The Holy Spirit Brings Joy (337)

0:01 Welcome to the Quality Christian Living Podcast. Once again, I am your host, David Friend. We're in a series dealing with the Holy Spirit and today's podcast is entitled, Holy Spirit Brings Joy. Here's some of the topics we're going to cover. How can we live with continual joy? Is it really possible? Why do we lose our joy? What does it mean when the Bible says joy is from the Holy Spirit? And what do you say when someone asks you this question? How are you doing? That's going to be kind of a lot of fun. I've got some thoughts about that. How did the Apostle Paul speak about joy and peace in his writings? Before we get into this though, we need to pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your goodness. I thank you for who you are. And I invite the Holy Spirit to come in and take control and guide and direct this entire podcast. And I pray that those who are listening in would receive exactly what they tuned in for. I pray that you would bless them, that you would anoint them and touch them. I pray that all of us would get a better understanding of how the Holy Spirit brings joy into our life.

1:02 can have that joy, even through trials. So Heavenly Father, once again, I pray that you would bless and direct this podcast, and I pray that everyone who listens in would receive something very special from you, and I'll be careful to give you all praise and all glory for it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Well, to get started, let's look at some scriptural promises of joy that are led by the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8, 14, listen to this, for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. So therefore, the Bible's telling us that we're all have the opportunity to be led by the Spirit of God. but there's only a certain number who will be led by the Spirit of God, and when we're led by the Spirit of God, He leads us into all truth, He leads us into joy, He leads us into a life, a quality life, a quality Christian life, a life filled with the joy of the Lord. Now, that scripture, I believe, tells us for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. It means that all Christians receive the opportunity to receive the fullness and the blessings and the joy of the Holy Spirit.

2:07 Here's another scripture I think that has a lot to do with having joy in our walk with God. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22. It says here, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self -control. Now, what's this telling us? That's so much there to tell us. It says that the Holy Spirit brings the fruit of the Spirit. Now, I did a series of messages on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the nine power gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts, you know, of miracles and tongues, interpretation of tongues, and healings, and all these wonderful gifts. But, you know, another gift that the Holy Spirit has to bring to followers of the Lord Jesus Christ is the fruit of the Spirit. It's it's what the Holy Spirit produces in us and that is love and that's obviously So vital to have our walk with God and to love other people and to have joy and to have peace Those three go together so closely love joy and peace They just flow together when you say them you just feel a unity there a oneness with the Holy Spirit that we can have love joy and peace and then it says patience for those of us who need that and I'm certainly that's one that that I need from time to time and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self -control all of these are crucial to experiencing the joy of the Holy Spirit in our life. The fruit of the Holy Spirit are the characteristics God's Spirit. And joy is a fruit of the Spirit

3:38 that we are able to receive if we draw close to God and we ask the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us and direct us. Here's another scripture I think that pulls us together in 1st John chapter 5 verse 4. It says for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world and we get the victory over this world through faith. Now what that tells me is the Holy Spirit gives us victory that brings joy. because you can't have joy if you don't have victory. and the victory is brought to us by the Holy Spirit through the Holy Spirit as we yield and submit ourselves to Him. For everyone who's been born of God, those are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if you've not given your life to Jesus Christ and you wonder why you're having a lot of turmoil and challenges in your life, it's because you don't have the Holy Spirit living and dwelling in you. So why don't we take a moment and I want to invite everyone here who is not sure whether they're going to heaven or not, they're not sure of their relationship with God, to take a moment now and let's just Just set things straight and go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. Just say, Heavenly Father, I need you. I need a Savior. I need you to change my life. I need to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I need to receive the power of the Holy Spirit in my life. And so on this day, I surrender to you, Lord, and I ask you to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

4:56 And I receive now the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I believe that he is the Son of God. He was born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered. He died. He was resurrected and He did it all for me. So because of all this, I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Now see, now if you prayed that prayer and have never prayed that prayer or something like it before, then you know if you've not prayed that before, then now you are a Christian. You are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit has come to live and dwell in you. And this scripture now applies to you, 1 John 5 for everyone who has been born of God. That's what just took place in you. Now for those who are already Christians, you already know Jesus Christ, you We know that, but use this scripture to explain to people the difference between not being a Christian and becoming a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. able to get the victory over this world through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and being led by the Holy Spirit to receive the victory that will bring joy to our life. Joy comes to those who are led by the Spirit of God. That's what it says. That means joy comes to those who surrender to the Holy Spirit, who follow the Holy Spirit, who yield to the Holy Spirit, who submit their thoughts and their ideas, their comments and their words to the Holy Spirit and want to be led by Him in every single area of our life.

