JOY 12-Day Devotional

By Church of the Highlands (available on YouVersion)

Day 1 What is joy?

God is seriously interested in our lives being marked by joy! The Bible talks a lot about joy. In fact, the Greek word for joy (chara) appears 59 times in the New Testament! Then if you add rejoice, you get another 78 times of joy, just in the New Testament! “Chara” (joy) means so much more than just happiness or the enjoyment of a fun moment of life. The literal translation means “living in the awareness of grace and favor.” In other words, joy is grace recognized and lived out. So, let’s take a moment to remember what grace is. Remember that God owes us nothing but has given us everything. Remember that all our sin and wrongdoing is removed, and in replacement we have been invited into high places with God Himself! Far from punishment, we’ve received the Holy Spirit of God—the source of deepest joy! Connecting with God brings joy! That’s because it’s an internal reality—a spiritual reality—not just the product of your circumstances. And it was His plan all along. Now that’s something to be joyful about! REFLECT 1. Do you confuse the concept of happiness and joy? Why not spend some time thinking

about the differences, and then rethinking whether you’ve been robbed of joy because of difficult circumstances? How can you retake the joy in your life?

2. Did you know God planned for you to have “fullness” of joy? What would fullness of joy

look like in your life right now? 3. If joy is grace recognized and lived out, can you identify the effects of grace in your life,

and discover joy because of them? (John 15:9-16; John 17:13-26)

Day 2 We are God’s joy.

Have you ever pictured the God of the universe having a good laugh? Or smiling from pure joy? It’s hard to imagine someone who is all-powerful just enjoying anything. But that’s what the Bible tells us about God! That He "reJOYces.” The thing He rejoices about is… us! The Bible uses some amazing descriptions of how much joy we give to God, using the example of the joy of a groom rejoicing over his bride with so much delight that He literally sings about us like the lover in a musical. This is a God who knows how to experience joy, and He gets particularly ecstatic when someone comes home to Him. In fact, the whole of heaven joins in on the party! (Luke 15:7). Becoming more like Jesus and growing to know God more deeply means learning to be more joyful. If you’re not feeling it, remember you can trust the Holy Spirit to change your heart. God wants joy for you. It’s His plan for your life! REFLECT 1. Do you struggle to imagine God as joyful and even fun? If so, today let His promises

challenge your view of Him. 2. If God’s greatest joy and the main inspiration for heaven’s parties is when we come to

Him, then this could also inspire us to be joyful for the same reason! Pray that God will increase your heart for those who don’t know Him, and teach you how to party like all of heaven does when one of them gets to know Him. (Isaiah 62:5; Zephaniah 3:17; Luke 15:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7)

Day 3 Let joy sink deep.

Today, pause to consider the barriers that exist to joy in your life. The first question to consider might seem obvious: Do you want to be joyful? Jesus once asked a crippled man, “Do you want to get well?” Maybe this seems strange, but Jesus seemed to be revealing that this man wanted more than just physical healing—he needed an attitude adjustment. The second question to ask is this: Do you truly believe that God is joy, and that the natural outworking of the Holy Spirit in your life is joy? If you answered yes to both, then why not address anything that steals or quenches joy in your life? Is it circumstances? Then wrestle out the difficulties with God, rather than letting them create distance. Is it disappointment? Then take these questions to Him. If it’s guilt, then allow the grace of God right into the place you’re punishing yourself. Accept His forgiveness and let it go. If you’ve accepted Christ, then you’ve experienced the joy of your salvation. This wasn’t a passing phase; you can recapture that today. REFLECT 1. Do you remember the joy of being saved and loved by God? Why not take some time to

reflect on all the Lord has done in you and for you, and let it be a source of joy? Sometimes even our past failures can become a source of joy when we see that God’s grace has covered and transformed them.

2. Let’s face it, sometimes we don’t want to be joyful. But stubbornly refusing joy is resisting

the Holy Spirit. If this is you, can you let down the walls today and allow God to fill you again with joy?

(John 1:5-9; 1 Thessalonians 5:18-19; 1 Peter 1:6; Psalm 51:12)

Day 4 What brings us joy? The Holy Spirit.

