Call to fight for joy in God is indeed a gift of God

Fighting for joy embracing the truth itself is a gift from God and His work is enabled by God within us. Joy is the fruit of the Spirit that grows on the tree of faith, Gal: 5:22, and not a wage that God should pay for our work or for our fight. We believers had to learn to fight against the weeds, the crows, and the rodents. The author warns against the blinding of Satan from seeing the glory of Jesus Christ in the Gospel which awakens joy; 2 Cori: 2:2. We will continue to fight for joy in a way that does not replace grace, and at the end of our lives we should be able to say that we have fought the good fight, and if the joy comes that indeed is a true gift. 

He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure Gives unto each day what He deems best— Lovingly, it’s part of pain and pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and rest- Karolina Wilhelmina Sandell-Berg (1832- 1903).

We have moved a hundred miles from Pilgrim’s Progress where Christian labors and struggles and fights all his life “for the joy that was set before him” (Heb. 12:2) in the Celestial City. - John Piper

This is both liberating and devastating because it is good news for the hopeless and bad news for the self-reliant. Sometimes people know intuitively that this delight in God is beyond their control and they believe what is beyond their control cannot be required and this could be partially right. The Word of God require us to delight in the Lord always; Phil 4:4; Ps: 32:4; 97: 12; 100:1; Joel: 2:23.

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say Rejoice (v. 4). All our joy must terminate in God; and our thoughts of God must be delightful thoughts. Delight Thyself in the Lord (Ps. 37:4) . . . . Observe, it is our duty and privilege to rejoice in God, and to rejoice in him always; always, in all conditions; even when we suffer for him, or are afflicted by him. We must not think the worse of him or of his ways for the hardships we meet with in his service. There is enough in God to furnish us with matter of joy in the worst circumstance on earth. . . . Joy in God is a duty of great consequence in the Christian life; and Christians need to be again and again called to it. - Matthew Henry

“The ordinary man may feel ashamed of doing wrong: but the saint, endowed with a superior refinement of moral sensibility, and keener powers of introspection, is ashamed of being the kind of man who is liable to do wrong.”- N. P. Williams

Ever since our fallenness in Genesis 3, we need not commit sins to be sinners, because sins power is deeply rooted within humanity, and on conversion the Holy Spirit gives the power to overcome the fallen, sinful nature. Prophet Jeramiah bemoans “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). This proves that our hearts are deceitful, and we are disobedient, rebellious, and hardened towards the things of God ever since the Fall. King David traced this condition back to his birth: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps. 51:5). This proves that inborn corruption is within us. When Paul mentions ‘flesh’ that means the natural self apart from the redemption of Christ, or the natural person.  1 Corinthians 2:14, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned”. This means the natural person and the flesh agitates against the things of God, and such person cannot delight in God. The natural heart is so corrupt it cannot see or savor the beauty and the heart of God for that person. Paul says that the mind of the flesh is so hostile to God and it cannot and will not submit to the laws of God; Rom: 8:7-8. In other words, our own natural mind is so hostile to God’s glorious authority and cannot rejoice in God. ^“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit; Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”; Jn 3:6-7.  This means until the Spirit of God again bear us, all we are is flesh, and natural people with no spirit life, and we do not have any taste buds in the soul for the sweetness of Christ. The focus of this chapter is that the Spirit of God is free, and when one begins to see Jesus as our treasure, the Spirit has blown through our heart. Genuine repentance is a gift from God, and the central mystery of Christian life is, Christ has died for our sins, and because of his blood and righteousness we are forgiven and counted righteous by God in Christ; 2 Cori:5:21; Phil:3:9; Rom:5:19. The other part of the mystery is we are commanded to rejoice in the Lord, and this seems impossible, because of our willful and culpable corruption. So, obedience is a gift from God, and we are called to obey, so that we do not perish. Christian life is all about grace, and God continues to supply the strength to serve and believing that joy is in God, is a huge gift from God.

References:

Piper, John. When I don’t desire God: How to fight for joy (Wheaton: IL, Crossway Books,2004).

The Matthew Henry Study Bible, King James version: The best of Matthew Henry’s Notes in a Handy One Volume Reference Bible, (Iowa Falls, U.S.A, World Bible Publishers, Inc; 1994).