6:16 I tell you, there's nothing better than that. When you're led by the Spirit of God and you know that you know that you know, the Holy Spirit is leading and guiding us and directing us through the challenges we face, through the good times that we face, and helps us in every single situation in our life. Now when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit, but that does not mean we will never have trials. We're going to have trials, we're going to have challenges. In Psalm chapter 30 and verse 5 it tells us this, sorrow or weeping may... Last for a night, that means for a period of time, but joy comes in the morning. What a glorious scripture that is. You know, I can't tell you the number of times that I've used that scripture to help someone who's struggling. Yes, sorrow comes. It comes upon us and it sometimes lasts for the night. It sometimes lasts a long time.

7:03 It may last nights and weeks and months and sometimes even years where we're challenged with things. But joy comes in the morning. And the way that joy comes is when we surrender totally to the Holy Spirit and receive Him. his power and submit to receive the fruit of the Holy Spirit which is love, joy, and peace in our life. Now trials come, but joy is greater than trials. Let me repeat that. Trials are going to come, but the Holy Spirit and joy is greater than our trials. Joy overcomes trials. Joy keeps us living above the trials. Now think about that. If we can walk in joy, then we can live literally above the trials. And when we have a challenge, a problem, we just simply say, that just happened. Those things happen in life. I'm going to move on.

7:50 It doesn't change my walk with God. It doesn't change my trust in God. It doesn't change my relationship with the Lord. It doesn't change my feelings and my heart. towards the Holy Spirit and so therefore we can then overcome joy and we can live above trials if we have true joy in our heart. That doesn't mean we're not going to have difficult times. That doesn't mean we're not going to feel down one day and up the next, but we can flatten that out and live a life of joy. I made a statement in the beginning of this and it said this, how can we live with continual joy? Well, because it's the joy of the Lord that's our strength. That's so powerful. powerful believers and it's the Holy Spirit's the one that brings that joy and that peace through the fruit of the Spirit and that joy does overcome trials and that even in the midst of all the trials, all the challenges that the Apostle Paul experienced, he still had a core of joy in his heart. He knew that he knew that he knew that He would win in the end. He knew that Jesus was his Lord. He knew where he was going to spend eternity and he knew that God would never leave him or forsake him. And because of God's Word, because of the strength he found in God's Word, as he wrote it and as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write it, he learned how to live above the trials and had joy continually in his life. Now, I have a good friend who has faced many, many years of physical trials, but he has chosen to receive joy. even in the midst of his challenges.

9:16 Over and over again, I've seen this guy face horrendous and difficult times, but he continues to walk in the joy of the Lord and knows that he can live at peace regardless of what the world throws at him, whatever comes his way, whether the trials that happen that last for the night, he knows there's going to be joy in the morning. And so we give God glory and praise for that. Let's continue on. In Romans chapter 14 and verse 17, it tells us that we have joy in the Holy Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit dwells in us 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Now that's kind of important to think about because we have good times and bad times during even one day or one day to the next or one week to the next. But we've got to stop and think that as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He is always ready there to help.

10:07 We need to talk to him. We need to thank him. We need to thank Jesus for the Holy Spirit. And when we do that, and when we give praise and thankfulness to the Lord, then it brings joy. If we're thankful people, if we're faithful people, if we're loyal people, we will be joyful people. I believe that. God rewards us with that, and that's what His Word says. And so I claim it, and I believe it, and I know it's for each and every one of us. So let me just stop here for a second. I just have a feeling now. But as I'm talking, there's some people that might be saying, yeah, this is all good. It's nice. It's interesting. But you know, really, is that really life? Can you actually live that way? Well, let me just pray for you, because I truly believe that we can live over trials and that joy will take us over trials. Let me pray for you. Heavenly Father, I know there are those who are listening who might be struggling with a trial, a challenge, because we all do. But I pray now, Lord, that we call upon you to send your peace that passeth all understanding. And that peace, Lord, would guard their heart. would guard their minds in Christ Jesus. I pray, Lord, that those who are struggling right now would realize in Psalm 46, 1, where it says that God is an ever -present help in times of trials. And I thank you, Lord, for Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6 that tells us to be anxious for nothing but everything through prayer, petitions, and thanksgiving, let a request be made known to God. And I thank you, Lord, where Romans 8, 28 tells us that all things worked for good for those who love the Lord are called according to His purpose. And I thank you Lord that no weapon formed against us shall prosper and I could go on and on about the scriptures