When you turned to God, He put the Holy Spirit in you to give you a new nature. The fruit of that is love, joy, and peace. Joy, a fruit of the Holy Spirit, is plastered all over shop windows and school walls all month long in December. These graphics can be great reminders that the character of the Holy Spirit is in us. Fruit is what grows naturally out of something healthy and alive. Given sunlight, water and nutrients, a tree grows fruit. Given the Holy Spirit, a person becomes more loving, more joyful, and more at peace. What a gift! You don’t need to strive for these fruits, or fake it. If you draw near to God and let Him work in your life, these things will grow in you! If you turn from your natural self and your tendency to worry and be self-focused, etc., you will find God changing you from the inside out. REFLECT 1. Reflect on the fruit of the Spirit. Take time to memorize these verses and invite God to

bring a new depth of understanding of what they really mean for your life. 2. If you’ve found yourself striving to be joyful, why not pause today and invite God, again, to

work in you. Pray: Holy Spirit, I invite You to take the lead in my life. I surrender to You. Have Your way in me. I invite You to bring Your love, Your joy, Your peace into my life. I want to live by Your law, not by my changeable moods or temperament, or by the circumstances I find around me today. Thank You for YOUR joy, Lord. Amen. (Galatians 5:22-23; John 15:5)

Day 5 What brings us joy? Hope = delayed gratification and joy. Most of us don’t like to wait for good things! But if we could wrap our heads around what’s coming to us in heaven, we would live with boundless joy! It’s the ultimate delayed gratification! There are incredible realities of Christianity in the here and now, but the joy of heaven to come can give us perspective and purpose when life is hard. In Romans 12:12 TPT, Paul wrote, “Let this hope burst forth within you, releasing a continual joy. Don’t give up in a time of trouble, but commune with God at all times.” God is trustworthy and good, so we can hold onto these hopes and allow them to give us joy no matter our circumstances. We need joy especially when we’re in a time of grief or in waiting! That’s why understanding the promises of God and the heaven that awaits us is so important! Hebrews 12:2 says that for the joy set before him, Christ endured the cross. We have that same joy before us. If we can work out how to live with it in the front of our minds, we’ll be able to endure anything! Christmas is a great time to celebrate our hope, because it is a season of joy and a reminder of the perfect plans and promises of God becoming reality in Jesus. REFLECT 1. Do you know about all the prophecies that came true in the circumstances of Jesus’ birth?

It’s an amazing reminder of how God keeps His promises. Why not do some study this Christmas and allow the amazing trustworthiness of God to give you hope and joy again!

2. What do you know about heaven? Do you choose to think about future joys promised to

you by God (heaven, sanctification, continued forgiveness) and let them give you endurance?

3. Do you struggle to see hope (and then find joy) in the middle of difficult or disappointing

circumstances? Find someone to pray with this week. Rather than asking them to pray for you, try praying yourself, in agreement with them. Sometimes speaking out our pain is the first step to allowing God to restore hope in us.

(Romans 12:12; Romans 8; Matthew 2; 2 Corinthians 1:20)

Day 6 What brings us joy? Other people.

If heaven celebrates when another one joins the party and God rejoices over us, then can’t we learn to receive joy from the same places? When Paul wrote a letter to the Philippian church, he called this little church that he was praying for his “joy and crown.” This was the first church planted in Greece and they were new followers of Christ. Seeing their generosity and how they were following Jesus was filling Paul with joy! It’s not that they had it all together, but Paul encouraged all of them to hold on to the progress they'd made. We can look at others’ messy lives and be discouraged, or we can learn to rejoice with God for the progress they have made! We can let our joy inspire us to pray and support them and give thanks to God! We will find joy as we share their burdens and see the ways that God is moving in their lives as they follow Him. REFLECT 1. Do you struggle to rejoice with others in their success? Do you tend to focus on failures or

lack of progress rather than celebrating growth? Ask God to help you in this area and try to think of a creative way that you could pray for, or show joy in, someone else’s growth this week.

2. In John 16:24, Jesus encourages His followers to ask God (in His name) for what they

need, that their joy may be full. Do you ask God for what you need, confidently believing He hears and will “make your joy full”?

