Rejoice and Be Glad

When people see this revival of joy, this revival of laughter, they ask, “What is the fruit of this?”  Pardon the pun, but we are the fruit of this!

To the physical body and to the emotions, the fruit of joy is a strengthener.  The word strengthener reminds me of the verse in Nehemiah 8:10: “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” The joy of the Lord comes into our natural bodies, into our spirits, and becomes a physical, spiritual, and emotional strength.  The Holy Spirit’s office is that of strengthener.  So why would He not know how to bring us into joy to strengthen us?

When you start your day, begin to laugh just however long you can—fifteen seconds, if that is as far as you can go.  Breathe in and just go, “Ha, ha, ha.”  Would it not make sense that God, who created our bodies to be self-healing, also created us as emotional beings, that the body and the emotions and the mind would work together to bring healing?

Medical science has is noted that a good laugh changes blood pressure.  So if you have high blood pressure, it will raise it and then lower it to a healthy area, reduce muscle tension, and improve digestion.  If you laugh hard enough to cry, tears will be released that contain bacteria-killing agents.

Joy is an aspect of God’s nature.  It’s the curative, restorative aspect of God doing psychotherapy, physical therapy, spiritual therapy, to help us get above our circumstances that we might be energized and empowered with His presence to do what we are called to do.

“You have made known to me the ways of life: you will make me full of joy in Your presence.” (Acts 2:28, NKJV)