11:38 and the promises of God that will bring us joy in the midst of trials. I pray now that those folks that are listening in dealing with these trials and challenges would receive Blessings and goodness and strength and I ask it for it now and in Jesus name. I pray amen Well, I hope that was helpful I felt really led to the spirit to at that moment just speak a prayer into those who may be having a little bit of a challenge with something and maybe having a difficult time maybe receiving and accepting the joy of the Holy Spirit the disciples of Jesus when he sent them out to spread the good news. He talked to them and he told them what they would face and the challenge that they were going to face. And we read about it in Luke chapter 10 and verse 21. And it tells us this, at that time Jesus, listen to this, full of joy. through the Holy Spirit said, now obviously he's the son of God and obviously had the Holy Spirit living and dwelling inside of him. But listen to that, he says, and at that time when he was facing a big challenge and he knew his disciples would be facing huge challenges going out, some people would attack them, some people will come against them, some people would love them, some people would care for them. But it says, because it says full of joy through the Holy Spirit that the thing that carried Jesus above the challenges of that day was that he was full of joy. And then he said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. In Luke chapter 10, Jesus is telling his followers, people will hate you, your challenges

13:09 will be difficult, some will be good to you and others will not. But Jesus ends, in Luke 10 with these words, Jesus said, it says that he was full of joy through the Holy Spirit and that he was thankful and he knew that good things would take place to those who reach out and take a stand and share the good news of the Lord Jesus. Jesus Christ to others. Now I hope that that's not convoluted or a little difficult to relate to, but really what we're seeing is that in the midst of a trial, Jesus knew that he had to call upon the Holy Spirit who came to dwell and live inside of him, and when he did, that he could pass that on to his followers and help them as they were going to go out and face the trials each and every day, each and every week, every each and every month, and each and every year.

13:52 Okay, let's move on now to Romans chapter 15 and 13 as we continue to talk about how we can have the joy of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes, listen to this, now Paul, you gotta remember, Paul faced a lot of trials. I mean, every time I think of Paul, I think of him sitting in prison and writing the books of Philippians, Galatians, Ephesians, Galatians, writing those incredible books, and in the midst of all the trials and all the challenges that he had while he was in prison, listen to what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 15 verse 13, it's recorded, may the God of hope fill you with all joy. Okay, that's a great way to start, and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.

14:32 And see when we have hope, we have joy. and our hope is not in our circumstances, our surroundings. Our hope is in the joy of the Lord. Our hope is knowing that God brings joy and our hope comes in our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to carry out in us what he did here on earth. Paul is asking God to fill believers with joy through the power of the Holy Spirit. So where does our joy come from? It comes as a gift, as the fruit of the Spirit that comes from the Holy Spirit. You know, it kind of reminds me of a story. of something that happened in my life. You know, when I talk about Paul talking about in his difficult time that we have the God of hope, may he fill us with all joy, where Jesus was saying that being full of joy through the Holy Spirit, these references kind of remind me of when we had a construction project going on in our house. We were remodeling our home that we had just bought and we were having it all torn apart from the inside out and all the construction workers were just complaining and griping and just complained about everything.

15:34 and I'd walk in there and they'd be cursing and I'd walk in the room then they kind of calmed down a little bit because they know I didn't approve of that and so finally I got to thinking you know I need to do something to let these guys know that Jesus loves them and that the Holy Spirit can help them and you think well how do you do that with a bunch of rugged construction workers well I said Lord what do I do what can I do and so I went back home and I got a picture and I brought it in and I hung it on the wall And this picture was a wonderful rendering of Jesus facing a challenge that he had, but it shows the boldness of Christ. It was a wonderful picture, not very big. It was probably an 18 by 20 type picture on the wall and it was framed. It was very nice. But I put it right in the middle of the house in the hallway where everybody had to walk by it. And before I put it in there, you could still hear the griping and the complaining and you heard the guys. Cussing and all this kind of stuff was going on and so I put the picture I say hey guys come here I Brought something in I think that'll help you And so half a dozen guys came into the hallway and I looked and I said, now Jesus is here and the Holy Spirit is here in the house and he wants to help you. He wants to give you some happiness and some joy and some peace. So let's see how that works.

16:42 And they were all like, oh my, oh my. And the one guy says, well, you know, I'm Catholic. I know Jesus. And another one, another guy said, yeah, I was raised Baptist and I used to go to church and it was kind of cool the way they were chatting. But what was neat was I hung the picture on the wall and I left it. Now the house is torn apart. I mean, there's walls being torn down, there's floor. being torn up, the cabinets being torn apart, all these things are happening, but in the middle of all that I had a wonderful picture of Jesus on the wall. The very next day when I came in, it was peaceful and quiet. We could hear the machines operating and the guys talking and whatever. But there was this wonderful sense of peace in the room. And I just walked up to one guy and said, how's things going? It must be going well. He says, yeah, ever since you put that picture up, we're just kind of thinking different now. Well, see, that's what we need to do. We need to envision a picture of Jesus.

