Can’t Stop a Good Joy When it’s rolling

Paul and Silas were falsely accused, beaten and thrown into a Philippian jail. They were locked in stocks, chained to the floor and treated as criminals. Yet, in the midst of that darkness, stench and misery they sang songs that gave testimony of their great God.

Their circumstances didn’t stop Joy from flowing through their lives.

We are the generation of excuse finders. We search for reasons not to do the right thing at the right time. We blame everything and everybody we can to justify not demonstrating faith. And we often get an approving nod from others who agree, under our circumstances, they’d act the same way.

If you tell a baby to stop acting like a baby and act like an adult, you’d be the foolish one. A baby isn’t an adult and can’t be expected to act like one. If you tell an adult to stop acting like a baby and act like an adult, you’d be within your rights. An adult is expected to act like an adult.

When we’ve discovered the Joy of the Lord deposited within our lives, we cannot go back to live as though it isn’t there. We cannot allow disappointment and discouragement to control us.

Surely Paul and Silas didn’t want to be where they were but that didn’t stop Joy from oozing out of their lives. They didn’t allow their hearts to be dominated by the things they didn’t like. They sang.

The joy they possessed before the prison was the same joy that sustained them in the prison. Because you just can’t stop a good Joy when it’s on a roll.

Question: Ever had Joy show up and surprise you?

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