Advent & Mental Health: Pt. 4
Good Medicine
“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Proverbs 17:22
If I told you to be joyful, what action steps would you take? If a friend asked, “how can I be joyful?” What would you say?
For a long time, I viewed getting joy like the lottery- when I was lucky I would have it but I never felt like I was the active agent to acquire it. Like the weather my emotions of joy or misery happened to me and I just had to sit there and take it.
John 15:1, 4-5 says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
This text tells us that there is fruit that grows from our relationship with God- so our relationships we find in prayer is the first place we start!
So, what is the fruit that we grow when we have a consistent prayer life?
Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
We have access to joy when we walk consistently with God! Much like the potted orange plants in my house- the key to getting fruit is consistency in getting sun and water. We must be consistent in prayer and relationship to have access to the fruit!
But how do we tap into the fruit??
Even as a christian, joy has never come easy to me, I have had to learn how to tap into the fruit we grow from our relationship with God.
I’ve had an orange tree on my desk for three years and every day I water it, I’ve wondered for years when an orange would actually come- we’ve had a few green fruits that the kids pulled off to soon, but for the last months, I’ve watched a large green fruit turn to yellow and then this week to orange. This morning my daughter came in and saw it and said “mommy, is that an orange?” It was finally time and the tree we had worked to cultivate for three years finally produced a fruit we could eat- so what did we do, just acknowledge it and then leave it alone- No! We cut into and tasted it!! We enjoyed the fruit!
That is what we have to do with our spiritual fruit too- we have to actively enjoy it!
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
God’s will is for us to have joy, pray and be thankful- it is how we thrive as the vine we are created to be.
So how do you rejoice? How do you tap into the joy and other fruit of the Spirit?
Prayer Activity:
Take time today to pull away from distraction and dwell on what we talked about today- your relationship with God, the consistency of your prayer life and the fruit you have access to.
He sent his son to die so we could have our relationship with him and the fruit that comes with it- don’t let that fruit sit untasted for one moment longer!
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13
