I’m glad you came back this week. I hope that you have been thinking about love being the foundation in which everything grows, tilling your ground and pulling any thorns that you have found. This week’s teaching from the Holy Spirit will change your life, as He has changed mine. We can never produce too much joy!
Before we jump into joy, let’s read Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Love is the ground, or the base, and joy is the first offshoot. Are you ready to have a life changing experience manifesting the characteristic of joy? I am!
First, let’s look at what joy really means in Hebrew. People get joy and happiness confused. Unfortunately, there was a period of time amongst Christians where joy meant smiling, pretending to be happy, and using a happy upbeat voice. As we talked about in the first post, that’s doing an impression of God as opposed to letting Him Breathe His Life through you.
That’s one of my favorite scriptures. The word joy in Hebrew is chedvah and means joy and gladness. In the ancient Israelite culture, chedvah-joy was a significant aspect of religious life and community gatherings. Festivals, worship, and communal celebrations were occasions for expressing joy and gratitude to God. The concept of joy in the Hebrew Bible is closely tied to the covenant relationship between God and His people, where joy is seen as a response to God’s faithfulness and provision.
I normally just quote the latter part of this scripture, “the joy of the Lord is my strength.” Recently, the Lord had me look up the whole scripture and read it. A couple family members did some very mean things to me behind my back. I was quoting this scripture, and the Lord showed me how to turn it around. As I was reading the entire scripture, I was hearing other words:
Then He said to Christi, “Go your way to Houston, eat the fat of BBQ, drink the sweet tea, and send portions to your dog for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
As soon as I read it that way out loud to a friend, the joy of the Lord came upon me and I began laughing and laughing with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cleaned out my upset thoughts at them using and abusing me. He didn’t just stop there, I felt strong and filled with joy. The next day, I went to Houston, ate BBQ, drank sweet tea, and brought some smoked turkey back to my dog. I bought a small cake at Trader Joe’s to celebrate the day as Holy and had a great time at prayer meeting. When you go through something, use this scripture the same way! You’re celebrating God’s faithfulness to handle your situation and provision in chedvah-joy style. I will definitely be using this full scripture again in the future. Why should we pass on eating good food, drinking something sweet, and sharing a little to show our faith?
1 Kings 1:40 NKJV
And all the people went up after him; and the people played the flutes and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth seemed to split with their sound.
Think about that, rejoiced with great joy so that the earth seemed to split with sound. What in the world happened here!?!? It makes me excited to think about how we have a better covenant with better promises and the “greater works” Jesus mentioned. So, when we learn to break out together with real Holy Ghost joy, what wonderful thing will happen? The Hebrew word rejoice is sameach and means joyful, glad, merry, and happy. The Hebrew word for joy is simchah which means joy, gladness, mirth (laughter, humor, fun), and rejoicing. This is an excited type of joy, like kids show at Christmas when opening presents.
The last scripture with definition that is on my heart to share is
Isaiah 61:3 NKJV
To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
Let’s go over the Hebrew word before we dig into this scripture, and discuss how to manifest the joyous characteristic of God in our lives. Joy here is sason meaning joy, gladness, exultation, and cheerfulness. Yes, cheerfulness! It is used in the context of expressing a deep, heartfelt joy that is often communal and celebratory in nature. This joy is not merely an internal feeling but is often expressed outwardly through actions and communal gatherings. In ancient Israel culture, joy was seen as a gift from God. Amen to that! It still should be seen as a gift.
“The oil of gladness” in Psalm 45:7 is also “the oil of sason” or of joy.
Let’s quickly go through what’s already been poured out in our hearts:
Acts 2:17: pour out of My Spirit on all flesh
Romans 5:5: love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit
Isaiah 61:3: oil of joy
Oil in the Old Testament is a representation of the Holy Spirit. For us, we would read Isaiah 61:3, the holy Spirit of Joy. These things have ALREADY been given to us. You’re filled with the Holy Spirit. God’s love and joy are already inside you. How do we get them out? If someone gave you a sports car with the key, and it was sitting in the drive way, how would you get it moving? Would you keep asking them to give you the key? No, you’d start it up and use it!! Just use your joy!! People pray for joy, don’t get it, and then conclude that God doesn’t want them happy. NO! Like that car, He already gave it to you! Stop asking and start doing, like Paul told us to do.
