyone who’s seen The Passion of the Christ knows that Roman beatings were ruthless and severe. In this case, the punishment was administered with a wooden rod. This form of torture was generally applied to the soles of the feet, making it nearly impossible to walk for quite some timeâ€"usually days. This was done to Paul and Silas after they were publicly humiliated by having their clothes completely torn off them.

The Greek word used for stripped actually means to tear or rend, so their clothes were useless afterward. There is no mention that new clothes were given to them later, so the most likely scenario is this: they had their clothes brutally torn off them, and then they were beaten on the soles of their feet until they couldn’t walk. Regardless of their suffering, they were still forced to walk naked through the town to the jail, where their feet were then fettered in the stocks. The implication of the word used for stocks is that they were fashioned in such a wayâ€"or they were so tightâ€"that any movement would cause friction burns on their legs.

In spite of all this, Paul and Silas were worshipping and praying later that evening (vs. 25). The translation for the Hebrew word humneo (singing hymns) actually means to celebrate, so it appears that Paul and Silas were not just sitting on the floor and singing a few songs, trying to minimize the pain in their feet and legs. Instead, they were probably dancing and shoutingâ€"naked and undignified like David (2 Sam. 6:21-22)â€"before the Lord.

Who could do such a thing? After all that suffering, any sane person would have sat quietly, wallowing in misery and trying not to do anything that might increase the pain. Nobody would have thought any worse of these two if they had even become angry with God over this horrible turn of events. After all, they were simply doing what was right, and this was their reward?

However, Paul and Silas understood a great secret about victory and their God: “the joy of the Lord is your strength (Neh. 8:10).� When Nehemiah said these words, he was speaking to people who had been weeping over their sins. He prefaced it by saying, “do not grieve,� so clearly, Nehemiah was expecting the Israelites to choose to be joyful. The Hebrew word for strength in this verse actually means a fortified place, or a stronghold or fortress, and is derived from a Hebrew root which means to prevail. These are valuable principles in warfare. The ultimate goal in battle is to have a strong defense and prevail over the enemy.

Paul and Silas understood this. They knew that lasting relief from their pain, and true deliverance and victory were to be found only in God. They rejoiced in the knowledge that God was still God and was not surprised by their circumstances. He was not panicking or scrambling around for a solution to their problem. He had everything firmly under control, and was fully aware of what they were experiencing. In fact, the Lord had a great victory in mind, and Paul and Silas allowed that victory to be manifested through them because of their willingness to look beyond the temporal realm: the jailer and his entire family were saved (vs. 34).

This story illustrates how important it is for us to maintain an attitude of joy in our daily lives, regardless of our circumstances and surroundings. This ongoing choice frees God to move in us and through us! Next time, we’ll take a deeper look at this subject, and learn how we can begin to establish this character quality within ourselves.

To view and download the Leaders Make Leaders eBook, visit leadersmakeleaders.com

Send This To A Friend