Minister’s Corner: Put joy in your tank

By: DR. BRIAN DORE’
Member of the Ville Platte Ministerial Alliance

The Bible says in Proverbs 17:22 NIV, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Depression, anger and wrath, the negative emotions, are coming and stealing the joy of serving Jesus in many of us. It is shriveling us up internally, and may I say, it is not helping our exteriors too much either. We must arise and correct this problem. We need to be merry within the church and our families. Are we losing our ability to play and have fun in the church? Where is the smile? Do people on the outside desire what we have when they look in and see misery, gloom and despair? Some of us wear a theme song on our countenance. It goes like this:” Gloom, despair, and agony on me - deep dark depression - excessive misery. If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all. Gloom, despair, and agony on me!” Do you think that is what the Lord wants us to broadcast to a lost and dying world that is looking desperately for hope? You know what the answer is. I don’t have to verbalize it.
God designed you to operate with a full tank of joy. 1 John 1:4 KJV says, “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” Don’t put water in your spiritual gas tank. God wants to place a supernatural joy there and that joy is our strength. It is our strength against the enemy when he comes against us with every devious device at his disposal. The Word of God tells us that we can resist the enemy and have power in the joy of the Lord.