Convos With Con
The Fruit Speaks: JOY
What is the true meaning of joy, and how can we maintain it through life's ups and downs? What is the source of your joy?
Joy isn't just another word for happiness; it's a steadfast assurance in God's promises that remains unshaken by life's circumstances. This episode delves into the distinction between temporary happiness and everlasting joy rooted in our faith in God. By understanding this difference, we can navigate life's challenges with a cheerful heart and unwavering trust in God's promises, shining brightly in a world seeking a fleeting happiness. You'll hear how joy doesn't mean stuffing your emotions and naively thinking all is well when it indeed might not be. It can, however, serve as a beacon of hope and strength during tough times.
What is the true meaning of joy, and how can we maintain it through life's ups and downs? What is the source of your joy?
Joy isn't just another word for happiness; it's a steadfast assurance in God's promises that remains unshaken by life's circumstances. This episode delves into the distinction between temporary happiness and everlasting joy rooted in our faith in God. By understanding this difference, we can navigate life's challenges with a cheerful heart and unwavering trust in God's promises, shining brightly in a world seeking a fleeting happiness. You'll hear how joy doesn't mean stuffing your emotions and naively thinking all is well when it indeed might not be. It can, however, serve as a beacon of hope and strength during tough times.
Welcome, welcome back. Oh my gosh, my sweet friends, it's only been what about nine months or so? Something like that. You know how I am. Yeah, it's been some time and I'm so excited to be back with this particular series because I feel like it could not be more needed in this time for us women than ever before. And it's actually a topic I have never taught on or shared on.
Speaker 1:In all my previous days leading women's ministries and, you know, obviously, volunteering at the different churches, phil and I have been a part of doing lots of women's Bible studies, lots of leadership topics. I've incorporated it here and there, but I have never truly dug deep into the fruits of the Spirit for teaching purposes. So I'm super pumped to get into this with you guys and I really wanted to kick this series off with joy, specifically because of, just honestly, where I've been the past few months. I am not going to share my entire where have I been the past nine months story yet. I will one day, but I want to get into the goods For now. I'll share little bits of it as I go through each one of these fruits of the spirit, for sure, and I want to keep these as short as I can, so that they're just rich and short and digestible and you guys can go on with your day and share these episodes with friends and, honestly, not just feel good and be encouraged, but go do something about it. But go do something about it. Go take some application from these things right and make it personal to you. The one thing I have said for many years in everything that I train on whether it's work topics or Bible topics or whatever is there is no point in listening to this to just feel good and then you turn it off, put your songs on and your day's gone. I want you to listen to this so that you can take something from this, go apply it and have it honestly transform your life. Okay, so that is my hope and prayer for this entire series, and let's just get started.
Speaker 1:The reason I choseits of the Spirit again is because I've been in a season where the Lord has truly, truly, truly been refining and pruning me so that I can strengthen these gifts and develop them even better, and I think that it's so needed in our world today. I think that we have a very big disconnect with what this truly means and what this truly is and who it's for and who can get it and how do you get it and how do you grow it. So I'm going to start with where this comes from fruits of the spirit For those of you some of you listen to this and you're like, not believers, you're not into anything Christianity or religion and that's awesome. I want you here, I love you and I hope that you get something from this and others of you. This is just refreshing, right? You know these things, you've heard these things and it's just a refreshment for your soul. But either way, I'm going to tell you where this comes from.
Speaker 1:In the book of Galatians. In the Bible, galatians 5.22,. It talks about the fruits of the Spirit being love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Okay, so these fruits of the Spirit are talked about, and right before that it talks about the opposite of the fruits of the Spirit, which is basically the world. So it's kind of showing us this dichotomy of living like the world lives, meaning you do the things the world says are normal to do, you react to situations the way the world says is normal to react and you just live this worldly life, right. And it talks about sin. It talks about a sinful nature. And again, we don't have time to dive super deep into all of that, but I'm just trying to show you that right before it talks about what the characteristics are of someone who is bearing good fruit, it talks about what the characteristics are of someone not bearing good fruit. So go into chapter 5 in Galatians. You can read that for yourself.
Speaker 1:But I wanted to just let you guys know, and hopefully this encourages you, that the fruits of the Spirit are not something that you get on your own, and I mean honestly, that's very refreshing to me. I don't want it to be of my own strength. I don't have the strength to try to muster up all these things and do them out of my own strength. That's exhausting, that's tiring. I already have enough exhausting things on my plate.
