What Is Joy?


I used to think that joy was an emotion to experience great hapiness. In the past six years I have not felt very joyful yet I do have joy. Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit so if you are walking in the Lord then you reap joy as your strength. My strength comes from the Lord and so I have joy. It may not be expressed in overwhelming giggles but it is expressed in prayer and worship.

32:11 Be glad in Jehovah, and rejoice, ye righteous; And shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

5:11 and not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice.

These verses tell me and you to rejoice be joyful in the Lord. I still feel joy while be severely depressed. How can this be? When I am focused on serving the Lord then the present circumstances pale in comparison to God’s glory.

5:11 Blessed are ye when `men’ shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.

1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church;

When we suffer or face afflictions we produce in us the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galations 5:22-23. Be encouraged God loves us and will continue to work in us.