How to Let Joy Grow and Flourish

Fruit of the Spirit Series

Let joy grow and the beauty of its harvest will be evident. Joy is the second fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23. If the fruit of joy grew abundantly in God’s people, what an impact that would have in a world full of sorrow and despair. The whole world would greatly see and hear the joy of the Lord. But how does joy grow and flourish?

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23) 

Difference Between Joy and Happiness

Sometimes people confuse joy with happiness, even interchanging them as the same, but they are different. Joy is internal and happiness is external.

Joy is gladness, cheerfulness, and delight that God plants internally in us as Christ-followers. Joy is based on what happens internally.

Whereas happiness, and the pleasant emotions it brings, is based on what happens externally.

For example, if our gladness, cheerfulness, and delight occur because something good happens externally, that’s happiness. But when we have gladness, cheerfulness, and delight internally even when what’s happening around us is difficult, that’s the fruit of the Spirit called joy.

While we experience both joy and happiness, only joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Only joy grows internally. And only Jesus Himself makes joy grow and flourish.

A Time to Plant Joy – How Joy Grows

In John 15:5, Jesus promises we will bear fruit if we remain in Him. We have to stay connected to Jesus. Our joy grows only in the presence of Jesus. In fact, in Psalm 16:11, it says, “In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” 

Jesus desires joyful disciples. When Jesus fills us up with joy, our whole demeanor changes, how we look and how we sound. We smile and laugh, sing and praise Him. Our joy can be seen and heard by others, including Jesus. 

There’s light shining out of us. Our faces shine with delight and cheerfulness comes out of our mouth. Did you know a joyful heart is good medicine for those around us (Proverbs 17:22)?

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

As God’s righteous ones, if we remain in Jesus’ presence, Jesus’ joy will be in us, and He will grow our joy greatly. Then His joy will be seen and heard through us no matter what happens around us.

A Time to Uproot Joy’s Weeds

While there are numerous weeds that can choke our joy, there are four I want to address: persecution, trials, difficult people, and sorrow.

First, anyone choosing Jesus as Lord and Savior will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). There’s no way around this. Jesus told us we would be hated because the world hated Him first (John 15:18). 

A few types of persecution include: 

• Mocking
• Harassment
• Oppression
• Bullying
• Intimidation

You don’t have to be a Christ-follower to be persecuted, but when these things happen to Christians, someone is trying to choke the fruit of the Spirit in us, including joy.

Second, trials can become weeds. They can wear us down and cause us to take our eyes off Jesus. In fact, we can get so fixated on our problems, we let them choke our joy.

Third, difficult people in our lives can become weeds to our soul.

Warren W. Wiersbe in his book, On Being a Servant of God wrote that “people not only have problems, but they can be problems because of the way they deal with their own needs.” We need to be alert when we’re dealing with difficult people so they don’t choke our joy.

Fourth, even sorrow can choke our joy. While sorrow has its purpose, let’s give our burdens, worries, and mourning to Jesus. Let Jesus show us how to handle them His way so that sorrow doesn’t choke our joy.

The Devil wants our persecutions, trials, difficult people, and sorrows to consume us so that our joy chokes. We need to be in Jesus’ presence daily so that our joy remains even when what’s happening externally is not happy.

The Hiding Place is one of my favorite books because it’s a true story about redemption and transformation. During WWII, Corrie ten Boom and her older sister, Betsie, endured Germany’s Ravensbrück concentration camp.

Both Betsie and Corrie were Christ-followers, but Corrie’s faith struggled in the concentration camp. There was nothing happy about this situation. Corrie allowed the weeds of the Enemy to grow in her heart because of the persecution and suffering.

But Betsie didn’t allow these weeds to choke the fruit of the Spirit in her. Rather, Betsie let the fruit of the Spirit continue to grow, and she shared it with everyone. Her joy was complete and contagious.

Betsie’s love and joy of the Lord didn’t change because of the harsh external happenings. Rather Betsie’s fruit drew others to her and Jesus.

Daily Corrie witnessed Betsie’s love, joy, and kindness with the women even in the worst of conditions and hardships.

After months of allowing the persecution, trials, difficult people, and sorrow to become weeds that were strangling her soul, Corrie surrendered it all to Jesus. And the fruit of the Spirit began flourishing again in Corrie while in the concentration camp.

The Devil tried using this concentration camp persecution to choke Betsie’s and Corrie’s fruit of the Spirit, but the Lord Jesus used this persecution and trial to strengthen them and grow their fruit to bless others and bring them joy and hope.

We can be like Betsie and Corrie and let our joy grow and be seen and heard no matter what we are experiencing. We don’t have to let the world’s persecutions, trials, difficult people, and sorrows strangle our joy. I know this is true personally.

In 2011, I endured a year of many trials. Yet, I discovered the joy of the Lord in an amazing way. My joy grew and was seen and heard by others. You can read my true story on my blog post entitled: The Secret Power of Strength.

Time to Let Joy Grow and Flourish

The joy of the Lord is our strength. Jesus is ready and willing to plant, nurture, and grow joy in us. We just need to draw near to Him and remain in His presence so that He can do what He promised. 

Jesus’ joy has no boundaries, and our joy shouldn’t either. It doesn’t matter what trials we face or what difficult people may be doing in our life. Joy is internal and isn’t dependent on external happenings. Let joy grow and flourish.

If the fields and everything in them are jubilant and the trees of the forest can sing for joy (Psalm 96:12), and the rivers clap their hands and mountains sing together for joy (Psalm 98:8), and all the earth bursts into jubilant song with music for the Lord (Psalm 98:4), how much more should we be bursting with joy for the Lord?

It’s time we shout for joy, sing, dance, celebrate, and rejoice. We can do this even when there are trials, suffering, and difficult circumstances in our lives. Then others will know we are Jesus’ people because of our joy. 

Are you keeping your joy quiet and hidden?

Remember the song, “This Little Light of Mine”? We let our light shine. We don’t hide it, and we don’t let Satan blow it out either. Part of our light is our joy. Let joy shine. Don’t hide your joy, and don’t let Satan choke your joy.

Those who confess Jesus as Lord and Savior should be growing in their joy and this joy needs to be seen and heard by others. That’s how the world and our Enemy knows who our God is and that we belong to Jesus.

In Nehemiah 12:43 at the dedication of the wall, it says, “And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.”

God gave them great joy and the sound of joy could be heard far away. When God gives us great joy, that means the harvest of joy is great too. Others will know our joy is complete by our rejoicing. 

Let us rejoice and be glad for the Lord Jesus is our joy. May our joy grow and flourish greatly yielding a great harvest for Jesus.