Speaker 1:I am so grateful and I am so thankful that the fruits of the Spirit are given to us. They are gifts from God to us. Yes, we play a role in that meaning. We can cultivate those gifts and strengthen them as if we want to right. But they're given to us when we put our trust in him. When you put your trust in God and you follow him and you are a follower of Jesus, you are given these gifts that are to hopefully show the rest of the world how you are set apart, right? I hope that makes sense, okay? So let me explain it this way If you want to be a light, people have to see you have joy, irrespective of your circumstances. Wow, I don't remember where I heard that from, I just had it in my notes from a while ago, and it is so true. You guys, somebody who is a light is somebody who responds to life's circumstances different than the way the rest of the world does, and these fruits of the Spirit are ways in which that shows right Again, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness, all of that.
Speaker 1:Now, before I read you the definition of joy true joy, because that's the one that we're talking about today I want to tell you guys what it is not. Okay. It is not happiness. Okay, joy is not happiness. They definitely can coincide and mean the same thing. Sometimes, in certain instances, we interchange the word right, happy, joy, whatever, and I get that. But if we're going to break it down, to really understand its depth and its power, we have to separate the two, because, guess what?
Speaker 1:Happiness is an emotion that is fleeting Emotions come and go. All of you understand that, right. All of you who are especially if you're my age you understand that emotions definitely come and go. Joy, on the other hand, is a truth that is constant. Okay, joy is a truth that is constant. Happiness is an emotion that can come and go, based on our circumstances. Okay, it can be taken, it's here, it's there. Joy cannot be taken from you, it cannot be robbed from you and it does not go with the circumstances. So joy, if you want to think of it in a, you know, if you're like a visual learner, think of happiness on the top and joy down at the bottom. Happiness is the plant out, you know, above the soil, and joy is the soil or the roots. Right, so you know. The difference is, you know, we get it.
Speaker 1:I don't have to give you examples. But I'm happy when I get my nails done. That doesn't mean that it's created true joy. I can say that. I can say, oh, I'm joyful, I have my nails done. I'm happy when I feel like I'm really fit and my Pilates is kicking in and I got the Pilates body and I'm like, ooh, okay, I'm happy. But it's not where I find my joy. My joy is not in the Pilates body. My joy is not in my nails. You know, I'm happy when I honestly have lashes on and I look good, or my makeup. These are all fine things, but they're not what brings joy. This is not what I'm going to root my joy in, because guess what Lashes come and go. I've been, as we know. I've been lashless for quite a while. I've been looking like a skin cat here, but it's okay, I still have joy. Right, that just had to share a few.
Speaker 1:Joy is deeper than happiness. Happiness comes and goes. Joy is constant. Do we get that? Okay, good, all right.
Speaker 1:So then let's read the definition of joy. Okay, I am going to read you the biblical definition of joy. All right, here we go. Joy is an inner gladness, a deep seated pleasure. It is a depth of assurance and confidence that ignites a cheerful heart. I'm going to read that part again it is a depth of assurance and confidence that ignites a cheerful heart. That is the key word. Actually, there's a few key words, and if you guys take notes, you should, by the way, I would take notes. Utilize this as like your Bible study time. Take notes, share about it, post about it utilize it to. Anyways, you get what I'm saying. Taking notes is is what transforms me, to be honest. I have to write down and then I have to go share it later. Um, okay, there's a few keywords here. It is a depth of assurance and confidence. Okay, so those are some great words right there. That ignites a cheerful heart. I love ignites, because this goes to show that it is first, it is the foundation, it is what is going to set a fire a cheerful heart. It is what's going to blaze happiness. Ooze happiness out of you.
Speaker 1:You guys know the people that I'm talking about that exude joy and you can look at them and go okay, this is the definition of those people. They don't necessarily have the best circumstances. Their life does not seem very perfect at the given moment, right, but they still exude joy when you're in their presence, when you're around them. They are the people that tend to constantly look at things on the positive side. They are people who genuinely have the confident assurance in God and his promises period, not in their bank accounts, not in their health, not in their career status.
Speaker 1:I mean, can you imagine the song that we sing as kids? You guys remember? Some of you know, I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where Down in right, that song. Right, it's deeply rooted in our heart. That was the point of that song. But if we really honestly sang that song today, it would literally be like I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy in my bank account. Where In my health status, where In my title, I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy in my bank account, where in my health status, where in my title I've got the joy, joy, joy. Like that's literally what it would be right According to the world and that's opposite, right?
