Joy is God’s gift to believers. Paul speaks of more than just a mood. This is a deep confidence that was rooted in God’s sovereign control of the universe, His on unchanging divine promises and eternal spiritual realities including the assurance of ultimate victory for those in Christ.
Joy is a part of God’s own nature and Spirit that He manifests in His children.
Joy is the inevitable overflow of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and of the believer’s knowing His continuing presence and having a sense of well being experienced by one who knows all is well between himself and the Lord (1Peter 1:8).
Joy not only does not come from favorable human circumstances but is sometimes greatest when those circumstances are the most painful and severe.
Joy is not the same as Happiness. The fruit of the Spirit does not include happiness because it depends on circumstances, whereas, the joy of the Lord, which is a fruit of the Spirit, comes to us because of the Presence of Jesus in our lives (Acts 16:25).