3. How can you encourage those you lead/parent/work with to live more like this? (Philippians 4:1, 3:12-16; Galatians 3:1-3; John 16:22-24)

Day 7 What brings us joy? Giving like Jesus.

If you ask a child what Christmas is about, most of them will say… PRESENTS! What they mean is getting presents! Kids are transparent about their desire to receive, but Jesus explained that it was better to give than to receive. This is so countercultural! Giving is often taught as a duty or a demand, but so rarely is it shown to be a source of joy. 2 Corinthians 9:7 AMP says, “Let each one give [thoughtfully and with purpose] just as he has decided in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver [and delights in the one whose heart is in his gift.” The word “cheerful” is a Greek word, hilaron, which is the word we get hilarious from. Do you give with the kind of pleasure that would make you laugh!? That’s the kind of joy God wants us to be able to experience when we give. The word also means the kind of pleasure that comes from having decided to do something in advance. It means someone who is ready to give. Giving can require serious consideration and wisdom, which is best done beforehand, so that in the moment you can enjoy it and give your joy with your gift. If we allow Him to show us how to live generously, then we can share with others while laughing and living with joy! REFLECT 1. Are you a “cheerful” giver? Why or why not? 2. Have you spent time with God, deciding in advance your acts of generosity this Christmas

and beyond? Why not carve out some time in the coming weeks to think about how you want to give of your time, energy, thoughts, and money?

(Acts 20:32-35; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15)

Day 8 Choose joy.

God doesn’t just suggest joyfulness as a nice idea. He commands it, telling us to “rejoice ALWAYS.” But if we look at our own attitudes and actions, we know this is impossible! As you have reflected on the questions throughout the week, you might have noticed fears creeping into your thoughts: “I’m not like that. I could never live life with joy like that. I’m just not a joyful person.” Well… those fears are true to some degree for all of us. But true joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s not something we can manufacture in our own heart. You can’t fake joy, but you can CHOOSE to live with joy. Colossians 3:2-3 tells us to SET our minds on the ways of Jesus (on “things above”) and explains that we can do this because we have died to our old way of living and can live like Jesus instead, because He lives in us! Choosing joy looks like “counting” things as joyful because we trust the God of the universe to turn them into praise points. It means that we put on joy as our clothing so that by our stubborn refusal to be brought down by the things of this world, others will see that we have God changing us from the inside out. REFLECT 1. What is one situation in which you really struggle to have joy? 2. How can you choose joy in that space? 3. How can you start each day “clothing” yourself in joy? (1 Thessalonians 5:16; Colossians 3:2-3; James 1:2; Romans 8:28; Romans 13:14)

Day 9 Joy is strength and healing.

Joy is not a weak emotion, not a feeble response to good circumstances. It is a resilient strength that enables devoted followers to live with the heart of heaven in the midst of a broken world full of suffering. Joy is the inexpressible reality of God in our heart, overflowing into how we live. When the Bible says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength,” it is heaven whispering the secret of fulfilled living. We are strengthened when we realize that we are God’s joy. That’s what this verse is actually saying. In Hebrew, the joy the Lord has in us is our strength! The love we know God has for us is our strength! Paul’s prayer for the Colossian church was that they would gain strength and endurance and patience WITH JOY. Because what are all the blessings of God to us if we never learn to ENJOY them? God’s joy over you can heal you of your despair if you will only allow yourself to receive it again. It gave Paul the power to rejoice always, even in the hopelessness of prison. It gave Jesus the tenacity to go to the cross, despite the shame and pain of that call. And it can give us the strength and healing power we need to live a victorious, enriching life in the here and now, as God’s beloved children who bring Him joy! REFLECT 1. What does strength coming from joy look like? 2. What are some situations you are facing in which you have allowed yourself to lose joy?

Reach out to some friends and get them to pray for God to change your heart and give you the joy of the Lord to strengthen you through this!

3. Do you really believe that you are God’s joy? How does this reality strengthen you? (1 Peter 1:8; Nehemiah 8:10; Colossians 1:11; Proverbs 17:22; Psalm 126:5-6; Philippians 3:1)

Day 10 In His presence is fullness of joy.

