From a joy deficiency to doing cartwheels of joy

 A quote from 

The Happy Gospel  by Benjemin Dunn

One current, joy-robbing idea of Christianity is that it is little more than a new start on an old life—just a second chance. If this is true, that Christianity is simply a new beginning at the same old kind of life, what makes me think that I’m not going to make a mess of it again?

 The “old life,” our pre-Christ existence, was filled with sinfulness and the inability to choose God even if we desired to. Even if we had been given a new start, it would still be the “old life"!

 But what Christ gives us is a “new life” in quality, a new kind of life. It is not the same kind of life just patched up bit, with a few moral guidelines to keep us on the straight and narrow. We have entered into a new world full of love and life. We’ve fallen heart-first into endless rivers of holy enjoyment.

 Jesus said you couldn’t put a new piece of cloth on an old garment. And you cannot pour new, vibrant, and living wine into an old wineskin.  The two cannot go together.

 No wonder so many Christians have a joy deficiency. The “old life” and joy cannot coexist.

And the truth is that you are not the same old you; you are a New Creation living in a new world.

Absolutely everything is new!

 I don’t know about you, but this makes me happy! In fact, I feel like doing cartwheels right now!

I’m singing joyful praise to God. I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God.

Do you understand the new life God has given you?

Is God’s Spirit stirring within you? Do you feel like you are on the edge of something wonderful. Can you sense that God about to do something amazing in your life? The time is soon. Bob Lipsys
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(From The Message Bible)

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Dad?"

God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

Romans 8:15-28 (The Message Bible)

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Is God’s Spirit stirring within you? Do you feel like you are on the edge of something wonderful. Can you sense that God about to do something amazing in your life? The time is soon.