Speaker 1:This is saying that it is a deep-rooted confidence and assurance of God's promises, and it goes on to say that it is not an experience that comes from favorable circumstances, but is God's gift to believers. I love it. I love it so much. It is not an experience that comes from favorable circumstances. Favorable circumstances make you happy. We just talked about that right. Favorable circumstances make anybody happy.
Speaker 1:How do we know we are a person of true joy? Well, what do we believe when those favorable circumstances go away? What do we really believe when the bank account starts to go down, when the health is ripped from us, when things that are out of our control, just seem to be swirling and it's just raining and pouring on us. Do we honestly say I have true joy? I don't know about you guys, but I look around the world today and we are desperately needing people to know true joy. True joy, we are telling, we know where this world's going, we know what the kids are learning and what social media is telling us and what, and that happiness is found in what you make of it and that happiness is what you're going for, and that happy, happy, happy. No, no, it's joy, joy, joy is what we should be talking about in teaching Joy. And again, nothing's wrong with being happy. I love being happy, and this is not about painting happiness as the bad guy at all. It's simply getting us to understand that joy is the constant we are truly searching for and desperately need if we want to be women who shine, women whose light really is known, in a world that is completely the opposite. Right, joy is the deep down sense of well-being that abides in the heart of the person who knows all is well between themselves and the Lord. Oh, that's so good, you guys. I mean it's honestly. Here's a simpler way of saying it, okay.
Speaker 1:Biblical joy is choosing to respond to external circumstances with inner contentment and satisfaction. Because we? Why? Because we know that God will use these experiences to accomplish His work in and through our lives. We know that circumstances that come our way are our opportunities to grow and stretch the other fruits of the Spirit, our opportunities to be patient, kind, our opportunities to exercise self-control and gentleness right. All these circumstances that happen in our lives are opportunities for us to grow all of these characteristics, you guys, and we, honestly, as the believer. This is one of the best things about being a believer is that we know what we know, that we know which is God can use absolutely anything, whether it was your bad decision or something horrible that happened to you. He can use absolutely anything for good if you want him to, if you genuinely are seeking that out. And that's the key, you guys, these fruits of the Spirit, he gives them to us, but we don't have to exercise them. We can just sit around and go.
Speaker 1:You know what I'd rather be bitter, I'd rather get upset. You know there's a lot of people I don't like when people say that circumstances and trials make you better. That is actually not true. How you respond to them makes you better and stronger and wiser. The circumstance itself does not make you better. There are a lot of people who've been through some real crappy things, really horrible things in life and they did not get better, they got bitter and they just get more and more bitter the more and more bad things happen to them in life, because they have rooted their hope and assurance in things, in circumstances, in happiness. They have not rooted it in joy and what God says joy is and how it is his gift to us and how nothing can rob that right. So how we respond to life circumstances, you guys, is going to show where our true joy lies. Anybody can say they're joyful when their bank accounts are going good. Anybody can say they're joyful when their marriage is fine, when their kid's health is fine.
Speaker 1:You guys, I just walked through a really tough season with my daughter and finding out some serious health concerns serious and thankfully, I know what to do. I, you know, have had it myself and so I have a leg up on that. But, guys, there's nothing about it that's joyful, okay, there's nothing about it that is joyful and and yet I have joy. It hasn't robbed my joy, it hasn't been fun, I haven't been happy. And here's the craziest thing is you can be not happy but still joyful at the same time. Does that make sense? And so I want you to understand that joy does not mean that you just stuff all your emotions and you fake it till you feel it Like oh, I'm just going to be joyful because the Bible says to be joyful and let's just all just go around like nothing's wrong and I'm fine.
Speaker 1:What? No, Do you know how many times I've vented to my girlfriends in this past season to feel, to my family, to some of my closest friends? I've poured my heart out with disappointment, sadness, frustration, doubt, anger. I've had every emotion possible. And yet, deep, deep, deep down, though you guys, I have never lost my joy. I have never lost my joy. I know that God will work through this. I know that God can turn this for good. I know what I know that I know about God, even if it has not happened yet. I know what I know that I know about God, even if it has not happened yet. I know what I know that I know about God, and I hold on to that, even when my emotions want to tell me different. Okay, so you know it's being joyful.
Speaker 1:A person that has joy doesn't mean that you can't be sad, you can't be disappointed, you can't be upset, you can't have grief. No, those are emotions that God gave us to express. We can have all of those emotions. What he does not want us to do is replace those emotions with the foundation of what we believe about him. Okay, because the foundation of joy and peace and all these other fruits that he gives us is what is going to sustain us when all of those emotions are wreaking havoc. Right, and we hold on to that. We hold on to truths.
