Have you ever felt an unshakeable happiness, one that endures through the storms of life? Our latest conversation explores joy, the second fruit of the Spirit, and how it differs from the transient thrill of happiness. We unravel the notion that true joy, deeply embedded in our recognition of God's omnipotence and our communion with Him, can coexist with sorrow and distress. Drawing from Jesus' own journey, we reveal the profound spiritual contentment that persists beyond our immediate emotions, offering a steady beacon of hope and resilience.
We discuss the transformative power of the joy of the Lord in our lives. This joy isn't just a feeling; it's a choice, a daily commitment to embrace the strength and inner peace Jesus offers. By becoming joy's ambassadors, we impact not just our own spirits but also those around us, carrying this divine light into the darkest corners. Join us as we share personal stories and insights on choosing joy amidst trials and becoming energized for the challenges ahead through the joy set before us in Jesus, our incarnate source of endless joy.
Have you ever felt an unshakeable happiness, one that endures through the storms of life? Our latest conversation explores joy, the second fruit of the Spirit, and how it differs from the transient thrill of happiness. We unravel the notion that true joy, deeply embedded in our recognition of God's omnipotence and our communion with Him, can coexist with sorrow and distress. Drawing from Jesus' own journey, we reveal the profound spiritual contentment that persists beyond our immediate emotions, offering a steady beacon of hope and resilience.
We discuss the transformative power of the joy of the Lord in our lives. This joy isn't just a feeling; it's a choice, a daily commitment to embrace the strength and inner peace Jesus offers. By becoming joy's ambassadors, we impact not just our own spirits but also those around us, carrying this divine light into the darkest corners. Join us as we share personal stories and insights on choosing joy amidst trials and becoming energized for the challenges ahead through the joy set before us in Jesus, our incarnate source of endless joy.
Speaker 1:
The Father's Business was founded by Sylvia Gunter to encourage people to a deeper relationship with God. I'm Elizabeth Gunter Powell.
Speaker 2:
And I am Kimberly Roddy. Welcome to the Father's Business Podcast. We are so glad that you've joined us. Well, welcome to today's episode of the Father's Business Podcast. We are exploring the fruit of the Spirit In our episode. Two sessions ago, we introed the fruit of the Spirit and just talked about where the fruit of the Spirit comes from, the passage in Galatians 5. And then the last time we met, we talked about the first fruit of the Spirit in the list, which is love. And so today we're going to be covering the second fruit that is listed in that passage, which is joy.
Speaker 2:
And when I think of joy, I think of bright and happy and yellow, just like vibrant joy. I think of some people come to mind who I think are very joyful people. I think of happy circumstances. I even think of the Pixar character from the movie Inside Out, where joy was the yellow girl who danced around and was happy all the time and just had this element of just pure, sheer, raw joy. Sometimes there's no other word to describe joy but joy. Right, it's just this joy. But I do think that we need to upfront acknowledge and talk about how joy is different from happiness, because we often do use those words interchangeably, but they are not the same right.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely not.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, when we talk about happiness, Elizabeth. What are some of the things that you think of when you think about happiness?
Speaker 1:
I. The best way I know how to describe happiness is it is seeking sources of dopamine. It is. It is looking for that thing that's going to make me feel happy. It's very contingent on events and and outcomes. You know, I'll be happy when this happens or I'm only happy. Happy if this is going on in my life. It's very circumstantial, which is very different than how, than how I see joy. That's, that's my definition of happiness. What do you think of when you think of happiness?
Speaker 2:
I think of going on vacation, right, oh yeah, dopamine, right, right, yeah, for me it's definitely the beach. I think of blue skies and blue water and tan sand. Yes, and, and so it is. It is a, like you said, I think it is more circumstantial. It's. It actually is kind of a fleeting feeling Because, you know my job, I talked to a lot of people who are in conflict and they're not feeling happy.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
And a lot of them are just, they're struggling to feel any sense of joy. And so I think, when I think of joy, I think of something that is deeper. It's more of a steadfast place of being. It's not based on circumstances. It comes from, I mean, in my opinion, it comes from a deep, abiding understanding of who God is right and who. This confidence in who God is and who he has made me to be and that, no matter what my circumstances are, I can find joy, I can take joy, I can choose joy, because my circumstances don't matter. I have an unwavering belief and knowledge in the fact that God is my Lord and that he is ruling and reigning and it's it is a, like a deep place of contentment.
