It is very easy to get caught up in the ebb and flow of circumstances in the world. The economy is up and then down, politicians are up and then down, and even the body of Christ, the church can be up and down. When we spend the majority of our time thinking about what’s happening in the world, we WILL be up and down. When we choose this way of living, we become Yo-Yo Christians: up and down over and over and over, yet always ending up in the same place.

God wants us to be stable and mature, not carried away by the changing tides of this world. He wants us to be like Him, totally unmoved by the events and emotions of this world!s system. He tells us in Proverbs 10:25 “When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away, but the godly have a lasting foundation.” God is the strong foundation that enables us to be secure emotionally no matter what we experience in life.

Fear is the enemy of emotional stability, and the rival of faith. We know that we possess and experience the promises of God’s Word by faith, but also experience the the plans of Satan through fear. We realize faith comes into our lives by hearing the Word of God, and that fear comes into our lives through hearing the word of the devil. Since Satan runs the world system, it operates by fear and will always cycle up and down. Exciting highs when things seem well, and depressing lows when they are not. A Yo-Yo system created by the original Yo-Yo, satan.

Some might think that eliminating feelings and emotions is the solution to the problem. The difficulty with such a plan is that it is impossible to carry out. We are emotional beings made in the image of God, who Himself experiences feelings of peace, joy, sadness, and even anger. Since we are like Him, we cannot escape feelings, yet we can learn to use them to our advantage. Many believers are experiencing fear over the coming elections, and the state of the world in general. Knowing that 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”, how do we keep our emotions in check, especially fear? We can begin by asking “How does God deal with opposition, rage, and fear?”

God’s secret to success is found in Psalms 2:1-4, where He says “Why are the nations so angry?Why are the people making useless plans? The kings of the earth prepare to fight, and their leaders make plans together against the Lord and his appointed one. They say, “Let’s break the chains that hold us back and throw off the ropes that tie us down.” But the one who sits in heaven laughs;the Lord makes fun of them.” When faced with situations that are contrary to his plans, God never gives in to fear. He never says “What if it doesn’t work out?”, or “What if the wrong person is elected to office?” He never gives in to negative emotions: He just laughs and makes fun of the devil.

God uses the constructive emotion of happiness to remain steadfast in His own Word. This feeling of happiness flows from the scriptural foundation of joy. We have joy even when we don’t “feel” joyful, for the Word says “Be full of joy in the Lord always. I will say again, be full of joy. (Phil 4:4), and “Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” (Neh 8:10) Like God, we must determine to use constructive emotion in dealing with opposition and fear. We must choose to laugh at the devil and what he does.

We know, and satan knows, that he has been defeated by Jesus. He no longer has the authority to afflict Christians, yet he continues to struggle against God and His Word. When we give in to the fear he plants in our minds, he gets away with things that he does not have authority to do. Our response to his pitiful attempts to turn us from the truth of the Word needs to be a God response: we need to laugh at him and his plans. “Say what devil, say what?” “Ha Ha Ha Ha on you!” “Ha Ha Ha Ho Ho Ho He He He Jesus set me free!”

Pro 4:24 says the Word is medicine to our bodies. The application of this principle is found in Prov 17:22 ” A merry heart does good, like medicine.” When we laugh at the devil and what he says about our bodies we get a double benefit. We put him on notice that we will not allow him to control us through fear, and we apply God’s medicine to our bodies. When we add to that speaking out loud verses on healing, it becomes a triple theat to satan and his symptoms, and will force him to leave!

We can apply this principle of laughter in the face of the up and down cycle of circumstances in the world. When overwhelmed by negative emotions, start laughing at the devil and speaking the Word. Find others who will join you and laugh sickness, poverty, depression, and torment out of your life. You don’t have to live the Yo-Yo life anymore. To the contrary: laugh that Yo-Yo satan right out of town!