Speaker 1:You guys, if you don't know God, if you have never put your trust in God, if religion is new to you, if all of this is weird to you, if you're mad at God for something, I get it. But what are you placing your joy in? What is your foundation then? Are you just saying daily affirmations every day to hype yourself up and feel good about yourself? Because, guess what? That comes from your own strength. Self-help, self-affirmation, self-everything self is all about you having to muster up the strength to do it. And I'm telling you right now I have lived long enough. Some of you maybe haven't lived long enough to experience anything traumatic in your life. I'm telling you now that those are not the things that are going to help you when you're down in the pit. You can't help yourself out of the pit. You are in the pit. You need something to pull you out of the pit, and that's what we're talking about here.
Speaker 1:So what do you put in your joy, in? Can you guys honestly say that if everything went away, you would have the joy of the Lord, as your strength? Like the Bible tells us, the joy of the Lord is my strength, the joy of the Lord. Sometimes that's such a difficult thing to say and if we're being honest, even those who do follow God and are Christians, we would say, yeah, no, actually it's really not. Who do follow God and are Christians, we would say yeah, no, actually it's really not, it's not. The joy of my bank account is honestly my strength, and here's how I know Every time it starts to go away, I start losing my joy. That's the sign, guys. You could do this test right now with your life when things go away, when you've experienced certain things in your life, do you start losing joy. I'm not saying again feeling nervous or upset or disappointed. Those things can be there, but I hope and pray that none of those things are things that you place your true joy in, because you guys, when you start to have joy as the foundation, you will start to understand that this is how you're going to be a light to people around you.
Speaker 1:It is by how you respond to the hard things in your own life. We are not exempt, as believers, from hard times. We go through the same trials, the same things, as every single other person in this world. The whole point, though, is that we respond to them differently, so that people look at us and go, wow, wow, look at Connie. I know she's walking through some hard stuff right now. Like, wow, I can't believe. You know what she's dealing with with her daughter, or what she's gone through with her own health, or what she's dealing with with you know whatever.
Speaker 1:I want people to look at me and go. She's not pretending to have it all together. She's not trying to sweep it under the rug and be like oh yeah, this is joyful. No, she's just. She really is joyful. Even though I know it's really hard for her, I can see that she's joyful. I want what she has. I want that inner peace, that contentment, right, which we'll talk about peace as well. So that's why we're cultivating these fruits of the spirit, you guys, ultimately, and so that one yes, they change us and they give us hope, but so that the world sees it too and goes what is it about you that makes you different?
Speaker 1:How do you respond to this in such a way? Wow, the way you've carried yourself through this like I'm blown away. Oh well, let me tell you, it's because I just put my trust in God and I give things over to him and I seek him and I spend time with him, right? Um, I want to also say this to you guys too, especially if you guys feel like you're in a season or there is something. Maybe you're not in a season of like, oh, but there's just like this one area that's like not working for you. You're just like. This is like the thorn in my side. It's just so unpleasant. Let me read this to you. This was from my Bible study. I've been in this Bible study that is mind-blowingly changing my life, which I'll share again later, but let me share this with you the fruit of God's Spirit.
Speaker 1:Virtues like patience, gentleness and kindness, joy, are not cultivated in contexts where they are not required. That was like whoa, I loved that. The fruit of God's spirit like gentleness, patience, kindness, joy, are not cultivated in contexts where they are not required. Simply put, you guys are not going to grow more patient if you're never around unpatient people. You are not going to grow more joyful by simply only always being around perfect people who love you and treat you right. No, god sends what we call heavenly sandpaper to your life to rub off some of those rough edges, and that is how you guys ultimately grow these characteristics. It is through life's circumstances that are less than pleasant.
Speaker 1:Again, no, anybody can be joyful and patient and kind and loving and good and all of these other fruits of the Spirit when they're only in situations that are good and loving and joyful. That's easy. That requires no faith in God at all. That requires nothing, right, it's easy to do that. But when you're in the real world and you're put in situations that are sticky and are tough and you're dealing with less than pleasant people, that's your opportunity to exercise gentleness and kindness and self-control. And so if you're in any of these situations, I encourage you to change your perspective on them and look at them and go wow, I've never seen it this way. You are giving me an opportunity to grow my joy and to put my joy in the right place, and it's not circumstance. You are giving me an opportunity, god, to exercise patience. Wow, I never saw it that way. You are giving me an opportunity to exercise kindness to this person, self-control. You're giving me, simply put, an opportunity to shine like Jesus would.