Fullness of joy sounds pretty good, right? You may think you have joy in your life already: “I have my beautiful family, my kids make me laugh, I love watching the sunset and drinking a good cup of coffee. These things and lots of other things bring me joy and happiness.” But this verse in Psalms is talking about something different. It’s talking about the fullness of joy that comes from being in God’s presence. This is a lasting joy, an overwhelming joy, a joy that impacts other people because it doesn’t come from external things. It’s a joy that isn’t swayed by our circumstances because we remain in God’s presence, and there we are overflowing with joy. What’s stopping you from having this joy, or what are you letting steal it? Could it be relationship issues, financial stress, health, work, or just being busy? I had to learn that when everything seemed to be going wrong all at once, God’s joy was still mine to have. If I remain in Him, He will remain in me. If I keep reading my Bible, if I stay in His presence, if I seek Him first: praying, talking, focusing on Him and His promises…it is then that my joy will be full. What impact will that have on your life and on others? Sure, you benefit from this. It’s great to be joyful! But the effect and influence that can have will surely impact people around you. This is where lives can be changed. When you are catching up with people and discipling them, they will see something different about you. They may get curious about why you aren’t acting like other people, or about your attitude and outlook always being positive. They’ll see it as something they want for themselves because it’s not the norm in our world! We are here to share the hope of Jesus, to seek Him, stay connected to Him, and be full of His joy! We cannot do this in our own power. Pray: God, today I choose to not let my situation get in the way of You and me. I step into Your presence. I choose to receive Your joy. Fill me up, Lord, because I can’t do it on my own. I receive that fullness of joy, and every day I will make that same decision to remain in Your presence and in Your joy. Amen. (John 15:4-11; Psalm 16:11)

Day 11 What does joy look like?

Let me ask you a question. What do you think joy looks like? Do you think others can see if you are joyful or not? What about when things aren’t going well at the time? Does joy look different then? Joy is an affection that isn’t purely internal but is reflected externally. In other words, your life will look different depending on if you are joyful or joyless. I’m not talking about whether you’re smiley or extroverted, but about the actions you take and decisions you make, regardless of your circumstances. In the Bible, the authors and original Jewish recipients knew this to be the case. In his book, Israelite Emotional Expressions, Mark Smith points out that they knew that joy does not remain in the heart but is part of a movement toward appropriate action. This should help us understand why we celebrate joyfully on Sundays, why we are generous, why we uplift and encourage people. There is something in us that, as followers of Jesus, can’t just stay inside us. It naturally bursts out in so many expressions. No matter how you’re feeling, no matter what’s going on, you can have the joy of the Lord. When you realize what Jesus has done for you and given you, and when you realize that God is in control, you will take actions and make decisions differently than when you are joyless. Emotions are great to have, but they make very poor leaders. So, fill yourself with God because you’ll be filling yourself with joy. REFLECT 1. Are your general decisions and actions affected by your circumstances? 2. What does it look like to “choose joy” when you don’t “feel happy”? (Romans 12:12-15; Philippians 4:4; 1 Peter 4:12-13)

Day 12 Joy TO the world: Take joy out.

If Christmas is a time for joy, and Jesus came to share His joy with us, then we ought to be prepared to share that joy with others! In His mission statement for us, Jesus said to go out and teach people to follow and obey Him. This includes in joyfulness! We need to be people who express and embody joy, gratitude, peace, and hope in all that we do, because this allows us to share and spread the good news of Jesus on earth! This is the greatest joy we can share! When we learn to “go out in joy,” we’re joining in with the whole of creation as it parties with God. Learning to live lives of joy is learning to live like Jesus! Joy is sometimes seen as a lesser gift from God, but it is the secret to all the gifts of God. It is learning to enjoy, to revel in, and is the inspiration to share all that is good about God. In Matthew 13:44, Jesus said that “in his joy” a man gave up everything he had to gain the kingdom of heaven. Let’s be willing to do likewise, and in our joy we will find greater satisfaction and peace than we even knew was possible. REFLECT 1. What have you learned about joy from this reading plan? 2. How can you put in place some habits or practices to cultivate a life of joy? 3. What is one practical thing you could do this Christmas season to “go out” in joy and

share the good and joyful news of Jesus? (Isaiah 55:12; Matthew 12:44)