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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 study on joy from the Holy Spirit will change your life and possibly be the missing piece to your answered prayer. We can never produce too much joy! Joy is fun and infectious. Most people are drawn to joy, which is why it’s a very desirable fruit to produce.
But first, homework!
-We don’t need personal details, but did anyone pray over their ground this week and look for confusion, cursing, and fear? Did you notice a difference as soon as you dealt with it, lighter inside maybe?
- I know everyone meditated on Hebrews 3:14-15 and 1 John 4:18, so I won’t ask. Amen!
- How is the use of the easy definition of Biblical love working for you?
(Joyfully choosing to take the best action to promote the welfare of others)
Before we jump into joy, let’s read Galatians 5:22-23NKJV.
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 revealing the characteristic of joy? I am!
First, let’s look at what joy means in Hebrew. Of course there are different Hebrew words for joy, and if you feel lead by the Holy Spirit or need more joy in your life, I encourage you to continue the study at home. You’ll notice they all carry some type of meaning to outwardly express joy, not just smiling or saying like a robot, “I’m so full of joy.” Our English Bibles fail us, yes fail us, to convey the point that we are being TOLD to express joy outwardly. So please don’t say, “We aren’t commanded to do that!” Yes, we are! The meaning is lost in translations. Our New Testament is translated from Hebrew to Greek, at least certain books, and the Greeks translated according to their meaning and culture.
Psalm 51:12 NKJV
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
The Hebrew word for joy is sason. Strong’s Lexicon give this definition for usage: The Hebrew word "sason" conveys a sense of joy and gladness, often associated with celebration and exultation. 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. We all need to be restored to the outward expression of our salvation.
People often 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 study, that’s doing an impersonation of God as opposed to letting Him Breathe His Life through you. We don’t have to pretend. It doesn’t benefit you or anyone else. I came across this testimony; and I wanted to share it, because it’s a perfect illustration of manifesting God’s character verses the impersonation.
(Tell a true story, or use mine below)
Over 20 years ago, I was tormented in my mind. I was a Christian, regularly went to church, grew up in church, and read my Bible occasionally. Things just kept getting worse. I felt crazy, depressed, suicidal, and started having panic attacks more frequently. My family, Christians, wanted me on medication. I kept praying and getting worse. One day, I was thinking about killing myself, but I didn’t want to go to hell. Then a strong urge came over me to play online games on my computer. It was weird, and I didn’t want to but I did! The game found an opponent and it was this kind chatty lady, which I wasn’t nearly in the mood for at the time. She kept telling me how God changed her life, while blah blah blah God didn’t help me. She kept talking about her life’s transformation and I started to feel like God might love me and help me too. I just kept reading her messages and neither of us cared about the game. Then I felt a spring of hope inside me like never before. I felt peace come over me that settled my mind like never before, and I felt happy and excited to read two books she recommended. The next day, I made a 40-minute drive to get the books and read them immediately. I learned God did really love me, wasn’t hurting and punishing me, and He wanted me free from fear that was tormenting me. I now know the Spirit of God on her ministered to me as she was typing, or she would be like every other Christian I knew full of fake love, fake care, and fake prayers. Since then and for the rest of my life, I want to be like this woman. No more clanging cymbals, but let God’s love through me minister to the hurting. I can’t wait to meet this woman in Heaven and let her know the one person she took time and helped turned around and helped so many people. She helped God save my life.
That is our goal with this series, to learn how to manifest the presence of God to affect those around us. Like we talked about last week, this fruit isn’t just for ourselves. An average mature apple tree produces 1,500 apples, a semi-dwarf tree produces 750 apples, and a dwarf tree 300 apples. That’s like the 100, 50, and 30 Jesus was talking about. If you’re actively producing as a mature Christian, adolescent Christian, or a baby Christian, it more than enough fruit to feed you, your family, and many others their fill of apples (love).
Let’s jump right into how to get joy working in your life.
Nehemiah 8:10 NKJV
Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those 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.”
That’s one of my favorite scriptures. The word joy in Hebrew here 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 to the ancient Hebrews 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.
