One of my favorite Harry Potter movies and books happens to be ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’. Okay, I’m not going to be telling that story now but yeah, I did want to explain the Prison of Azkaban a little bit as the lesson I learnt is related to this.
The story is actually a war between the good and the evil. Harry Potter, you rightly guessed is a part of the good and there is the Evil Voldemort and his Followers, who are the evil in this story. So everytime anybody who is Evil is caught and imprisoned by the Good, they are put in the Prison of Azkaban. Now about the Prison of Azkaban – there is no torture or pain or beatings or anything bad done here. But there are prison guards here who are called Dementors. The whole of the Prison of Azkaban is full of these Dementors.
Now what these Dementors do is, they suck all the happiness, all the happy moments, all the positive thoughts and all the positive memories out of the minds and lives of these prisoners. They actually feed on all the happy memories and positive thoughts. So the prisoners are left with no happiness and only the sad thoughts and the sad memories. This makes their lives miserable. Most of them go mad. The few sane people left just wish to die. It makes them depressed and sad and anxious and yeah…… finally Mad.
As I was watching this movie I remembered something I had read long back in a book, the author of which I don’t happen to remember now (highly probable to be Joyce Meyer). The author had written stating that, the Bible says that -The joy of the Lord is my strength. And it actually means that. My strength depends on how happy and joyful I am. The author had written stating that when the devil wants to attack a person, he first attacks their joy. He works at removing the joy from their lives (much like the Dementors). Once the person’s joy is gone or lessened, the person is now weak and so now becomes an easy prey to the devil’s arrows and weapons.
Now what we need to focus on here is that no matter what, we should not let go of the joy we have in our Lord. No matter what happens, even if we are upset or angered or worried, remember our strength comes from being happy in the Lord and so choose to start thinking of all the happy thoughts and the happy memories and positive thoughts and start praying and praising and rejoicing.
Another wonderful thing about joy is that, it’s not a feeling. Happiness is a feeling. But joy is not a feeling. It’s a choice I make to stay that way, being grateful and reflecting on everything God has done for me and choosing to look back on the past with gratitude and look forward to the future with trust, knowing my God is able to and will do the best for his children. As long as I am joyful in God, the devil will find me a tough prey. Ever wondered why most of the fights happen just before going to church on Sunday, this is just so that we miss out on the blessings as we lose out on our joy and our minds become an easy prey for the devil.
The more I feed on happy thoughts and happy memories and reflect on the good and am joyful, the stronger l am. The more I think negative, sad thoughts about how people have wronged me and about the past sad memories, the weaker I become and it actually does not stop with that. It’s just the beginning. Making us weak is the devil’s first step and there would more of his weapons and problems to face if we allow him to succeed in his first step.
So, the next time you feel sad about something, just pray about the issue and choose, that is make a conscious effort to think about something positive and something good and something happy and CHOOSE to be joyful. There are so many ways turn our focus away from our problem and towards God and his joy. Think of something joyful, sing your favorite happy songs, call up a friend who’s very humorous and spend some time chatting, speak to your siblings, put your favorite kind of music on full blast and dance away your sorrows. God knows when his children make an effort and He would be there to help. So always CHOOSE to do away with your sadness or problems after committing them to Jesus. And then Be Joyful. Remember, it’s so rightly said – The JOY of the LORD is our STRENGTH.
Nehemiah 8:10 - And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold.
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