What brings you joy? A beautiful sunset? A son excelling at his sport? A granddaughter using her gifts well? A conflict finally resolved? Listening to beautiful music on a quiet morning? A trip to Graeters’ ice cream store? A project completed after months of work? A loved one recovered after a long illness? What’s on your list?

Indeed these events and many other happenings bring joy to our hearts. They bring pleasure or relief or pride. However, these same things bring joy to non-believers as well.  So how do we describe the kind of JOY the Holy Spirit gives?

I have grappled with this all week which took me to the Scripture. David found joy in God’s presence.

You have made known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasure at your right hand. Psalm 16:11

David spent many days on the hillside with his sheep or running from King Saul or fighting great battles, but in those quiet times, he found joy in God’s presence.

John reminds us of Jesus’ metaphor that He is the vine, we are the branches. He also said we must love each other as He has loved us.

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11

How do we have that kind of complete joy? By staying connected to the vine. The Holy Spirit draws up “joy nourishment” from the roots of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, shoots them through the vine and into each of our branches. Sometimes our branches get pretty saggy and limp, but as we draw near to Him, He pumps up our branch with “joy juice”—complete joy.

Later in John, Jesus tells His disciples,

“Until now you have not asked of anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” John 16:24

Remember, Spirit joy is not the joy the world gives, nice as that may be, it is a kind of inner joy that sustains us; a joy that gives us strength and a song in our hearts.

I have a favorite tea cup with a flowery/butterfly design on a pale blue background. It has a quote on the side: 

The Lord is my strength and my song. Psalm 118:14

With joy on my mind this morning, I thought, “Yes, that’s it! Joy is like  the strength of the Lord working in me and giving me a song.”

Paul experienced that kind of joy in spite of facing rejection and rebellion. He and Barnabas were often forced away from new believers by antagonists who stirred up persecution,

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:52

Amazing! In spite of the persecution, they were filled with joy (accompanied by the Holy Spirit.) 

This week, I pray you will stay well connected to the vine, so that your branch will be plumped up with rich joy nourishment and that you will find completeness and strength and a song!

~ Joyce ~