Today I share Part One of my communion time with the Holy Spirit concerning the importance of always being cheerful.

The Holy Spirit spoke in my communion time about the importance of us deliberately choosing to remain cheerful regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in. Our Cheerful countenance is not to be determined by what is happening around us but by what is governing us from within. Proverbs 15:13 establishes the connection between the condition of the heart and the expression of joy by saying these words: “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance.”

This points to the central lesson is that no situation in life should determine how we respond or react to it because greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. 1 John.4:4. Life events are never meant to become the masters of our conduct.

We may not be able to choose what happens to us in life, but we can choose how we respond to what happens. 2 Corinthians 5:7 reminds us that we walk by faith and not by sight, while 2 Corinthians 4:18 teaches us to fix our attention not on the things that are seen, which are temporary, but on the things that are unseen, which are eternal.

Therefore, our spiritual maturity is demonstrated when natural events no longer control our responses, regardless of how powerful, painful, threatening, or disruptive those events may be. The Holy Spirit brought my attention to the Apostle Paul and his journey to Rome in Acts 27–28.

Paul did not choose the circumstances that unfolded during that journey. Indeed, if he had been permitted to choose based on the foreknowledge the Holy Spirit had given him concerning what was ahead, he would likely have avoided travelling at that particular time to spare himself the tremendous loss, pain, and anguish that followed.

This highlights the priceless value of the Holy Spirit’s guidance because His leading always saves us from enormous pain, loss, and anguish, and His direction is therefore beyond measure. However Paul found himself in circumstances he had not chosen and his wisdom was despised.

Just imagine what they endured including fourteen continuous days in darkness, without seeing the sun, moon, or stars, while being tossed around on the sea by violent winds. They did not even know when a new day was breaking. The storm became so severe that the people aboard eventually concluded that all hope of survival was gone and that death was inevitable.

This message compares in a sense to the ordeal of the Johnson spring rains in Sierra Leone which I experienced, where there are seven consecutive days of heavy rain which can become an exhausting experience of so much water everywhere. Yet even that does not compare with being confined to a ship in the middle of the ocean, completely at the mercy of extreme winds and waves.

The continual complaints people make during such heavy rainfall provide a small glimpse into how difficult it must have been to remain calm during Paul’s fourteen-day ordeal on the sea. Yet Paul remained cheerful, composed, and full of hope throughout the journey.

He did not allow the severity of the circumstances to determine his conduct or composure. Instead, he offered a solution to the devastating situation and encouraged everyone that they would survive after all hope of being saved was lost. Paul declared that there would be no loss of life, although the ship itself would be lost.

Paul could have become angry and responded harshly, complained, or behaved abusively, and from a purely human perspective, people might even have considered such a response understandable. After all, had his warnings been heeded, some of the trauma and loss might have been avoided.

However Paul did not allow the actions of others or the severity of the circumstances to dictate his spirit. His life was not ultimately dependent upon what was happening around him. His life was hidden in Christ. Colossians 3:3 declares that our lives are hidden with Christ in God. Paul had received a visitation from an angel of the Lord whom he served faithfully.

The angel told him what would happen, even though nothing in the physical circumstances had changed yet. The storm was still raging. The ship was still in danger. The darkness was still present. The people were still terrified. But Paul had received a word from the Lord.

Therefore, Paul’s confidence was not based on what he could see. The circumstances did not have to change before his attitude changed because his attitude was governed by the word he had received from the Lord. Since the Lord had declared that Paul would live, Paul was going to live. Everything else would ultimately have to align with that divine reality.

This explains the essence of us walking by faith rather than by sight because nothing can separate us from God’s love. The Holy Spirit’s message is therefore a call for us to choose cheerfulness even in adverse circumstances.

As followers of Jesus we must remember that nothing can separate us from the love of God working for us and in us. Romans 8:35–39 establishes this truth with tremendous certainty by saying that: neither tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, nor sword can separate us from the love of Christ.

Through all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Consequently, there is no reason for us to surrender ourselves to depression, worry, fear, or continual agitation over circumstances.

I declare in the name of Jesus that circumstances will never again govern your response in any situation. You will never again be controlled by what you see, hear, feel, or experience around you because your heart is anchored in Christ, because your life is hidden with Christ in God, and your confidence rests upon the eternal Word of the Lord.

I declare that every spirit of sorrow, heaviness, anxiety, fear, discouragement, and sighing loses its influence over you as the joy of the Lord arises afresh within you. You receive abundant grace to remain cheerful, hopeful, peaceful, and full of faith even when circumstances appear threatening.

Like Paul in the midst of the storm, you will remain steady when others are losing hope because you will hear the word of the Lord above the noise of the storm, and what the Lord has spoken concerning you will come to pass. So no temporary circumstance will overturn the Lord’s eternal purpose for your life in Jesus name. Amen.