Joy - Experience Joy This ChristmasSample

## 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 (NT)! Then if you add rejoice, you get another 78 times of joy, just in the NT! ‘ 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 favour.” In other words, joy is grace recognised 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’ve 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 get joyful about! To 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 recognised and lived out , can you identify the affects of grace in your life, and discover joy because of them?