What is the Spirit of Joy Meaning | Bringing God into your Situations
Joy is an expression of the Spirit of God. When a man is possessed by the spirit of God, the Spirit expresses Himself as many things such as love, peace, gentleness, faith, joy, and others.
A believer who is domiciled by the Holy Spirit becomes a house for the fruit of the Spirit one of them is Joy. Spirit of joy meaning will help you know how joy affects your life directly.
God operates in an atmosphere of joy. If you want to host God, then you must put joy in place. The activities of the spirit of God become heightened around your life the moment you set up an atmosphere of joy.
Knowing the spirit of joy meaning will help you increase the activities of the Spirit around your life and bring God into your situations. When God steps into your situation, turnaround is assured.
Joy is an expression of excitement or gladness informed by the knowledge of God’s love for you and the inheritance He has kept for you. The spirit of joy is best expressed based on your heavenly realities, not earthly realities.
When your happiness and excitement are no longer influenced by earthly events but by heavenly realities, that’s the true understanding of the spirit of Joy.
No one establishes the source of his joy on anything earthly that will have permanent or stable Joy. If you build your joy on anything physical, you cannot have a stable joy. Your joy will be affected when those things are affected.
Your life’s joy cannot be stable until you build your expectations, hope, and trust in the only stable God. Putting the totality of your trust and hope in God is the true spirit of joy. If you have been looking for how to build lasting joy, I’m here to show you how to live joyfully.
Joy Definition Greek
Joy came from the Greek word, “chara” which means cheerfulness, calm delight, gladness, and greatly. This is the definition and real meaning of joy. Joy in itself is higher than happiness. Happiness is often a by-product of a fortune that happens to you externally and when affected, your happiness will also lift. Joy is higher than this.
Joy is always excited regardless of the events around the person. This is made possible because the source of joy is not founded in the unstable events of life but in God alone.
More money makes happy people happier, less money depletes their happiness. Joy is stable and the same regardless of more or less money. This is the difference between joy and happiness.
This means that a Joyful person will be filled with cheerfulness, gladness, and delight. This is only possible when we stay connected with God who is the Chief author of Joy.
Our vital relationship with God will cheaply afford us the joy of this quality. Know God, Know Joy. God is a joyful person, He gives joy to people and associates with joyful people.
God, Himself loves those who are cheerful and do things cheerfully. Bible says God loves a cheerful giver. “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). Every service that must be done or offered to God must come from this state of cheerfulness.
7 Examples of Joy in the Bible
Bible has some specific characters who exemplified joy during their pilgrimages on earth. Some of them had gone through circumstances that challenged their faith but God made them laugh in the end.
The lives of these ones are a true testament that God fails no man. If we practice joy the way they did, we will have their kinds of results.
1. Sarah: “Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” (Genesis 21:5-6).
Sarah had gone past the age of conception and delivery but God showed up to make her laugh. It’s in God’s nature to give the latest for the late. Whenever it’s appearing late, if you can hold on to God, the latest miracles will come your way.
God will always compensate you for waiting on Him with incredible miracles. The son Issac which God gave Sarah eventually became the heir of the world. What a miracle!
2. Hannah: “And Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the LORD; My horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in Your salvation” (1 Samuel 2:1).
Hannah had long been barren for several years, and the enemies had rejoiced over her. Glory to God, He came through for her and gave her a prophet as a child whose impact can never be forgotten. Hannah operated a secret here that is noteworthy for every believer.
She could smile at her enemies because she rejoiced in the salvation of the Lord. The best way to defeat your enemies is by rejoicing in the Lord. No wonder, Apostle Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always”. When you do this, you have the Lord at your service always. Joy is part of effective prayer
3. Elizabeth: “Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid five months, saying, Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.” ( Luke 1:24-25)
Elizabeth was the wife of Priest Zechariah who had been barren for countless years. In her old age, the Lord visited her and made her laugh. The Lord shall make you laugh this year. God is still doing wonders today and His wonders will locate you.
4. Mary: “And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name” ( Luke 1:46-49).
Here is Mary the mother of Jesus. She was never barren but she was highly favored by God to bring forth a child in an impossible way. Who has heard of such a thing that a virgin will conceive and give birth? What a mighty God we serve! May God who is mighty do mighty things to you this year.
5. “Joseph said to them, Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Genesis 50:19-20).
Joseph was a young man bitterly persecuted by his brethren because of the envisaged glory upon him. They meant to do him evil but God turned it into good. This was a pathetic story that ended up in gladness.
Joseph shreds the tears of joy. This is one of the meanings of joy. When what you thought was impossible became simplified by the Lord. God still does wonders, keep trusting Him and he will turn your situation around.
6. “Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yokes of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days” ( Job 42: 12,16-17).
The man, Job went through a very difficult season in his life. But God in His mercy made the latter end of Job be far greater than the former. No situation cannot be turned around when faith is shown in God.
7. Jesus: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11).
Satan thought he had ended the life of Jesus in the lowest pit but God failed him. The lowest pit He went to was the path he took to assume the highest position in heaven. Jesus bore the painful cross to assume the splendorous glory.