Normally, most of us just quote or focus on the latter part of Nehemiah 8:10, “the joy of the Lord is my strength,” and we motor on like we activated this scripture. We must fully activate this scripture, not just quote the end, if you want it to really work for you.
(Activate the scripture for yourself before the teaching, and use your own example. My experience is below. Use that as a guide to working it in your own life so you can testify!)
Recently, I felt impressed by the Lord to look up the entire scripture and read it. A couple family members did some very mean things to me behind my back. They did something so mean that they hurt a friend of mine that’s kind to them in the process. I was quoting the latter part of this scripture, and the Lord gave me the revelation to read the entire scripture to turn it around. As I was reading the entire scripture, other words popped in my head:
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.”
I thought I was crazy, but why not try it? As soon as I read this personalized scripture out loud to a friend, the joy of the Lord came upon me and I began laughing and crying at the same time. The Holy Spirit cleaned me out of hurt and upset thoughts at them using and abusing me. He didn’t just stop there, I felt strong, and filled with His 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 later that evening. The hurt feelings were completely gone, my joy was completely restored and in overflow, my mind was at total peace, and I couldn’t even be bothered to think about what they had done to me. When you go through something, use this scripture the same way! The entire scripture is important. You’re celebrating God’s faithfulness to handle your battle 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 food to show our faith in God’s ability?
Then He said to _____, “Go your way to _____, eat the fat of _____, drink the sweet _____, and send portions to _____ 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.”
Write that scripture down to use in your own life the same way. This is how we fight our battles, with joy and celebration. I want you to see this, because scriptures are linked together.
We have to read this in King James:
Psalm 23:5
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
In the middle of a battle, war is going on, how can you sit down and eat for a celebration? By faith. We aren’t just supposed to read this and say, “Well, that’s a nice thought.” David wrote it, and around 650 years later, the people of Nehemiah's day acted this scripture out. If you read chapter 4 of Nehemiah, they rebuilt the wall with one hand, and their weapon in the other hand. Once the wall was built, they had scripture read to them and they were distraught because of how far they had fallen away from God. They overcame the physical fight, but they realized they were lost spiritually. Can you imagine that type of stress? Our battles aren’t with flesh and blood, Paul told us in Ephesians 6:12, but they’re spiritual. Any spiritual battle you’re in the middle of right now, even if it’s a physical battle in your body that requires strength to see your faith through, or a past battle that has left scars inside you and you need to exchange it for joy; plan a celebration meal over it. God is the God of time. You’re not too late! He’ll pour oil on your head, which for us is just a refreshing from the Holy Spirit. You can use oil as symbolic of acting out the scripture, but you don’t have to use it. Your cup running over is His Goodness or provision (we’ll see this later on); no spiritual or physical lack.
Joy is a serious spiritual weapon that we haven’t traditionally used, because our English definition of joy is so vastly different from the Hebrew definition. When they translated the New Testament from Hebrew to Greek in some books and possible just from Greek for others, the definition of joy was also quelled. The Greeks weren’t like the Hebrews having celebratory shouting, singing, and dancing as part of worshiping or partaking of their feasts. Their gods never offered them real joy, because they always had to appease them. Their dead gods didn’t do anything for them, obviously. We have to remember that Jesus wasn’t Greek and wasn’t teaching in Greek; He was Hebrew and followed Hebrew traditions. Let’s look at the ancient Hebrews expressing joy, because that’s where we should be looking.
1 Kings 1:40 NKJV
And all the people went up after him (Solomon); and the people played the flutes and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth seemed to split with their sound.
This wasn’t even for God, but they cheered for Solomon becoming king. 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, and how much more we could rejoice. 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.
Here’s another one, Exodus 32:17 NKJV
And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.”
Ain’t no party like a Hebrew party! Sad to say, they were singing and dancing over the golden calf.
Last one, this is about Hebrews getting excited over the Lord in 1 Samuel 4:5 NKJV
And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook.