Speaker 1:That is how these fruits of the Spirit grow in our lives, you guys, and I'm just so grateful again that God helps us in this. It is not a self-help thing, it is not a oh, I just want to be patient, be prepared, because if you want to grow the fruits of the Spirit, he's going to give you some heavenly sandpaper. That's again what our old pastor used to always call. It is heavenly sandpaper. It's going to come and just rub you the wrong way, but we're not going to look at it that way. We're going to go oh, okay, he's given me an opportunity to work on some fruits of the spirit, right? Okay, I'm almost done, you guys, with this one. I honestly could probably go on and on and on and on with it.
Speaker 1:I think what I really want us to get from this, you guys, is application. So I want you to think of, first and foremost. The first question is where is my true joy found? Answer that honestly and go wow, you know what. I've really been putting it in the wrong places. I want to get back to putting it in God's promises. Okay, maybe you need to just pray and say God, I'm putting my joy back in you. Help me to realize that this week. Help me to exercise that this week. When things start falling apart and when I start yelling and I get in a fight and whatever goes south goes south, help me to remember that, lord. Um, some of you maybe are going to be given an opportunity this week to show where your joy comes from, and I encourage you guys to share with somebody. You know, share with somebody. Hey, you know what? I am joyful Even though I'm sad, even though I'm disappointed. I still have joy because I have hope in what God says is true and his promises right. Okay, last thing, you guys, I want to share with you.
Speaker 1:This is going to be our theme verse for the entire series and I want you to write this down. I want you to look this up. Okay, we are going to do it in two different versions, cause I just I want you guys to hear the different versions. Okay, and this is Jeremiah 17, seven through eight, and I absolutely love, love, love this verse. It has been speaking to me at all, it speaks to me all the time. But Jeremiah 17, 7 through 8, I'm going to read you the NLT version.
Speaker 1:Okay, this is our anthem, but blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green and they never stop producing fruit. I mean, if you could not get two more verses to power you up and to give you that hope and to remind you that it could be a season of drought. Maybe your finances are in a drought. It could be. The sun is scorching on you. It seems like everything's going against you. It could be whatever. You will be like a tree planted by the river whose leaves always stay green.
Speaker 1:You guys, that is a woman who has true joy, no matter what is going on. It is not a woman who pretends to stuff their emotions and fake it till they. That's not what, not it at all. It is a woman who is able to express all of those emotions and be authentic about them and say and yet I still have joy because of this, because of verses like this right, blessed are those who trust in the Lord. Now here's what I want you guys to do. This could change a lot for you, and I did this for the first time quite a few months ago and I just bawled my eyeballs out. Bawled my eyeballs out because it changes everything.
Speaker 1:Every time you read in the Bible a verse or any story of you know, blessed is the man or the woman. Put your name in there, and I encourage you to do it out loud. Okay, so that's my second task for you after listening to this is read these two verses and read them out loud and put your name in there, and I am telling you guys it is going to change. So, so, so much, okay, I'm going to read it to you again. I'm going to put my name in there and I'm going to read it to you from the message version. Read it in different versions.
Speaker 1:It's very encouraging. Here we go, but blessed is Connie who trusts me, god Connie who sticks with God. Connie is like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers, never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, serene and calm through drought seasons, bearing fresh fruit every season. You guys, it's incredible. It's incredible. Put your name in there. Connie is not bothered by the heat, connie is not worried by long months of drought, connie's leaves stay green and Connie never stops producing fruit. You read that out loud and tell me you will not feel so encouraged, so uplifted. It has just been the anthem for me over the last few months and I just hold on to it so tightly. So I hope this encourages you guys, I hope it blesses you.
Speaker 1:Go to these two verses okay, read them out loud and please share If any of this blesses you. You guys, I want to know, I want to know what it's done for you. Share, you can tag me on social media, you can send this to a friend, you can rate the podcast, you can, whatever. You guys subscribe. I just want to know that I'm bringing you things that are actually applicable and that are speaking to your heart as much as they're speaking to mine. So let's go out and exemplify that. Let's dig into and remind ourselves to put our joy back into the foundation that it's truly found from, and let's go out there and just remind people that we've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in our hearts. We're down in our hearts, we're down in our hearts. We've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in our hearts. We're down in our hearts to stay. Love you guys. Bye.