spiritual joy

In The Pillars of Christian Character, John MacArthur writes the following on reasons for lack of joy.

The main contributor to lack of joy is ignorance. If you are truly growing in Christ, you will have true spiritual joy. If, on the other hand, you live on impulse and subjective feelings, you will have great difficulty sustaining joy. It’s imperative that you control your emotions, and that can only happen when you fill your mind with sound doctrine, believe it wholeheartedly, and walk by the Holy Spirit.

I agree since the goal is sustained joy. We are running a long-distance race, if we are to persevere, we need all that MacArthur said. I think I may however place my emphasis on walking by the Spirit whereas I suspect his emphasis is filling one’s mind with sound doctrine. Both are needed but I see the Spirit as the enabler to properly understand and to be transformed by the Word. I also know that the Spirit is able to carry me even where I may not be knowledge of any relevant doctrine or Scripture.

In Col 6 Paul tells us, "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."

As John Wimber says it, "the way in is the way on". I was saved by the Spirit and the knowledge of Christ. That knowledge came by Scripture but the understanding of it, the belief in it, the ability to submit to it, etc. all came by the Spirit. So to MacArthur's point, the Word is critical and I simply add the Word as empowered by the Spirit.