Speaker 1:
Yeah absolutely, I mean. What you're describing, Kimberly, is Psalm 100, which starts off with shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Speaker 1:
Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him with shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful songs. And then you get to verse three, which is what I kind of think the definition of joy is, which is know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. So it's what you're talking about. It's that steadfastness of knowing this is who God is and this is who God is for me. Therefore, I can have joy regardless of circumstances.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think we hear a lot of people in society or in the world talking about they long for just a sense of contentment and confidence, which is where I was connecting those words earlier too, like I think those words get at spiritually, the connection to when I know and have this unwavering, like I said, belief that, how did how did some, what was that?
Speaker 1:
verse three again Verse three says know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his, which I think that so encapsulates. I can have joy because of that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, right, it makes me think of what we say all the time on this podcast and in all the resources from the Father's Business, which is knowing who God is and who we are as His children. Right, and so it is that foundational belief, like when people are saying how can I have happiness, how can I have confidence? I see such confidence in you or whatever you know. Like we're having these conversations it boils down to I know who God is and I know who I am as a result of knowing who he is and how he has made me, and that will give me joy. Because it's not. Joy is not the opposite of sadness. Happiness is the opposite of sadness, right, like it's not even the opposite of grief, because joy can exist, it can coexist with grief, with pain, with challenges.
Speaker 1:
I mean, I think about the cross right, right, I mean, yeah, a very famous verse. It says you know Jesus is facing the cross and it says for the joy set before him. Jesus endured the cross and I always I remember as a young believer reading that and thinking that was so weird that they use the word joy. There I mean for obedience, for faithfulness, for agreeing to God's will not my will but it was for the joy set before him because he knew what was coming. He knew what was on the other side of the cross. And I think that's the other place where we've got to couch joy is as you look through the Bible, throughout the Old Testament and even into the New Testament, when it comes to light, the Lord's table, god is constantly telling us to remember. Remember what I've done, remember make an altar here, remember the name of myself that I revealed to you at this place is all the way coming through. And then then you've also got on the other end of that for the joy set before us. So we've got, we had this ability to look back and remember who God is and who he has been for us, and then we also have this hope of the future, of the joy that is set before us, and I think true joy is couched between those two things.
Speaker 1:
And where we get ourselves in trouble is when we get so focused in on our circumstances, and the present like what is going wrong in my life today causes me to lose that perspective of what has come before and what is going to come after, and that's when I start dealing in sadness and grief and worry and stress and fear and all of these other things, versus being able to focus in on joy. And the other verse that just keeps popping in my head as we're talking about this is another one that I think most people can quote, which is the joy of the Lord is my strength. Joy is not dependent on my strength. Again, we keep talking about this and I think I need to be reminded of it. It's not up to me to produce these fruits. I am God's, he is mine, he is my shepherd, he is leading me. Therefore, I can have joy. He is leading me. Therefore, I can have joy, but I don't have to produce it on my own. It doesn't flow from my circumstances, it doesn't flow from my own efforts, but it flows from my connection to God.
Speaker 1:
And in moments where life is not okay and you know, kimberly, you and I both walked through a lot of things the last several years that have not been okay Caring for my dad with Alzheimer's, watching him go home to be with Jesus about a year ago this month. There've been very hard times, but in the midst of that I've been able to sit in our phrase the moon is round. I've been able to sit in the phrase God is still good and kind, even though this doesn't feel good and kind. And that is what joy is. And a lot of times, for me at least, joy doesn't come with that happy feeling that you're talking about, that bright yellowness of happiness. Joy just comes from that settledness that you're talking about, a confidence that it's not okay but it's going to be okay. And I can be honest about how I'm feeling today and I can be honest about my emotions. But at the core of that, the anchor that is holding me together is that the joy of the Lord is my strength.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, in the New Testament, in 1 Peter, where Peter's talking to many of the believers that have been scattered throughout and there's a lot of suffering going on for being a Christian, and he says in verse 12 of chapter 4, dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice and the word rejoice there's that word joy in there but rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. I think the other thing here to keep in mind is that joy is a long-term perspective. Right, like you said, we could not get through the hard things that we walk through. Jesus could not have endured the cross for the joy set before him if it was not a long-term view of the joy set before him. It can be a long time before we see that glory revealed. Sometimes we get those pieces, those pictures of the long-term view here on earth, but sometimes it won't be until His glory is fully revealed.
Speaker 1:
Right, yeah, no. And I think you know oftentimes people say, well, somewhere down the road there's going to be answers to your questions, and I'm like you know what? Sometimes there's not. Yeah, there's circumstances in our lives where God never gives us the why, but he says we will. You trust me that I am a good and loving father to you and um, and so that that is that at that core of joy is not letting it be a fleeting emotion, not letting it be circumstantial, but it is that I'm going to choose to rejoice that God is moving in ways that I couldn't even like.
