Where Do You Find Joy?

 Where do you find joy? Are you looking for joy…for happiness in your life?

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!  Philippians 4:4

…be full of joy in the Lord.

JOY! Joy is happiness, delight, pleasure, elation, thrill, gladness, delight, and wonder. There it is. Jesus felt JOY! He says my joy. He wants us to be full of joy!

I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! John 15:11

He wanted the disciples and us to have His joy. Not only just basically full of joy…but joy overflowing! That is a human emotion that everyone feels at some time in their lives. Jesus did, too.

Look at this passage a little more in the context of where, when, and to whom He was speaking. He and His disciples were in the Upper Room and they had just finished the Passover Meal. Jesus was giving those disciples His last pep talk…His last lecture…His last teachings. What He said during the first three years of His ministry was so important…and He was reminding them of His love for them and the importance of obedience. Be loving, obedient and overflowing with joy.

Be filled to overflowing with Joy...
as you bear much fruit.

"Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. John 15:5-12 (Underlined for emphasis.)

In Isaiah 5 there is a parable of a vineyard where Israel is depicted as the vineyard and it produces evil fruit. Here Jesus is telling the disciples that those who live the way He has taught them will produce fruit…good fruit. Consider the Fruits of the Spirit…

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23.

Those were the “fruits” for which Jesus was looking. He was trying to encourage those in His disciples and in us. Note that “joy” is in that list. He wants all His followers to have that overflowing joy. Paul encourages the Romans with this same joy…as well as hope and peace.

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.

In the Old Testament, David wrote about joy that comes from obedience to the Lord, to Jesus. That is the joy that Jesus wants us to have. Because of obedient, loving actions as the result of pure, undefiled hearts seeking holiness, we will be filled with His joy.

-         The commandments of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are clear, giving insight for living. Psalm 19:8

-        So rejoice in the LORD and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure! Psalm 32:11

How is your heart today? Filled with joy? Overflowing? Have you found joy in your life? Has your life brought joy to others? What could be keeping you from this joy? Give it to the Lord.

 

The instructions of the LORD are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are clear, giving insight for living. Reverence for the LORD is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the LORD are true; each one is fair. Psalm 19:7-9 (Underlined for emphasis,)

 

Prayer – Lord, May the desires of our hearts bring You delight. Fill us with Your joy…overflowing to those around us.

 

Meditate. Consider the joy in your life.

 

Verse of Salvation ~ But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, "The LORD is great!" Psalm 40:16         

 

© 2025 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

Revised August 15, 2019, Banquet With The King blog.

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. 

 

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