Christ Integration Camp

Fruit of the Spirit: JOY 

Review Bible Verse:

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

Discussion:

• If joy is a fruit of the Spirit, what do we already know about joy? (If we have the Spirit, we can have joy, no matter what.)  Remember that after we believe and trust in Jesus Christ, He gives us the Holy Spirit, who lives within us. It is the Spirit who produces this fruit in us as we abide in Him. Because we have the Holy Spirit, we can have joy.
• Where can we look to discover what joy truly is? (God’s Word!). There are many verses that talk about joy in the Bible. Since His Word is our truth, it is the first place we should turn to learn more about this fruit of the Spirit. Romans 15:13 says  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Lets talk about what this verse means.  This verse tells us that when you trust in Jesus did for you at the cross, that by the Holy Spirit God feels your heart with joy. Let me show you an example. Set up a dishpan of a clear cup and a cup water. Pour the water into the clear cup until the clear cup runs over.  What happened when the clear cup could no longer hold the water in it? It overflowed! If our hearts are so full of joy and God keeps giving us more joy, what do you think will happen to our hearts? Our hearts will overflow with joy. So much joy that we can’t help but to praise God. Our hearts will overflow, like the water in the clear cup overflowed.
• The word joy appears 60 times in the New Testament. We often associate joy with happiness, and this is not wrong, but joy is different from happiness because it does not depend upon the conditions of outside circumstances. We are to have joy even in the midst of the most difficult of life circumstances (Philippians 4:4). The joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). It was for the joy set before him that Christ endured the cross (Hebrews 12:1-2). “The Bible calls for joy as an abiding possession and a permanent state of mind for the saint”.

Activity:

• Write down, on a piece of paper, 3 reasons you are blessed and this is why you have joy. Use notecards.