Jesus who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross

All of us have been hurt in some way whether physically, emotionally or both. Life itself will at some time bring hardship our way. Jesus said in the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. One of the reasons we can have joy and be cheerful while going through hardship is because Jesus has been through the same thing and he had victory and overcame. The bible says that he was tempted in all points like as we, yet without sin. One of the benefits of joy is it will help us to endure our trials. Endurance is important because without it one may tend to tolerate their trials. The problem with tolerating is it prevents change from taking place. For example, a person has been going through a painful an emotional abusive relationship. The wife has been praying for a long time for the marriage to be healed, but it seems as though prayer has fallen on deaf ears. The next thing that will happen if doubt and sadness takes the place of joy and rejoicing, is the wife does what she must to survive. She begins to take matters into her own hands to ease the pain from day to day. She must survive the heartache and pain usually for the childrens sake rather than her own.She learns to put up with certain abusive behavior through planned ignoring, humor (while crying inside), redirecting the spouse to other favored activities to pacify anger, etc. This action creates a cycle of toleration stopping change for the better from ever taking place. Joy on the other hand empowers the wife to endure until change does come to the relationship. This joy brings strength because the joy of the Lord is our strength, this joy brings more and more joy because Philippians 4:4 says rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Joy brings supernatural intervention because the bible says that an angel came and strengthened Jesus while he was in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus did not concentrate on everything that was happening to him at the moment, but he looked beyond the pain and rejection and even death to the moment that he would be reunited with God the father again sitting at his right hand making intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).We can look past the pain also having a confidence that trouble will not always last. Count it all joy so peace can permeate your heart until victory comes. May I also say that joy is not based on circumstances, while happiness is. If circumstances are alright then people are generally happy while joy is a fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). This joy empowers one to rejoice during good and bad times.