IT'S TIME TO LAUGH MORE!
Have you ever been around someone that seems to be overcome by a cloud of gloom, doom, and heaviness? The type that hushes joy, quiets excitement, and makes you pay for any laughter?
The truth is, I know this cloud of gloom well myself. It felt like it enveloped me several years ago when I lay on the couch for 6 months in a state of depression. But, the truth is even in the midst of life’s tragedies and tribulations there is a joy unspeakable available in the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has a happy knack for supernaturally lifting our burdens. But wait, it gets even better. The Bible says that the fruit or evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in us is “
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
. . .” (Galatians 5:22–23). Did you catch that? The Holy Spirit doesn’t flee even when the burdens of life come. Rather, it’s our very gift as Believers to experience the overwhelming joy of God even when challenging circumstances are prevailing. Now, I am not saying that some circumstances we face don’t make it hard to experience joy, but rather it’s an opportunity to lean into the joy that is available in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
So much of the world is inundated with overwhelming bad news. For the first time in history, we are more connected to our global neighbors than ever before. We have access to information that would have taken weeks to arrive to us just a few generations ago. The devastation, distress, and climate on the other side of the world are at our fingertips. It can weigh on our souls and saturate our social media accounts. That is why I’d propose that it’s more important than ever that we are aware of what we are feasting on. What is the daily bread, nutrition on the internet, and soul food that you are digesting?
I recently sat down for a conversation with Gabriel Lopez also known as
@gods.best.friend
on social media. Gabriel has a background in film and editing, is currently a pastor in Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry's first year, and is known for the hilarious reels he creates on Instagram.
During our conversation, Gabriel stated “I have seen the Lord bridge a huge gap between other denominations, other people, that maybe aren’t huge fans of Charismatics or even Bethel. I have seen this bridge happen with memes and jokes. So often people have preconceived notions of who I am or who you are before you have even said anything. But, humor has a way of dismantling that.”
SPREADING JOY ON SOCIAL MEDIA
JOY IS A SERIOUS LAUGHING MATTER
Humor is powerful! Solomon said it thousands of years ago: “A joyful heart is good medicine” (Proverbs 17:22). However, modern medicine has only been seriously studying the specific benefits of joy and the energizing effects of laughter for about thirty years. In their research, they’ve uncovered countless stories of people who intentionally kept their spirits high through the use of humor to survive POW camps, war, illness, trauma, as well as the daily grind of stressful jobs. In fact, concentration camp survivor and Austrian psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl saw firsthand how humor was a powerful survival skill that enabled him and other prisoners to hold on to hope and purpose through the darkest time of their lives. Frankl said, “Humor, more than anything else in the human makeup, affords an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds.”
My point is, joy is seriously a laughing matter! The impact it has on surviving extreme and uncertain times is a cure-all that I believe comes straight from the belly laugh of God himself.
