Persuade yourself that rejoicing is necessary. Unless we love and long for Him more than for anything else, He is not our God. Only as we are stripped of all natural coverings and esteem a naked Christ reason enough for joy do we actually love Him with our whole heart. This kind of devotion to God frees us to lose everything else and still have what we want the most. Once this divine joy is settled, anchored by God in our hearts, it becomes a solid support in times of pain and poverty and disgrace.
Nothing can overcome our joy then.
God created a place in His children for joy. This place will be filled with something, either with the toys and trivia of worldly achievement and accumulation or with heavenly things of the Creator. Since the love of sensual pleasure forms the root of sin, there will always be carnal cravings that lure us away from God. The bent toward gratifying flesh is the downfall of the church today. Since this kind of need has been born and bred in us, deeply ingrained in our nature, it doesn t come out without a fight.