For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)
… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
As we made the transition from 2025 to 2026, we once again proclaimed, “Happy New Year”, expressing our hope the upcoming year will bring us more happiness than the last one.
Some made New Year’s resolutions of what they personally intend to do better, even though we know those resolutions usually disappear within a month or two. And all of us hope for better circumstances: what will happen to us or for us, even though we have learned over the years we have far less control over our circumstances than we would like.
Can we look forward to a happy new year? For Christians, the answer is a resounding “Yes”! But this will not come from simply hoping our worldly, day-to-day circumstances improve. Instead, it will come as we more fully embrace the wonderfully divine circumstances that already exist for us as Spirit-indwelled children of God. (John 1:12-13, 3:3-6, 16:7-15)
First, we should define “happy.” I believe “happy” is a combination of peace and joy.
Peace, “shalom” in OT Hebrew, includes concepts of wholeness and well-being in addition to freedom from fear, worry, anger, frustration, and despair. When you are not at peace, you are not happy.
Joy, “chara” in NT Greek, is the emotion of delight caused by well-being, success, something exceptionally satisfying, or the prospect of possessing what one desires. (Dictionary.com; Merriam-Webster.com). Our eyes can smile and our hearts can laugh when we have joy.
So, what are our circumstances that provide peace and joy? Scripture clearly states that as born-of-God Christians, God has already blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 1:3) God’s divine power has granted us everything we need for godly, kingdom living on earth. (2 Peter 1:3-4) And both peace and joy are part of that.
God has given us the Bible: the divinely inspired revelation of God’s absolute goodness, wisdom, mercy, and unconditional love for all of us.
God has given us His Son, our Savior, identified in scripture as Prince of Peace and Lord of peace. (Isaiah 9:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:16). Jesus gives us His peace, which surpasses our understanding because it is not based on worldly, day-to-day circumstances. (John 14:27) Instead, it is based on the fact we have peace with God, forgiveness of our sins, and the gift of eternal life. (Romans 5:1, 6:23; Colossians 1:20) We can embrace the joy of our salvation! (1 Peter 1:8-9; Psalm 51:12)
God has also given us Jesus as Lord, King of Kings, with all authority on earth and in heaven, including authority over the evil that seeks to destroy us all. (Matthew 28:18-20) We have peace from knowing all things are possible for Him and for us who believe. (Matthew 19:26; Mark 9:23) Jesus is with us always, and: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) In the end, we win and, looking forward to that day, we can embrace our joy in the Lord! (Philippians 4:4)
Finally, God has given us His Holy Spirit to dwell within us forever, empower us, transform us, and keep us intimately connected with our Father and His Son. (John 14:16-18; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; 1 John 1:1-4) The Holy Spirit is God – the third person of the Trinity – who proceeds from the Father through the Son to us but always remains eternally and perfectly one with them. (John 15:26, 16:7-15; Galatians 4:6) Now the Holy Spirit is one with our spirit as well. (1 Corinthians 6:17) Amazing!
The Holy Spirit pours God’s agape love into our hearts and brings forth the fruits of peace and joy as He transforms our character into Christlikeness. (Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22-23) This is how we truly experience God’s peace and the joy of the Lord. (John 14:21-27, 15:11)
God transforms our lives through new and improved understanding of the truths revealed in His Word. (Romans 12:2; John 8:31-32) The problem all Christians of every tradition share is that we commingle the Bible with worldly thinking and, as a result, fail to embrace all of scripture’s revelations.
Please read and believe the whole Bible. Once God indwells us through His Holy Spirit, we become new creations – His children forever – still in this broken world but no longer of this world. (2 Corinthians 5:17; John 17:11-14) We walk through the valleys of this broken world fearing no evil because He is with us and will bring us through. (Psalm 23; 2 Corinthians 4:7-10) “He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world,” and He brings His peace and joy with Him. (1 John 4:4)
Happy New Year!