17:29 Envision Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit and receiving the joy of the Lord. And that will help carry us through all of our trials. Matter of fact, I left that picture up during the entire time of the construction. And through that entire time, I didn't hear any cursing. I didn't see any arguments. People were showing up to work on time. They were getting their work completed. So I guess Jesus became the watchman on the wall who was there just kind of overseeing what was going on. Now some people say, well, it was just a picture. No, it wasn't just a picture. It was a picture of Jesus. But the Holy Spirit was in the house, was there because we invited him in. and to help them, to help these guys, and the whole thing changed. The atmosphere, the construction changed, and I just give God glory and credit for that. Now, some might say, well, that doesn't really apply to this. I think it applies to it tremendously. When we keep our eyes upon Jesus, the things of this world will grow dim. They'll fade away, and that's what we need to do. Now, joy... is a decision that we make in both good times and bad times. We have to decide whether they're going to be joyful or not. Our circumstances will try to take our joy. There's no question about that. Joy is determined on what we focus on. If we focus on Jesus, if we focus on the Holy Spirit, if we focus on God's Word, then joy will become more prominent in our life. Joy is determined by claiming it in our prayers and claiming the promises of God that joy does come in the morning and that's That's really a way of life. We've got to understand that joy is a decision. No matter what we're going through,

19:00 joy is a decision, and the Holy Spirit can give us the fruit of the Spirit, which is love and joy and peace, and help us to walk in joy. We need to focus our thoughts on what we read in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8. Listen to this. The Apostle Paul, once again, I'm going to paraphrase it a little bit. Basically what Paul said in Philippians chapter 4 verse 8, he says, think on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. So if we want to focus our thoughts on what is right, then we can have joy. If we focus our thoughts on what is honorable and what's true, what's pure and what's lovely and what's admirable, then we will tend to have greater joy in our life. And so I hope that example helps you and blesses you. We lose our joy when we take our eyes off of God's Word, when we stop praying, when we start complaining, when we stop helping others, when we stop being faithful to the house of God and being faithful to reading at least some of God's Word each and every day of our life. Those are things that we need to not do, not allow to happen in our life, is to take our eyes off of the things of God. When we focus on things like me, myself, and I, then we can lose our joy because we wrapped up in self. And the fruit of the Spirit is self -control. And so we need that in order to be able to operate with joy in our life, being led by the Holy Spirit.

20:24 Now, you know, I cannot close. This podcast is moving very quickly, but I can't close this podcast on joy from the Holy Spirit without commenting on how some Christians respond when asked, how are we doing? Now, at the beginning of this, I made a question. I asked a question. I said, How do you respond when someone says to you, how are you doing? Well, I've seen a lot of responses over the years, and one thing I want to see is joy, but I see a lot of other remarks from Christians. Now that question needs an answer, like when someone says, how are you doing? You say, I'm blessed and highly favored by God. That should be a Christian's standard response to people. How you doing? I'm blessed and highly favored.

21:06 There are times when the answer to my question of how are you doing comes up with comments like well I'm still breathing or I'm still above ground or I'm still able to eat and things like that which basically are the basic things in life that that we should be thankful for but we don't. respond with, how are you doing? And you say something like that. Well, I'm still above ground. I'm not dead yet. That to me is a sad comment. Some people think it's funny and maybe somebody that's listening in have said that and then think that that's cute and that's fine and there's nothing wrong with it. Well, I think there's a lot wrong with it because we are what we confess and if we confess that, well, the only thing that we've got in life is that we're still above ground. We're not buried and dead. I don't think that's really much of a testimony of the goodness of God in our life. Podcast has the title of Quality Christian Living. That's what the entire podcast is about. All the different topics, all the subjects for over four years now. And Quality Christian Living, it's not I'm still breathing or I'm still above ground. This podcast is dealing with living a quality life, a quality Christian life. Joy for all Christians is what the Holy Spirit loves. He wants us to have joy unspeakable and full of glory. He wants us to have this joy, joy, joy that's down in our heart. Those are old song titles. And he wants us to live in peace.