May the pit your enemies have lower you become your pathway to an exalted place in Jesus’ name. May every difficult season you’re going through end in joy in the name of Jesus.
Read also: How to live with gladness
Joy in the Holy Spirit
The scripture established the nature and the personality of God as the Spirit. He’s not a human like we are, He’s a Spirit. “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).
God expresses Himself as a Spirit unto men He deals with. Under the mighty Spirit of God, there are other spirits, one of which is Joy.
True joy is a fruit of the Spirit. No one can truly have Joy without having a living union with the Holy Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).
When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you’ll be filled with joy. Joy is normal when intimacy is maintained. The permanent cure for depression is joy in the Holy Spirit. How frequent your joy will be is determined by where the source of your joy is located.
If your joy is located in things that can change with time, your joy is subject to fluctuations but if it’s rooted in the Holy Spirit, then it will be stable and permanent
The kingdom of God is a house of Joy. If you want to host the kingdom, the joy must be in ceaseless flow. “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).
Sometimes there is nothing to rejoice about. The situations around your life may not call for joy. When such situations come up, then you can always rejoice in the Holy Spirit. Something may have gone wrong with everything around you, but nothing will ever be wrong with the Holy Spirit.
Apostle Paul charged the early church to rejoice purely in the Lord. “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord..” (Philippians 3:1). “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). When Joy is in the Lord, it will then be always. It cannot be always until it’s rooted in the Lord God.
Joy in the Holy Spirit gives God a free operation within your life and extinguishes the activities of the wicked ones. “The voice of rejoicing and salvation Is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. The right hand of the LORD is exalted; The right hand of the LORD does valiantly” (Psalms 118:15-16).
The voice of joy activates the hand of God upon your life and makes divine possibilities your realities. When you have Joy in the Lord, you make the Lord become an enemy to your enemies.
There was a time King of Syria came against King Jehoshaphat. King Jehoshaphat became perplexed and he went to the Lord. He set up an atmosphere of joy and the Lord replied to his enemies on his behalf.
“And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever.” So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 20:21-28).
What an amazing strategy to bruise your enemy! Whenever you are faced with a stronger enemy than you are, turn to the Lord in endless praise and joy, the Lord will become the enemy of your enemy. Joy in the Holy Spirit is a game-changer, it will win any fight.
Fruit of the Spirit Joy Bible Verses
A branch that is connected to the trunk will never struggle to bear fruit. A branch doesn’t have to do anything to bear fruit, it just needs connectivity. When connectivity is maintained with the spirit, you bear joy as a fruit. Fruit of the spirit joy bible verses will strengthen your faith and stabilize your joy.
Spirit of joy can only be explained by scriptural verses. I will be showing you some of these scriptures to stabilize your joy in the Lord. When you set the Lord always before you, your joy is permanent.
1. “I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved” (Psalms 16:8).
Setting The Lord before you make your joy stable. Looking unto the Lord always makes you experience joy inexpressible. You will look like what you look at.
2. “We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfill all thy petitions” (Psalms 20:5).
When you rejoice in the salvation of the Lord, you have your petition met. No unanswered prayer for a man of Joy.
3. “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?” ( Psalms 56:3-4).
Putting your trust in the Lord cures fear and anxiety. Fear dies when the Lord is trusted wholeheartedly.
4. “The king shall have joy in Your strength, O LORD; And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! You have given him his heart’s desire And have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah. For You meet him with the blessings of goodness; You set a crown of pure gold upon his head” (Psalms 21:1-2).
When you rejoice in the ability of God, the Lord will give you your heart desires in all manners of blessings.
5. “For his anger endures but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalms 30:5).
A continual joy will turn weeping into dancing. One of the secrets of David was that he knew how to engage God in endless praise. God called him a man after his own heart because of this.
6. “Make me hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice” (Psalms 51:8).
Joy and gladness will quicken every dead situation. When hope is gone and it seems there is no way out, your expression of faith and gladness in the Lord will quicken your hope and turn the situation around.
7. “I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High. When my enemies turn back, They shall fall and perish in Your presence. For You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat on the throne judging in righteousness” (Psalms 9:2).
Rejoicing exceedingly in the Lord makes the enemies turn back and the Lord will protect your right and no man will supplant you.
8. “But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, Because He has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalms 13:5-6).
When your heart rejoices in the Lord, the Lord will deal bountifully with you in all areas of your life and shall not want anything good.
9. “I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, For You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities, And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a wide place” (Psalms 31:7-8).
God’s mercy is available unto those that rejoice in Him. Mercy is endless where joy is maintained.
10. “My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, And my soul, which You have redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long; For they are confounded, For they are brought to shame Who seek my hurt” (Psalms 71: 23-24).
Everyone who seeks your soul will be brought to shame because you rejoice in the Lord.
11. “Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!” (Psalms 90:14).
The Lord will satisfy you with mercy as you rejoice in Him.
12. “For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bears not; break forth and cry, thou that travails not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband” (Galatians 4:27).
Joy translates barrenness into fruitfulness. Prophet Joel captured the reason why everything is falling apart in the world of men.
