Episode Details

Joy is one expression of the life of Jesus growing within us. What exactly is joy? It’s deep, not surface level. It is permanent, not circumstantial. It’s a settled confidence, not a mood. It’s a spiritual strength, not a changing emotion.

And this joy, according to Nehemiah 8:10, is the source of your strength.

Joy is supernatural, not natural. The source of joy is God – not a personality type, not positive thinking patterns. No, joy is the result of God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within you. The closer we remain to Jesus, the more joy grows in our lives. Not by force, not by will, but by connection.

The world searches for joy through outside sources. We look in relationships, and we’re left disappointed. We strive for success, and we’re left stressed. We think joy is found in having money, then we realize we always want more. We look to entertainment and we’re left empty. We think joy is found on vacation, then the vacation ends and it’s back to regular life and where’s the joy in that? None. Joy is not found out here. So where is joy found?

Psalm 16:11 tells us where joy is and it’s very clear. “In your presence, Lord, there is fullness of joy.” And because the Holy Spirit within us is the literal presence of God, we are carrying the SOURCE of JOY. It’s not out here in anything external, created or strived for, it’s right inside of us. It’s God in us! He is our source of joy. This is why it’s possible to have joy wherever we go, whatever we go through, regardless of circumstances – we carry the joy with us. We have the SOURCE – that is the presence of God.

There’s a difference between happiness and joy. Some times are simply not happy times. Some times we hurt, some times we grieve. And yet joy remains. How is that possible? Joy depends on one thing – God within you. And guess what, he’s not leaving! So joy is always present regardless of the season or the circumstance. Happiness depends on what happens. Happiness changes hourly. But joy abides and survives tragedy.

Even on the cross, Jesus was filled with joy. Even in agony, joy was within. Hebrews 12:2, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross.” With eyes set on the joy of fulfilling his purpose and completing his mission of saving YOU, he endured and he remained. He held the perfect power to take himself down from that cross at any moment, yet he remained, and he remained with the joy of knowing God’s goodness through it all.

Jesus shows us how to endure, how to suffer, how to go through the very hardest of times. He doesn’t run. He doesn’t hide. He doesn’t try to change it. He endures it with joy set before him. God was right there with him, therefore he had supernatural joy to stay in the moment and fulfill his purpose.

That’s what the Holy Spirit does in our lives – He helps us look forward knowing this is temporary and eternal promises are ahead. The Holy Spirit reminds us of God’s good plans and his perfect track record of fulfilling them.

Joy is not the absence of sorrow – sometimes sorry and joy are present at the same time. The Holy Spirit teaches us to hold grief in one hand while still holding joy in the other. Here’s the truth, at any given moment, someone is having the absolute best day of their life. At that same moment, someone else is experiencing the absolute worst day of their life. And here we are in the middle of it all. What do we do with that? With the power of the Holy Spirit, we faithfully hold both.

Last weekend at retreat, in the middle of all our fun, all our happiness, all our games, all our laughter, one of our BIG Life girls received the phone call that changed absolutely everything for her. Her husband had just died at home. He was gone and she was states away there with us. Oh the grief that overtook her. The pain that was palpable in the room. We fell to our knees with no words, only breathing out the name of YAHWEH.

And let me tell you from that experience