And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost. – Acts 13:52 (KJV)
The disciples had just experienced the leaders stirring up people against them. They had experienced people arguing against them and persecution.
If I was one of the disciples, I would have felt really discouraged. Here I am trying to do what God has called me to do and people are not being nice. They’re trying to run me out of the town. Talk about discouraging!
And yet, we’re told in Acts 13:52 that the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Isn’t that interesting? That you can have joy that isn’t depending on everything perfectly in your life. You can have joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. In fact, joy is one of the fruits of the spirit named in Galatians 5.
That joy that the Holy Spirit brings isn’t joy that depends on everything going right in our lives. Instead, it comes from Him. Joy that comes from knowing the Holy Spirit is lasting joy. It doesn’t change depending on how we are treated and how our circumstances are. Instead, it’s steady because its based on the Holy Spirit.
So challenge yourself to live with an attitude of joy. That doesn’t mean things are going perfectly in your life. It means that you base your joy based on knowing the Holy Spirit, not on people, circumstances or things. And that’s how the disciples could have joy even when things weren’t going well for them.