“The vine has dried up, And the fig tree has withered; The pomegranate tree, The palm tree also, And the apple tree– All the trees of the field are withered; Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men” (Joel 1:12).
Joy is like the dew of heaven that makes beautiful grasses grow on earth. If joy is absent nothing attractive will grow. If we can all fix our joy, we will fix our world. If joy is absent, the ground will dry which will discourage all manner of fruitfulness.
You will do yourself a favor when you become deliberate about rejoicing in the Lord always. Don’t let the garden of joy be deficient in the needed dew required to make your life bud. Keep the joy flowing and everything will take shape.
Spiritual Joy
One of the Spirit of joy’s meanings is that joy is spiritual. If joy came from the Holy Spirit, then it must be spiritual. What then is spiritual Joy? Spiritual Joy is the ability to look away from what is visible and rejoice in what is invisible.
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).
If you have decisively learned how to fix your gaze on the invisible things, your joy will be temporal and carnal. Carnal happiness is temporal while spiritual joy is eternal. If it must last at all, then it must be spiritual.
Abraham was one of the Patriarchs that practiced spiritual Joy. God gave him a promise that he was going to give birth to a child but the promise refused to be fulfilled until after 25 years.
The challenging thing was that Abraham and Sarah were growing old, and the possibilities of giving birth were drastically reducing. Abraham looked away from the physical to fix His gaze on the spiritual, which was why He remained joyful. Taking your gaze from the physical to look into the spiritual is how to live joyfully.
“And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:19-20).
The attitude of rejoicing in the unseen eventually turned the table around and the promises of God manifested unto Him. The promised child was born who became the heir of the world from whose root Christ was born.
“And being fully convinced that what He had promised Him was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Romans 4:21-22).
You need to understand that, whenever God gives you a promise, you need your faith in operation to deliver the promises of God to you. If your faith is punctured, your manifestation will be hindered. One of the things that strengthen your faith for performance is Joy in the Holy Ghost.
Abraham was strong in faith by giving glory to God. As he kept rejoicing in what the Lord has said, his faith was strengthened and the promise was made manifest. The spiritual rules the physical. If you can maintain constant spiritual joy, there is not a battle you cannot win in the physical world.
Victory at the end of the tunnel is the fruit of the spirit joy lesson just as it was in the case of Abraham. The manifestation may be delayed but when it eventually delivers, it comes bigger and better.
Characteristics of Joy
Joy has a mode of identification. You can know if someone is operating true Joy or not by the attributes they show. Joy has attributes. Characteristics of joy help to know the kind of joy you’ve been operating whether it’s circumstantial joy or real joy in the Holy Spirit.
A joyful spirit is known by the characteristics the bearer of it exhibits. Below are the characteristics of joy you’ll see to guide yourself in keeping your joy intact without being affected by any circumstance.
1. True Joy is Rooted in God: “Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation” ( Habakkuk 3:17-18).
True Joy rejoices in God regardless if there is physical evidence to do so or not. Everything may be out of place but as long as God is in place, the joy is in place.
2. True Joy is unspeakable: “Who having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8).
This kind of joy makes you happy without any tangible reason. You’re just happy not knowing why! This is the best life any believer could ever live. A life of joy without physical reason. God is the reason for the joy.
3. True Joy is stable: “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4: 20).
The delay in the manifestation of God’s promises didn’t make Abraham disbelieve God, He was stable. Many people go cold on their faith in God because of the perceived delays. This is not one of the attributes of true Joy. True Joy is stable regardless of the instability of situations or delayed expectations.
4. True Joy Looks away from situations: “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb” (Romans 4:19).
Abraham looked at neither the deadness of Sarah’s body nor his own body. This was why he was victorious. When Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he walked on water but when the object of focus shifted from Jesus to the storm, he started sinking.
6. True Joy is God-focused: “I will lift my eyes to the hills– From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth”(Psalms 121: 1-2).
A joy bearer does not have his eyes on anything else but God. This is why he cannot be moved by situations. God-focused is a peaceful life. This is how to live joyfully!
7. True Joy is Thankful: “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”!(Ephesians 5: 20).
A sad person cannot afford thanksgiving. It takes a joyful heart to be thankful to God for all things whether pleasant or not pleasant. This is expected of every believer. We’re to give thanks to God always for all things.
8. True Joy is always excited: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).
A joy bearer doesn’t have down days, every day is Christmas. This is possible because his focus is on God, and not any circumstance whatsoever. Joy is permanent with anyone whose eyes are fixed on God.
9. True Joy is optimistic: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come” ( Romans 8:38).
Regardless of the negative situations, the joy bearer is always optimistic and forward-going. Apostle Paul never let down his swords because of the challenges he was facing. He kept holding on with the hope of winning. Joy possesses a winning mentality.
10. True Joy is contagious: “And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city” ( Acts 8:6-8).
Joy cannot be hidden, if one has joy, it will spread across to everyone around. God used Philip to cause great deliverance in the city of Samaria, and the whole city was filled with Joy.
To drive it home, a life of joy is what you are called to live. No other source can afford this except God who is the joy-personified. The system God created around His throne is a system of joy. He has innumerable numbers of angels who express joy to Him day and night. This is your heritage as a believer.
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