Testimony: I was about to drive 12 hours to a special church meeting that I had been waiting months to attend. The night before while I was walking my dog, my right eye swelled up. My whole eyeball hurt; my eyelid felt a stabbing jolt every time I blinked. My eye hurt worse to hang my head down. It was itchy and running a little too. My first thought was cancelling the trip, because I need an eye doctor immediately. Then my head ran off to the negative, “This is going to get worse tomorrow, if I get the on the road, I can’t sit up and drive. Then what? If I don’t go Friday, I can’t find a doctor way out in the middle of nowhere on a Saturday.” I immediately stopped myself and said NO! I called on the “The God Who Answers Prayers!” I asked for healing. Then I was determined when I woke up, I’d be completely healed. I still had things to do that night, and agitation was trying to set in. I personalized the latter part of Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” Then, while walking my dog, I said all gloomy, “ha. ha. ha. I’m happy.” I sounded like a mean old man mad at kids on his lawn. When I realized that I started really laughing. I felt the Holy Spirit join in the laughing, because I started receiving mental strength. Determined to continue, I started happy skipping even though I didn’t feel like it. Real joy continued bubbling up in my spirit, and then a Holy Spirit song came to me about walking straight through my storm into victory. After that my faith rose up, I knew my eye would be healed. By the time I went to bed, the stabbing subsided. I woke up the next day with my eye perfectly healed. It was a bad 3-hour eye issue. I’m very glad the Lord healed me.
Remember, start the car! Talk to the Holy Spirit, He’s the one that’s going to tickle your insides and heal you with the oil of joy. Start saying out loud, “Holy Spirit, help me be joyous. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Ha ha ha!” It doesn’t matter how you feel.
In Acts 16, Paul cast a demon of divination out of a slave girl. It ended up that they beat both Paul and Silas, and bound them in the most secure place in the prison. They were there in the dark bleeding and I’m sure in a lot of pain. Let’s pick up in verse 25,
25But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
I don’t think they were in the mood to have a praise and worship service. I think they started up the engine, and the Holy Spirit joined in with them and strengthened them! They received the oil of joy, continued their singing, and received answered prayer. That’s exactly what we have to do, be joyous when we don’t feel like it. Let’s look at one more scripture, because Paul had the right idea how to start his joy engine in horrible situations!
Later in Acts, Paul was being passed around between Roman officials hearing his case. King Agrippa tells Paul to answer for himself. He tells King Agrippa in Acts 26:2,
“I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews
I think myself happy. He didn’t say, “I feel happy. I waited until I was happy. I want to be happy. I prayed to be happy. I thought about being happy.” He said, “I THINK MYSELF HAPPY!” What should we be doing? Thinking ourselves happy. Often times, we allow the world to affect us and we judge our happiness based on the surrounding circumstances in which we’re currently living. “Yeah, I’m happy,” we say after checking in with our emotions. No, we have to check in with the Holy Spirit concerning our measure of joy! The more joy you’re willing to pour out, the bigger the cistern the Lord is willing to give you! Isn’t that exciting?
Thank you for going through one of my favorite topics this week, joy in the spirit! I hope you feel ready laugh and express God’s joy even when you don’t feel like it. Don’t forget the Bible teaches us in
1 Corinthians 1:27 NKJV
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
Laughing with the Holy Spirit, singing happy songs, and dancing not only looks completely foolish, but also weak. That’s how we fight our battles with the joy of the Lord! Practice in the small. So when the bigger things in life come your way, you have already trained and already know how to win the victory.
Next week, we’ll talk about peace and then do the remaining fruits in pairs. I’m very excited to share what the Lord has to say in the upcoming weeks. Until then, Father, please remind us that Your joy is our strength. Show us how You created us to express joy and give us a renewed boldness to express joy in front of others. Thank you for teaching us hidden things in your Word. Amen.
Christi
My Prayer Notebook 
Leave a comment