Joy

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Nehemiah 8:10 (KJV)

***

STUDY MATERIALS PURPOSE

The purpose of these study materials is to help, strengthen and educate the Persecuted Church around the world.

People have contacted us from very remote and persecuted areas of the world. These resources are not available to them and/or if they are seen with them they can be persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. Some people can only look at these resources for a brief moment on their cell phones. This library is dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ and to those with fierce determination are following Him.

The books, media and information on this website are a library service and for educational purposes only. This is a lending library for the persecuted church around the world. Please look inside the back of each book or look up the authors name on the internet to obtain more information and more resources from these great ministries. Also, please financially support their ministries as they bring the good news of Jesus Christ to billions of people around the world.

***

Joy: A Very Real Force - Kenneth Copeland

The joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10 (KJV)

Joy. It's not a warm, happy feeling you're supposed to have now and then when things are going well. It's much more than that. Joy is one of the most powerful spiritual forces in the world.

Look again at Nehemiah 8:10 and I'll show you why. If you were to diagram that scripture and remove the phrase, "of the Lord," you would find what it's truly saying is this: Joy is strength. The two are interchangeable.

That's what makes joy so crucial. You can't live a life of faith without being strong in the Lord—and when God wants to make you strong, joy is what He uses to do the job!

Joy is not just a state of mind. It is not a fleeting emotion. Joy is a very real force, and the devil doesn't have anything that can stand up against it. Just as fear has to yield to faith, discouragement has to yield to joy.

Since joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, you already have it residing within you. But you must develop it, confess it and live by it if you want to enjoy its power.

Whatever circumstances you are facing today, you can be full of joy. You can be strong in the Lord. You can draw on the supply of the Holy Spirit within you and come out on top.

Rejoice!

Scripture Reading: Psalm 18:28-50

Don't Forget the Joy - Kenneth Copeland

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. - Philippians 4:4

Years ago, I decided I was going to walk by the Word of God. I told God that, as far as I was concerned, His Word was final and I’d confess it the rest of my life no matter what. That was the most important decision I’ve ever made.

Not too long after that, I decided that no matter what happened, whether I felt like it or not, I’d walk in love. Because the Bible clearly says “faith worketh by love.” It won’t work any other way.

Those two decisions—to operate by faith in the Word of God and to walk in love—are the two most important decisions I’ve ever made in my life.

Recently, though, God pointed out to me that there was something I’d been leaving out. The force of joy. He told me I have no right to walk by faith and love and just leave joy dormant in my spirit. It’s too important. As He taught me about it, I soon came to realize that joy is an essential part of a life of victory. Without it, I might have an occasional triumph now and then, but I wouldn’t be able to sustain them. They’d quickly slip away.

You see, joy is what gives you the strength (Nehemiah 8:10) to hold steady when the circumstances get rough. Joy gives you the ability to laugh in the devil’s face when he starts trying to knock you off your faith. It gives you a kind of staying power that will make you a winner again and again.

So make a commitment to God that you’re going to walk, not only in faith and in love but in joy as well. Make it a point to rejoice in the Lord always...and there won’t be anything the devil can do or say to steal your victory from you!

Scripture Reading: Psalm 84:1-7

Finding True Joy - Creflo A. Dollar

Most people want to experience joy and happiness, and some people spend their entire life pursuing it. Joy can be defined as an emotional state of being or a feeling of elation, but many people miss the mark when searching exclusively for it. The world’s definitions of joy are incomplete and impartial, because those definitions can change at any time. To learn the truth about how to find it, we must search through the Bible.

The world says we can find happiness when we buy a new car, shop at a particular department store, earn a certain salary, or socialize with the right crowd. The problem with this way of thinking is that what the world says is important becomes meaningless and temporary when compared with the Scriptures, which are unchanging truths. When we study the Bible, we learn that God’s plan includes perfect happiness in Him. “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:24) Jesus spoke these words to His disciples to teach them that true and lasting joy comes only from God.

