10/26/2026
How to Get Your Joy Back
Psalm 51:12 “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”
I know many people who are saved, but you’d never know it by looking at them or listening to them. Unfortunately, some of the most miserable people I know are saved and on their way to Heaven! With this in mind, we must ask the question… WHY? Why are so many born-again believers so miserable?
Notice what David prayed. He didn’t ask God to restore his salvation; he asked God to restore the joy of the salvation that the Lord had given him. David wrote this psalm after the prophet Nathan confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba. He was still a child of God, but he had lost his joy. That tells us something important: a believer can be saved and still lose the joy of being saved.
Each person is different, and every situation is unique, but one of the reasons some Christians walk around miserable is the attacks of Satan. A child of God is in a spiritual battle with the enemy, the Devil. Spiritual warfare is a real thing, and the closer we get to the Lord, the more intense the fight becomes. Jesus said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10), and he wants to steal any and all joy a believer has. Sometimes he does it through hard times, and sometimes, like with David, he does it by getting us tangled up in sin that we haven’t dealt with.
So how do we get our joy back? One of the most effective ways is to stay in the fight with other believers. When attacks from the enemy come, we must not retreat into isolation; we must stay together and fight! The devil loves to get a believer alone, because a sheep that wanders off from the flock is the easiest one to attack. Solomon said, “Two are better than one… For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow” (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10). As we stand side by side and serve the Lord, we can strengthen and encourage one another. Being together with other believers gives us strength and helps restore the joy we have in the Lord.
If you’ve lost your joy, start where David started: get honest with God, and ask Him to restore it. Then don’t fight alone, get in your bible, reach out to a fellow believer, tell them you need encouragement, and be in God’s house the next time the doors are open. Your joy is worth fighting for!
