(Nehemiah 8:10 NIV)”… Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

(John 15:10-11 NIV) If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

(Luke 15:12-16 NIV) The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

1.   Joy isn’t out there, it’s right here.

(Psalm 16:9 NIV) You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

(Habakkuk 3:17-19 NIV) Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength…

(James 1:2 NIV) Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

2.   Joy is to be released, not reserved.

(Philippians 4:4 NIV) Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

(Luke 15:28-31 NIV) “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 

(Psalm 34:8 NLT) Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

(Psalm 100:1-5 NIV) Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness;come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his[a]; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

3.   Never lose sight of the fact that you are found. 

(Psalm 51:12 NIV) Restore to me the joy of your salvation…

(Romans 6:22-23 NLT) But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.