What Is Joy? How to Feel God’s Presence 24/7 Without Chasing Highs
by Nikki Walton for CurlyNikki.com
“Joy can’t come after struggle as a prize. It won’t last. You have to look for it within and grow it there.” – unknown
“The fear is not you, The anxiety is not you. The joy is not you. The Joy is Me appearing as you, if you let Me.” – God to Nikki (2018)
What Is Joy, Really?
In Him is Joy with no opposite. No fear. No crash after the high. No striving or desiring for more. Just pure, perfect Love- abiding and true. Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.” There’s no painful toil for it. No earning it or squeezing (t)His Joy out of a perfectly worded prayer or practice. This Joy existed before language-before any series of words or even bodies to be in postures and poses.
The Practice That Brings Joy Back
Brother Lawrence says practicing the presence of God doesn’t exhaust or tax the body. It doesn’t wear you out. It feeds you in a way that food can’t and rests you in a way that a nap never could. Joy is what remains when you’re no longer reaching for it.
When Sitting With God Feels Like Work
AND YET…
And yet, lol, in the beginning it feels like effort. I described it before like correcting bad posture. In the beginning, sitting up straight hurts, even though it’s natural. Sitting up into God, feeling Him 24/7, hurts… it’s hard… taxing, even, to remember, but it’s absolutely natural and in seeming time (a short period), it will be become second nature again.
“The secret of joy is CHRIST in me- not me in a different set of circumstances.” – Elisabeth Elliot
What If Joy Wasn’t From the Sunset?
Take this into The Big Surrender with you today-
What if the Joy you felt in the sunset… wasn’t from the sunset?
What if it wasn’t the Friday, or the paycheck, or the answered prayer?
What if it was JESUS…Joy Himself… finally noticed?
He’s Been Here the Whole Time
Are you still chasing a reason to feel Joy, when the One behind every reason has been here all along? Waiting for you to look up, and in.
Ask yourself- What would happen if I stopped trying to feel something, and simply let myself be still enough to recognize Someone?
He’s not buried beneath your thoughts, or hiding deep beneath the surface of your experience. He’s shining right there on the top! Let Him be enough. And stay with Him long enough and you’ll see the inevitable changes. The Law of Love. The LOVE MUST COME FIRST. Then the whole entire rest of your life will work. This I am sure of.
I love you,
nik