22:27 He wants us to have love and joy and peace and patience and goodness and kindness and gentleness and faithfulness and self -control. And those are the fruit of the Spirit that we need to operate in our life and found in Galatians chapter 5 to 22. So I'm just praying that all of us will... turn our eyes upon the things of God and realize that the Holy Spirit who is living and dwelling in each one of us is the one who brings joy. Let's focus on Him. Let's focus on joy. Let's think about things that are good and truthful and honorable and pure and lovely and admirable. And when we do that, the Holy Spirit then is going to minister to us. We grieve the Holy Spirit when we complain and gripe and moan and groan.

23:08 But when we thank God for who the Holy Spirit is, and when we walk in joy and peace and hope then we don't grieve the Holy Spirit, we encourage the Holy Spirit. And if you encourage the Holy Spirit who lives and dwells inside of us, he's going to bring out more joy in every one of us. Well, I hope that this has been interesting. I've really enjoyed this particular podcast because it's such an up, encouraging one, and I'm hoping that people walk away from this and know that they can have the joy of the Lord, and that is their strength. And so I pray that you'll be blessed. So let me just close in a quick prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you once again for this podcast for the time that we spent on it. I thank you that the Holy Spirit has led us and directed us. I pray the Holy Spirit now would help each and every person who's listening in to receive what they need today. If they're struggling with financial problems, I pray Lord that you would give them peace and pass us all understanding to guard their heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

24:02 If they're struggling with an illness, Father, I pray that the healing of the a powerful healing of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the divine miracle healing touch of the Lord Jesus Christ would reach into them and touch them physically and heal them and restore them. And those may be her struggling with maybe some frustration and some disappointments and things in her life. I pray that the joy of the Lord would come in and would overflow in them, Father, and they'd receive it to be blessed. I thank you, Lord, for this podcast. I thank you for the time that we spent. I thank you for those who've listened in, and I pray that they'll continue to be blessed and give you all glory. and praise for it. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Well, that went fast. My goodness, this podcast went fast. If you'd like to know more about the Quality Christian Living podcast, this series we're in now is called On the Holy Spirit. You want to know more about it, you can go to my webpage at davidcfriendauthor .com. And when you go there, in the front, first page that pops up there, there's a link to all the podcasts we've done. This is podcast number two, or I should say, let me correct that before I say that, it's number 337. And so you can tell we've done a lot of podcasts. There's series on the Holy Spirit. There's series on getting out of debt. There's series on walking in miracles and living a life filled with power. There's articles. There's series, I should say, on the Holy Spirit and faith and prayer and just literally every aspect of living a quality Christian life.

25:24 And I hope that you might go back through those, scroll through them and listen to them because people, quite frankly, listen to them daily. And we're so blessed to have the opportunity to reach out to so many different countries who have enjoyed these podcasts and have even been told that these podcasts are now being used for Bible studies in other countries where they're using them to teach on the Holy Spirit or teach on miracles and healings and things of that like that. So I pray that this will bless you when you look those up. If you go down a little farther on my web page to the next page after the link to the podcast you'll see a number of books I've written. I believe there are five books now that are there on Amazon and dealing with with help for veterans, dealing with experience the joy of debt free living, teaching on generosity and what's in it for us and how can we be blessed when we are a blessing to other people and just a number of topics there that I hope will be a benefit to you. So I hope you might look at those and they may be of help to you. If you'd like to subscribe to my podcast, you can do that by going to cpnshows .com or wherever you know you listen to your podcast. So I do want to thank you for listening and let know that if you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to rate and review the podcast. It really helps us reach more people. You can leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and Charisma Podcast Network, or give us a star rating on Spotify. However you choose to do that to support us, we certainly would appreciate it. It gives us the opportunity to reach out to more people and share the love of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Once

26:56 again, I want to thank you for listening in. Our next podcast is entitled The Holy Spirit brings peace. We're going to look at how can we live in peace during trials? Why do so many live without peace? And why is my favorite scripture on peace, Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 through 7? And we're also going to look at have you struggled with finding peace? Why is peace so difficult for non -believers? And how do you feel about peace? What is peace in your life? So those are the areas the Holy Spirit leads us in that direction. That's where we plan to go. in our next podcast called Holy Spirit Brings Peace. So, once again, I want to thank you for listening to the Quality Christian Living Podcast, and let me close with this little blessing for you. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May His face shine upon you.

27:44 May He be gracious to you and give you peace. May you prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers. So, until next time, I pray that God will richly bless you. This has been podcast number 337, How the Holy Spirit Brings Joy. I'm your host, David Thank you once again for listening and don't forget to tell someone else about this series on the Holy Spirit. I pray that the Lord will bless it for them. Thank you once again.