Joy is like a muscle; the more you develop it, the stronger it becomes. Here are two exercises to help you develop inner joy: <\/p>\n
(1) Try to show more gratitude. \u2018Give thanks in all circumstances.\u2019<\/i> (1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a05:18\u00a0NIV) Note, it doesn\u2019t say be thankful for<\/i> all circumstances, but in<\/i> them. Hans Seyle, known as \u2018the father of stress research\u2019, says gratitude produces more emotional energy than any other attitude. So look for more ways to express gratitude. Send an email or make a phone call to someone to tell them how much they have meant in your life. <\/p>\n
Remember to express gratitude to God. The psalmist says, \u2018With my song I praise Him.\u2019<\/i> (Psalm\u00a028:7\u00a0NIV) If you\u2019re not naturally a joyful person, start singing praises to God and watch your attitude change. <\/p>\n
(2) Look for ways to give. \u2018It is more blessed to give than to receive.\u2019<\/i> (Acts\u00a020:35\u00a0NIV) Someone has jokingly said, \u2018When it comes to giving, many people will stop at nothing.\u2019 What does the Bible reveal? \u2018God loves a cheerful giver.\u2019<\/i> (2\u00a0Corinthians\u00a09:7\u00a0NIV) Why? Because you are most like God when you give, and He doesn\u2019t give grudgingly. Your giving actually determines how much you receive from God! The Bible says when you give to Him first from your income, not last, He will \u2018throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.\u2019<\/i> (Malachi\u00a03:10\u00a0NIV) You cannot outgive God. <\/p>\n
As the old farmer said, \u2018I shovel it into God\u2019s storehouse, and He shovels it into mine\u2014but God has a bigger shovel.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joy is like a muscle; the more you develop it, the stronger it becomes. Here are two exercises to help you develop inner joy: (1) Try to show more gratitude. \u2018Give thanks in all circumstances.\u2019 (1\u00a0Thessalonians\u00a05:18\u00a0NIV) Note, it doesn\u2019t say be thankful for all circumstances, but in them. Hans Seyle, known as \u2018the father of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}