The Joy of the Lord Is My Strength for 2026

As we step into the beginning of a new year, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to carry into 2026—not just as a goal, but as a posture of my heart.

My prayer is to be intentional about being a voice of good cheer and encouragement all year long. Not a fake cheerfulness. Not the kind that ignores pain or pretends life is easy. But the kind of encouragement that is steady, sincere, and rooted in something deeper than the moment we’re living in.

Because if we’re honest, we are living in a tumultuous, uncertain time. The world feels loud. The headlines can feel heavy. And the ground can seem like it’s shifting under our feet—socially, emotionally, financially, spiritually. Sometimes it’s not even the big things… it’s the constant drip of stress and disappointment that wears on us.

And that is exactly why this verse keeps rising up in my spirit:

“The joy of the LORD is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)

Joy That Comes From the Inside Out

One thing I know for sure: the joy of the Lord isn’t based on exterior circumstances.

It’s not dependent on everything going smoothly. It doesn’t require a perfect season, a perfect family situation, a perfect bank account, a perfect body, or a perfectly calm world. The joy of the Lord doesn’t come and go with the weather of our lives.

The joy of the Lord begins on the inside. It’s deeply rooted in knowing:

• God is in control.

• God is for us.

• God is with us.

And while everything else is changing, He is faithful and constant.

A Different Kind of Strength

I love that the verse doesn’t say joy is a “nice feeling.” It says joy is strength.

Strength to keep showing up.
Strength to speak life when you could easily speak fear.
Strength to be steady when everything feels unsteady.
Strength to love people well in a world that’s often unkind.
Strength to keep believing God is working—even when we can’t see it yet.

Joy is not denial. Joy is not pretending. Joy is not ignoring hard realities.

Joy is the quiet confidence that God is still God.

Choosing to Be a Voice of Good Cheer

This year, I’m making a decision: I want to be intentional about encouragement—because encouragement is one of the ways we help each other breathe again.

Some days, being a voice of good cheer will look like a simple text message.
Some days, it will look like choosing gratitude when it would be easier to complain.
Some days, it will look like worship in the middle of waiting.
Some days, it will look like trusting God with what I can’t fix.

And most importantly, it will start with what I’m letting God do in me.

Because if joy is going to come out of my life, it has to be planted and watered in my heart first.

A Prayer for the New Year

Lord, as I step into 2026, I’m asking You to build joy in me that is not fragile—joy that doesn’t collapse when the world shakes. Teach me to live from the inside out. Make me steady. Make me kind. Make me courageous. Help me remember You are in control, You are with me, and You are faithful. Let Your joy be my strength, and let my life be a gentle encouragement to others. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s Walk This Year Together

If you’re entering 2026 feeling hopeful, weary, uncertain—or a mixture of all three—you’re not alone. My prayer is that this space will be a place of joyful encouragement and practical, biblical truth for everyday life.

Let’s choose joy—not because everything is perfect, but because He is faithful.