Luke 15:7 lost sheep; 10 lost coin; 20 lost son – God is our joyful Father
Numbers 6:24-27
Psalm 89:14-16 “countenance” in Hebrew is paneh – “face”
Psalm 16:11 “presence” is again “face”
1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 joy is experienced in a relationship when someones face lights up when they look upon you with love
Neurologists and psychologists often distinguish:
- Pleasure — brief sensory enjoyment
- Happiness — a broader emotional condition
- Joy — a deeper, often relational or meaningful, positive emotional state that can coexist even with hardship
Psalm 31:16, 19-20 You hide them in the secret place of Your presence
Psalm 67:1 cause His face to shine upon us
Psalm 80:3, 7, 19 when Yahweh shines His face upon us we experience joy; thus enjoy stability, balance, peace, and well-being
Zephaniah 3:17; Psalm 149:4; Jeremiah 31:3; Micah 7:18; Nehemiah 8:10; 1 John 3:1
Two great ways to fill your joy tank are fellowship with fellow believers and practice gratitude.
Acts 2:41-47 face time at church, prayer partner, mentor, socialize
Gratitude – increasing your joy capacity
- think of a memory that makes you feel grateful and connect with God in that memory
- give the memory a short title
- what do you think God might have been wanting to impress upon you by the memory
- start a list of grateful memories with the goal of having ten
- use this list to go into five minutes of nonverbal gratitude every day
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