Speaker 1:
Even if God sat me down and said okay, elizabeth, here's why everything that's happened in your life has happened and he's trying to explain it to me, I don't think my human mind could comprehend because it says our thoughts are not God's thoughts.
Speaker 1:
So even if God came down and said, kimberly, let me walk you through your life and explain why everything went the way it did, I think that would not bring you the satisfaction that we think it would, because I don't think we can fully comprehend the much larger story that God is painting Now. It might bring some comfort in some ways, but it is that resting and, knowing he is a good shepherd, he is going to take care of me as a sheep, I can rest in him and therefore, even in the midst of hard places, I can choose to focus on joy, and that joy is who God is, and so, as I focus on who he is, my circumstances and my feelings about that become dimmer, and who he is becomes brighter, and you lose some of those negative feelings that you've been wrestling with as you just focus in on. I am my beloved's and he is mine and enjoying that covenant relationship with him.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and as we've talked about with love and as I'm sure we'll talk about with the other aspects of the fruit of the spirit, it has to flow out of an alignment with the spirit. We have to choose to walk with joy. We're commanded to have joy right, we are told to walk this out, and so it's actively remembering that, like you said, the joy of the Lord is our strength. So we want to bless you today with the fruit of the Spirit, which is joy, and we see that in Galatians 5. And also it's Nehemiah 8, verse 10, where we see that the joy of the Lord is your strength. So we want to bless you out of that today. 8, verse 10, where we see that the joy of the Lord is your strength. So we want to bless you out of that today.
Speaker 2:
Spirit God's purpose in his creation was his own pleasure. He rejoices in all his works. Job 38, 7 says that God laid the foundation of the earth and marked off its dimensions and did all his work of creation while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy. Imagine the same joy of God when he created you. Your father is joy and he plants his joy inside you in the person of his son Jesus. The laughing Messiah lives in joy in you.
Speaker 1:
Messiah lives in joy in you, spirit. Be blessed to drink deeply of the joy that God, your Father, has in you as his beloved. He blesses you with a touch of his rejoicing in your inmost parts. Be blessed with his understanding of joy, not the world's fickle happiness. Be blessed to know the joy of the Lord that gives you the strength to go forward, to press on, to endure hardship. God commands for you the blessing of life in the joy of the Lord, defeating depression, destruction and death. Be blessed with his joy to prepare thoroughly, to face pain unflinchingly, to accomplish and to fulfill. Be blessed with the oil of joy that flows from heaven upon your head, dripping down until you are totally soaked down to your toes. Down to your toes.
Speaker 2:
Joy is the quiet inner essence of well-being in Jesus, but it also means to spin around with intense emotion. Spirit, be blessed with jumping, leaping and dancing, with rejoicing an intensity that words cannot fully express. Be blessed with Christ's overflowing joy that bubbles up in you to flow out of you. Have you ever been blessed just to watch someone laugh?
Speaker 1:
Very soon you were laughing too, for no other reason than they were happy. Be contagious with joy that is centered in the sovereignty of your Father. Be blessed to stay connected to the source of joy that is based on being strengthened with His glorious power and on gratitude that you share in the inheritance of His holy people who live in His light. Joy is also a daily decision and a battle. You can count it all joy in trials of any kind, when you know that your Father does all things well for you. Be blessed to be energized for each new day and each new challenge with joy that comes from inner contentment.
Speaker 2:
Spirit. Be blessed with the joy of a kid in the presence of his favorite grandfather. Be blessed to be an ambassador of joy in a world filled with stress and sadness. Be blessed as you spread joy wherever you touch the lives of others. Be blessed as you point them to the unfailing springs of their source of joy. Be blessed to lighten the load of others and strengthen weary hearts with the joy of Jesus. Be blessed to brighten and refresh the weary spirits of others with joyful confidence in Jesus. Be blessed as you pursue the joy set before you, because Jesus is the incarnate joy giver, the joy maker. Be blessed to pursue him who is joy. Jesus came so you can have this kind of joy. It is his gift to you. Be blessed in the incomparable joy of Jesus.
Speaker 1:
Be blessed with the joy that the Spirit of joy produces in you, your response to His joy. I want to thank you for listening to the Father's Business Podcast. This podcast is made possible through donations by people like you. To donate, go to wwwTheFathersBusinesscom. Be sure to follow us at the Fathers Biz on Instagram and Facebook.