When we refocus our mindset from looking for happiness with worldly things to realizing that it’s actually a blessing from heaven, our whole perspective begins to change. The world tells us we have to work hard to find any degree of happiness or peace, fleeting though it may be. Jesus reveals to us that we can’t find joy through our own efforts, only through Him. “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  (Phil. 4:4, 6, 7) 

His blessings are found in peaceful children, happy marriages, stable finances, and success and prosperity in everything we do. Accepting God’s Word as truth and believing it strongly enough to apply it to our life allows Him to pour out those blessings on us. We’re suddenly caught by surprise when we realize that the deep sense of peace and joy that flows through us comes from His thoughts toward us. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jer. 29:11)

God’s joy goes deeper than just a sense of elation or exhilaration. When we believe His promises to us, even in situations when we don’t feel happy at the moment, we still have a supernatural sense of joyful peace. It’s higher, deeper, and wider than any ocean, and we simply know it’s from His presence. “Rejoice always, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thess. 5:16, 18) God wants us to know that the kind of happiness greater than we could ever imagine is found only through Him.

The theme of thanksgiving is mentioned repeatedly in the Scriptures because when we encounter His love, we can’t help but give thanks for the joy we discover. It originates from Him, not from the world. “Why is everyone hungry for more? ‘More, more,’ they say. ‘More, more.’ I have God’s more-than-enough, more joy in one ordinary day than they get in all their shopping sprees. At day’s end I’m ready for sound sleep, For you, God, have put my life back together.” (Psalm 4:6-8) He makes us whole again!

Joy, No Matter What - Craig W. Hagin

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit that we should all have operating in our lives (Gal. 5:22). And God wants us to be full of it. He wants us to have a full tank of joy
(John 15:11)—regardless of what's happening around us!

James 1:2 (NCV) says, "My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be FULL OF JOY." You may be thinking, "How can I be full of joy when bad things are happening all around me?"

You're confusing joy with happiness. They are two different things. Happiness comes from things that happen on the outside—earthly experiences, material objects. And it's temporary. True joy comes from the inside—from Jesus. And no matter what is going on around us, we can always have joy in Him.

Look Inside
You see, if you're looking at the world—at trials, wars, and financial situations—you're forgetting Who's inside you. Those things shouldn't move you or cause you to lose your joy. Why? Because to know who you are in Christ is to be joyful.

Nehemiah 8:10 says that the joy of the Lord is our strength. It's His joy that's on the inside of us. It's His joy that keeps us going strong, no matter what. And we can keep that joy in spite of the situations we face. Christ in us is greater than anything that's in the world!

"Well, I just need Jesus to come by here, and help my situation. Then I'll be joyful." Jesus has already helped your situation! When He died on Calvary, He said, "It is finished." Jesus defeated the devil and gave us His Name. He's the ultimate winner.

When we believe on Him, we become ultimate winners too. It's just that simple. And that's why we can keep our joy in spite of circumstances. We know what the Word of God says and that settles it!

Rejoice—Always
I'm going to be honest. Life is not always going to feel joyful. The devil is here to try to get us off our game. He's here to steal our dreams—to kill and destroy (John 10:10). But God is always for us. And the Bible tells us we must "count it all joy" (James 1:2 NKJV).

That means we must count it all joy now—and not just when it feels joyful. Every day, we've got to stir up the gift of God that's on the inside of us, knowing that situations and struggles don't define us. The scoreboard might say we're losing, but the game is not over! We are always victorious through Christ Jesus. And we can have what the Bible says is ours.

We can have joy and the peace that passes all understanding because we know our God is able. And as long as we put our trust in Him, He will deliver us out of every situation.

The Apostle Paul had many times in his life that didn't seem very joyful. He was persecuted, stoned, and beaten as he ministered the Word. But those things didn't move Him. He kept his joy, because it wasn't based on the things he was going through. It was based upon the Lord. That's why he was able to encourage us in Philippians 4:4 (NKJV) to "rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!" Paul knew of the power that comes from rejoicing in
the Lord.

Unspeakable Joy
Our joy is not based upon rising and falling gas prices. It's not based upon the stock market, the new iPhone, or having the newest vehicle. It's not based upon whether we live in a big house, a small house, or an outhouse! None of that matters!

When we know Who our God is, who we are in Christ, and that the joy of the Lord is our strength, we can continue to rejoice. We can rejoice with "joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8).

What does that mean? It means we rejoice with a joy that's so good we can't even describe it. A joy that will strengthen us and help us. A joy that will cause us to stand.

We might not know what to do about a situation, but we don't have to worry. God is still in control. And there is nothing that can stop us when we have the joy of the Lord on the inside!

  We are serious about you!

Contacts us, we want to pray for you! God has a great things ahead for you.