Perhaps  you know the Bobby McFerrin song, “Don’t worry, be happy” (“Don't worry, be happy. In every life we have some trouble. But when you worry you make it double, Don’t worry. Be happy!”)?

Well today, we are after some happiness and boy, did Jen and AJ deliver the laughs while diving deep into another fruit of the Spirit: JOY. 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

In this episode, Jen and AJ shared what is bringing them joy lately, the difference between joy and happiness, how to have joy in hard times, their big takeaways and what they’ve learned from studying JOY in the scriptures… plus MUCH MORE!

The best example of joy is Jesus Himself.

Happiness is a feeling. A great, wonderful, beautiful feeling. But joy… joy is MORE THAN A FEELING. It goes beyond our mood and whether the sun is shining outside our window. Joy is completely independent of our circumstances or situation in life.

Happiness largely depends on the pleasantness of our circumstances, but JOY can be ours, even when we're in the midst of great trials and pain. 

And that's really good news because that means that no matter what we're experiencing or what we're going through, we can still have joy and we can still rejoice in the Lord.

Ultimately, this state of true joy can only come from God and can only be possessed by His children.

But let’s be honest… Joy is easy to have when things are fine and great in life, but what about when things are not? 

  Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. - James 1:2-3

If joy is the answer we're working towards, no matter the difficult situation we find ourselves in, we're going to have to do a little bit of spiritual growth to get there.

Joy is set before us for the reward that we have coming.  Jesus set that example for us, which is super encouraging because when we are going through a hard thing in our lives, it doesn't mean we have to be mastered by it. It does not have to beat us. We can still be strong in the Lord, even in the midst of hard things we are facing. 

The Bible tells us that in this world, we will have trouble, trials. and periods in our lives when things aren’t going to be comfortable. That's why it's so important to hang on to the truths about joy. 

We encourage you to give this episode a listen, and if possible ponder what might be stealing your joy and ask the Lord for His joy to be your strength!

For Further Study

Read the Bible verses mentioned during the episode: 

Luke 15:11 

James 1:2-3

John 17 

John 16:33

Matthew 5: 10-12

Psalms 4:7-8

Matthew 25:23 

If you want to go even further, join us for an in-depth study of the Fruit of the Spirit! You will have access to a Scripture Reading Plan, Workbooks, Live workshop, recording, special community, creative elements for journaling and much much more. Get the details here: www.sojoacademy.com.