Strong’s Lexicon comments on the usage of the Hebrew word for shout, ruwa, “It is used in various contexts, including expressions of joy, alarm, or battle cries. The term can denote both positive and negative connotations, such as a joyful shout of triumph or a cry of distress.” I don’t think most people are comfortable with joyous ruwa shouting yet, so you may need to save this for home. But eventually, when we learn to break out together with real Holy Ghost joy Hebrew style, I wonder what wonderful thing will happen for us,
Joy is the serious business of Heaven. While that might sound wild, that joy is serious business, don’t forget Paul said (1 Corinthians 1:27), “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.” Is it wise by the world’s standards to laugh and rejoice when your life or health feels like it’s falling apart? Exactly, it’s the last thing the world would recommend! They would think you were falling apart already and suggest an antidepressant.
Check this out for wild! Andy Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas started teaching laughing classes about 15 years ago. Their research showed that it reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, improved immune system, increased oxygen (healing), and improved mood and outlook on life. They also concluded that your body will have the exact same benefits whether or not the laughing is real or fake. You can watch their videos on YouTube, but unfortunately, they refer to it as Laughing Yoga, I guess to make it more serious. They even have Tony Robbins, a famous motivational speaker, endorsing these classes. Laugh Your Way to Health website adds the claim that laughing helps, “deal with pain when the brain releases endorphins. More than two hours of pain relief is provided by a typical laughter yoga session.” How is this even possible??
Proverbs 17:22 NKJV
A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.
A literal Hebrew translation of the words reads this way:
A heart merry does good medicine…
Medical research is catching up to the Bible! This is a very important scripture! Don’t take it lightly!
The Hebrew word for merry is sameach, again, it means joyful, merry, and happy. Strong’s Lexicon describes the usage of the word by saying, “it often conveys a sense of inner happiness and contentment that is expressed outwardly. In the Old Testament, "sameach" is frequently used to describe the joy of individuals, communities, or even God Himself. It is associated with celebrations, worship, and the fulfillment of God's promises.”
The Hebrew word for medicine is gehah and means healing or cure. Strong’s Lexicon of the usage explains that, “The term "gehah" refers to the concept of healing or a cure, often in a physical or spiritual sense. It is used to describe the process of restoration or recovery from illness or affliction. In the biblical context, it can also imply a broader sense of deliverance or salvation, where God is seen as the ultimate healer.”
Wow. There is a lot packed into this scripture in Hebrew. When we read this scripture and put it to use, we must think of it this way, an outwardly expressive joyful heart in an attitude of worship, that celebrates God’s promises, *IS* medicine that creates healing, recovery, and deliverance to see the fulfillment of God’s promises. I know this is a lot to take in and it’s very different than how we’re taught to behave. But we do say, “I believe the whole Bible is true.” We say that by the Spirit of God, but sometimes our flesh wants us to pump the breaks on the truth. That’s why our homework assignments are important, it’s to help train our flesh to be quiet, act on the Word, walk in the spirit, and yield to the Holy Spirit.
How do we handle illness or affliction? Laugh about it. Stop taking it so seriously, because joy ushers in the fulfillment of the promises of God, the Ultimate Healer (definition we just read above). It’s us revealing the Kingdom of Heaven in our lives.
Romans 14:17NKJV
for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
The Kingdom of God is joy in the Holy Ghost! That’s two fruit, peace and joy! Did you forget we were talking about fruit? Joy isn’t just revealing God’s Character, but it’s also revealing or manifesting what’s in Heaven in your life.
The last scripture we’ll take a close look at 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 sason again, because you probably forgot, and then we’ll 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.
Back to this scripture, beauty, joy, and praise that they may be called righteous, for us that’s in Christ, and the Hebrew says “something planted of God,” that God may be glorified. Righteous means in right standing with God, simply put, SO that means beauty, joy, and praise are a reflection of your right standing with Christ. If your beauty, joy, and praise are missing, something is wrong and grumpy might be the answer.
