God's Recipe For Superb Life--Daily Devotional
Thursday 3rd, November, 2016.
Pastor Neyo

Peace And Joy In The Holy Ghost!

New Heart English Bible
for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
                    (Romans 14:17).
 

One of the ways the Holy Spirit helps in situations is to give  supernatural “joy.” However, it’s important to understand that this divine joy isn’t on the same low level of mere happiness. Happiness is based on circumstantial pleasure, merriment, hilarity, exuberance, excitement, or something that causes one to feel hopeful or to be in high spirits. These fleeting emotions of happiness, although very pleasurable at the moment, usually go just as quickly as they came. All it takes is one piece of bad news, a sour look from a fellow employee, a harsh word from a spouse, or an electric bill that is larger than what was anticipated — and that emotion of happiness can disappear right before a person’s eyes!

But joy is unaffected by outward circumstances. In fact, it usually thrives best when times are tough! It is God’s supernatural response to negative situations.

The Greek word for “joy” is chara, derived from the word charis, which is the Greek word for grace. This is important to note, for it tells us categorically that chara (“joy”) is produced by the charis (“grace”) of God. This means “joy” isn’t a human-based happiness that comes and goes. Rather, true “joy” is divine in origin, a fruit of the Spirit that is manifested particularly in hard times.

Someone may feel happiness, merriment, hilarity, exuberance, excitement, or “high spirits,” but all of these are fleeting emotions. On the other hand, “joy” is a Spirit-given expression that flourishes best when times are strenuous, daunting, and tough!

  Galatians 5:22 says,“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.…”
The word “peace” comes from the Greek word eirene, the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew word shalom, which expresses the idea of wholeness, completeness, or tranquility in the soul that is unaffected by outward circumstances or pressures. The word eirene strongly suggests the rule of order in place o