Philippians Theme • A Joyful Walk

AI was not used to generate this post.

Do you know what biblical joy is and how it differs from what the world offers? Joy is something that God has. And God chooses to give us His joy. The first post in this series introduced you to Paul’s relationship with the Philippians and how that affected what he wrote in his letter to them. This is post #2 in the Philippians blog series. In this post, we will answer the questions, “What is joy, and how can we have it?”

Listen to this post as a similar podcast from the Knowing Jesus…Knowing Joy! Bible Study covering Philippians in the New Testament. (10 lessons)

Your Faith Walk

Picture in your mind one of the most enjoyable walks you have ever taken. What made it so enjoyable? Was it the location? Was it the weather or the time of day? Or was it the one who was walking beside you?

Throughout the Bible, our lives are referred to as a “walk” although some days you may feel like yours is a sprint. Am I right? Though you may feel like you are sprinting, your whole life experience is considered a walk.

And those who place their faith in Christ are living a “faith walk.” But here’s the catch: a lifetime faith walk must be walked daily. Choices are made daily, weekly, and yearly to follow pathways that lead you to a joyful walk (the kind you pictured in your mind) or to one that is frustrating and disappointing. Along life’s journey, you have to know how to choose the walk that will be joyful.

For more information about what a faith walk is, read the blog, “The Promise of a Joyful Walk.”

What Is Joy?

When you hear the word “joy,” what comes to mind?

Joy versus happiness

Most people define joy as a feeling of happiness when you’re smiling and laughing a lot. And they think that happiness comes from “good happenings.” Good happenings mean everything is going your way, turning out right. You have lots of money. You are healthy. You are very successful in work or school. Right?

But what happens if things are not so good? Your family is stressed financially. You may be struggling in work or school. Your relationships are fraying. You or someone close to you is very sick. Happiness kinda disappears then.

It’s very hard to have a joyful walk if that’s your definition of joy. But for believers in Jesus Christ, we have access to a different kind of joy that is internal. We call it biblical joy.

Biblical joy

Biblical joy refers to having a deep inner gladness, regardless of the circumstances going on around you.

That means whether you are rich or poor, sick or healthy, successful or struggling, you can still have a feeling of gladness or pleasure deep down inside.

Biblical joy is supernatural. It is inseparable from the character of God and comes only from a relationship with Him.

Biblical joy is a fruit of the Spirit of Jesus living in us. That means joy is available to every Christian. Someone described it as “Juice of the Spirit” because it flows out of us even when we are squeezed.

Biblical joy is a deep abiding peace and sense of contentment and strength.

Now, you may not feel like smiling on the outside, but you can still smile on the inside. Have you ever felt that way? Although, you can do both at the same time.

Joy Is in God’s Character

As I said before, this kind of joy that I am describing is supernatural. Nehemiah chapter 8 says this,

The joy of the Lord is my strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)

You see, joy is part of the character of God. Have you ever thought about joy being part of God’s character?

Read our blogs on Nehemiah, “Nehemiah 1-6 • Trusting God with Lies, Danger, and a Really Hard Job, “Nehemiah 7-13 • Rebellious Hearts Spurn God’s Grace,” and “Nehemiah: The Joy of the Lord Is Your Strength and Reward.”

God’s joy

God has joy whenever anyone comes to Him to have his or her sins forgiven by faith in His Son Jesus. The Bible describes lots of rejoicing in heaven at that time.

God has pleasure in His creation. We see that in Job and in Psalms a lot. After the 6 days of creation, God declared His creation was very good. He wasn’t only giving His approval but was also revealing His pleasure.

The Father God has joy in what His hands have made, especially His creatures. That includes you. You are one of His creatures. Does that make you smile inside to think that God finds pleasure in you?

God’s delight

God expresses His joy. In the small Old Testament book of Zephaniah, the writer declared to anyone who would return to God and trust in Him these words,

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

There’s that truth about God taking delight in you again. Great delight. But have you ever thought about God rejoicing over you through singing? In His love for you, God rejoices over you with singing. He takes delight in you because you trust in Him.

Joy is something that God has. And God chooses to give us His joy.

God Gives Us His Joy

A sense of joy pervades the Bible. Have you noticed that?

Old Testament joy

In the Old Testament, joy is seen in worshiping and praising God. It’s seen as the enthusiastic response of the worshiping community. It’s seen as the people celebrate who God is and what He has done for them in the past. It’s rooted in hope and confidence of what He will do in the future. And a relationship with God is the key.

New Testament joy

God’s joy comes to us from a relationship with Him through knowing Jesus Christ. Jesus, who was God, had God’s joy in Him. This is what Jesus promised us in John chapter 15

^“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11)

Jesus promised to give His joy to His disciples so that it would be in them also. Not just a little bit, but He promised fullness of joy. Lots of it.

The fruit of God’s presence in us

And Jesus didn’t promise joy just to those who knew Him when He was on earth.

I love what Peter says in his letter:

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy… (1 Peter 1:8)

“Though you have not seen Him.” That’s us today. You and I have not seen Him physically on this earth. But the moment you believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you. And He gives you God’s glorious, uncontainable joy. Someone once said,

Joy is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of Christ. (William Vander Haven)

Joy is a fruit of His presence. When we know Jesus, we will know joy.

God’s Work in Believers

Joy is most often linked in the New Testament with God’s work in fellow believers whom we love and whom we serve. Several times in Philippians (as with his other letters), Paul says that the recipients are his “joy” or that he considers it a “joy” to pray for them. He rejoices in serving them and in them serving him and each other.

Contagious joy

Joy in knowing Jesus is contagious. It wells up within us and motivates us to serve others in love.

Even those who don’t know Jesus can know happiness as they find it in the good things that God has given to all human beings so generously. But the Christian knows a heightened joy that is rooted in the bond that exists between the believer and the Lord and the bond that exists with other believers whom we have come to love.

The deeper our relationship with Jesus and with His people the greater the joy that awaits us and the less that joy is dependent on external circumstances.

In the Lord

Throughout Philippians, you will see that Paul continually says, “rejoice in the Lord.” The focus is on our living Lord, the one who promises to complete His work in us and supplies our every need from His glorious riches. Our Lord is the one we can know in a personal relationship. He longs to produce joy in our lives.

Be Joyful

Do you know Jesus? If you don’t, then you can never know true joy.

Do you know Him but feel like you have lost the joy? Draw closer to Him–abide in Him–get to know Him better so He can give you full joy.

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said scornfully about Christians of his day, “I would believe in their salvation if they looked a little more like people who have been saved.” Yikes!

Jesus paid for your sins on the cross so you could have eternal life and have it more abundantly. That truth is enough to rejoice in the Lord regardless of anything going on in your life. But knowing Christ more and more will increase your joy.

I heard it once said that joy is the gigantic secret of the Christian. But it’s no secret because you can know Jesus and know joy. That will lead to a joyful walk.

In the next post, we will see the joy in letting God be the perfectionist.

Want to have joy in your life?

Let Jesus satisfy your heart with the fullness of His joy. Then, live in that joy!

All of the above information is covered in the Knowing Jesus…Knowing Joy! Bible Study covering Philippians in the New Testament.

Other Resources