fruitful vine

Know Jesus, Know Joy (Part 1)

Our country (Philippines) was once again hit just recently by typhoon. The world still remember typhoon Yolanda which hit the lower part of our country especially Tacloban which was almost wipe out by storm surge and brought great devastation to life and means of livelihood. You can see people suffering from the aftermath of such calamity. Damaged properties, lost lives and no means of livelihood. People are on their knees begging for help. There's a mass exodus of people going to Manila and other places thinking that they will die if they will just stay there. Rebuilding the place and even the lives of people affected by the typhoon will take not just year but years. Some people think that there's no more hope in that place. A question came to my mind, how can anyone find joy in such circumstances? People often mistook happiness from joy and joy from happiness; but the two are different from one another. Happiness is a fleeting emotion which is often the result of an outside factor - it is based on external circumstances while true joy swells up from within - an outcome of something internal. That even in the  midst of difficult circumstancesyou can rejoice because you have that inner sense of peace, hope, strength and contentment.How can you rejoice in such difficult circumstances? How can you be joyful in a chaotic world? The answer is no secret =) If you know Jesus, you can know joy and you can have that true joy. The book of Philippians is a great study of joy. The word joy and rejoicing can be found in the four-chapter of the Apostle Paul's epistle many times. What is more interesting is that Paul wrote the letter while he is in prison in Rome and chained to a Roman soldier. Interesting indeed! What is it that Paul know that rise above his circumstances to be joyful?  (to be continued....)