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 it to you? 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 full of joy, it’s figurative, or what I find most people doing is thinking a non-depressed state is actually God’s joy. NO! Like that car, He already gave it to you! Stop asking and start doing, like Paul told us, “Just do it.” That’s why we camped out on all those scriptures of outwardly expressing joy, how it’s used to describe God’s character, and it’s part of the Kingdom of Heaven. I wasn’t trying to bore you, it’s to show you the action of joy and filling of joy depends on you!
Write this down: A non-depressed state is not joy. Joy is emanating God’s Character, bringing the Kingdom of Heaven in your life, and a powerful weapon!
Yes, joy is really a weapon! It gives strength to your faith. Here is a great testimony…
(Tell a testimony of joy giving strength to faith. If you need a testimony, my true one is below.)
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 even worse to hang my head down. It was itchy and running a little. 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 quoted the latter part of Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” Then, while still walking my dog, I said all gloomy, “ha. ha. ha. I’m so 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 to overcome. Determined to continue, I started happy skipping even though I’m too old for that to look good and I didn’t feel like it. Real joy kept bubbling up in my spirit, and then a 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 was subsiding. I woke up the next day with my eye perfectly healed. It was a bad 3-hour eye issue, but now I have another testimony. I’m very thankful 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. You know what will make me laugh. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Ha ha ha!” It doesn’t matter how you feel, start your engine, preferably at home, unless it’s an emergency. If we practice this in the small things, when the bigger things come along, we’ll be solid in our faith and full of joy to overcome.
In Acts 16, Paul cast a demon of divination out of a slave girl. It ended up that the officials 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, do you? I think they started up the engine, and the Holy Spirit joined in with them and strengthened them! They received the true 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 NKJV
“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. Paul answered from his spirit, and so should we! 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! Check how much oil you have! The more joy you’re willing to pour out, the bigger the cistern the Lord will give you! Isn’t that exciting? That’s why some Christians are more joyous than others, they’re full to overflow with too much fruit to keep to themselves!
Thank you for going through one of my favorite topics this week, joy in the spirit! I hope you feel ready to laugh and express God’s joy even when you don’t feel like it this week. 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 like a meltdown of disbelief. That’s how we fight our battles with the joy of the Lord!
I can’t say this enough, practice in the small. Practice when things are easy. So, when the bigger things in life come your way, you have already trained and already know how to win the victory. Like the Navy Seals say, “You’ll fall back on your highest level of training.” What’s your highest level of joy training?
Next week, we’ll talk about peace and why people can’t seem to hold it down in their life. You don’t want to miss it, because it vitally important for praying for other people. After that we’ll study Longsuffering and Kindness together. The final study will be all the fruit together and how to put fertilizer on your fruit, unless the Holy Spirit leads us in a different direction.
Homework – Please take outward expressions of joy seriously!
- Nehemiah 8:10, work this scripture in your life this week. Don’t do it like a ritual to see what happens, but make it a celebration, read the scripture with your name and words worked in, eat a small celebration meal with communion and desert!
- Party at home like it’s 1000BC, when David danced before the Lord with all his might until he lost his clothes. Don’t just do it once, do it several times this week. Ask your family to join in!
- Meditate (think about) on Proverbs 17:22 NKJV “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.”
- Think yourself happy!
- (Handout at the bottom of the the PDF for Nehemiah 8:10)
Prayer Points:
- Father, please remind us that Your Joy is our strength. Give us the revelation that it’s real spiritual strength.
- Show us how You created us to express joy and give us a renewed boldness to express joy in front of others.
- Remind us that laughter is medicine, Your medicine, and give us an assignment for what needs laughed over this week; medical issues, medication we have to take, strained or lost relationships, bills pilling up, stressful tasks we can’t get done, stress at work, hurt or pain we have been carrying, or whatever it might be…
- Pour out Your Fresh Oil of Joy on us as we obey your Word, no matter how silly it seems or how silly we feel doing it; give us Your grace as we try to sing, dance, and twirl around like ancient Hebrews
- Thank You for teaching us hidden things in Your Word, and helping us implement them
- We thank You in advance for all the healing that comes from this teaching
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
