Galatians 5:22-23 are frequently memorized and often quoted verses which boldly declare the fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” What Spirit is the Bible referring to? The Spirit of Almighty God. (Certainly not the spirit of man.) And these wonderful traits flow naturally from God’s pure and holy nature.
Because of our sinfulness, the fruit of our unholy nature is often hate, bitterness, turmoil, impatience, harshness, evil, greed, doubt, arrogance, pride, and a tremendous lack of self control. Don’t believe me? You think people are better than that? Turn on the news for an hour. Pick up a newspaper. See what’s happening in the Middle East, in the United States, or even in your home town.
But God doesn’t like His children to behave that way so He’s made His fruit available to them. When you trusted Christ as Saviour, your spirit was quickened (or made alive). Once you are spiritually alive, you are living in the Spirit of Christ. Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” To walk in the Spirit means to let the Spirit of Christ govern your actions, attitudes, intentions, and motives. So if you are saved, you now live in the Spirit of Christ. And if you live in the Spirit of Christ, you should also walk in the Spirit of Christ. And if you walk in the Spirit of Christ, you will be filled with the fruit of His Spirit.
But sometimes things happen that can cause turmoil and steal your joy. Regardless of what you’re facing – an illness, an timely death in the family, a financial setback, a sick or wayward child, or any other challenge that’s out of your control – you can get heartsick by your circumstances, and on top of everything you’re already dealing with, you realize that you no longer feel the joy of the Lord. It feels like God has abandoned you. Why is that?
A couple of weeks ago I felt just like that. I didn’t even have pleasure reading God’s Word, and I love God’s Word. I thought, “Lord, what’s wrong? Where’s Your joy? Is there sin in my life?” I listened for an answer. Sin would definitely by a joy-killer. But nothing came to mind so I continued to pray, “Show me what I need to do to restore Your joy to my life.” Then I sat down and picked up my Bible. Since my daily Scripture reading has taken me into the book of Ezekiel, and I felt that I needed to read the Psalms right now, I opened to the Psalms and selected a Psalm at random. While reading, I came across Psalm 16:11 “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
There was my answer. In His presence is fulness of joy. Apparently I’d stepped out of the presence of God and didn’t realize it. I was so focused on me that I forgot about Him. The instant I realized that, my focus changed and my joy returned. And at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore.