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How joyful are you? Here are a few more ways to cultivate a more cheerful and glad spirit. And the first way is to:
Practice Patience and Pray
We have all experienced impatience in our lives. That irritability and dis-ease when you’re waiting for something and it feels like it’s taking forever to materialize. When something does not happen on your timeline you can lose hope and it can mess with your joy. When it comes down to it, impatience is really an indicator that you do not trust God and his timing. It’s a signal that you lack faith that God is working things out on your behalf and as a result, you can become heavy-hearted. To cultivate joy in the waiting, Romans 12:12 is a call to action: “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Another way to intentionally cultivate joy in your life is to:
Mind Your Mind
According to Proverbs 17:22: “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (ESV).
A joyful, positive mindset is key to experiencing a healthy and fulfilling life. The heart is your inner self, thoughts, emotions, and will. Good medicine refers to something that treats or alleviates the symptoms of disease. One translation of this verse says, “A cheerful heart causes good healing.”
All throughout Scripture we see the potent effects of the mind on the body. A joyful heart is good because it generates health and healing in your inner being. In contrast a crushed spirit dries up the bones or as Proverbs 12:25 explains, “anxiety in the heart of a person causes depression.” Interestingly these nuggets of wisdom are backed up by scientific studies that demonstrate the mind’s powerful influence over the body. A cheerful, contented temperament not only fortifies your mental health but enables your body to resist the attacks of physical disease.
That’s another reason to be enamored with God and how he created our minds and bodies. And, why he created you to experience joy! So if good medicine is a joyful heart, how can you foster and promote internal joy? Scripture says that God’s laws, precepts, and statutes refresh the soul and gladden the heart.
Psalm 19:7a says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.” And the prophet Jeremiah testified, “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight” (Jeremiah 15:16a).
Setting apart intentional time to be with God, meditating on his Word, his character, and his promises, is a guaranteed way to do your heart some good.
