The Fruit of the Spirit (Joy)

“Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.  This day is holy to our Lord.  Do not grieve. For the joy of the Lord is your strength’ ”  (Nehemiah 8:10 NIV).

   Nehemiah said it, “…the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  He was speaking to the nation of Israel after they had been returned to their land, and the “Book of the Law of God” was being read aloud to them for the first time in a long time.  The people were lamenting and crying.  Nehemiah, speaking for the Lord, told them to rejoice and have a party for it was a holy day to their Lord.  That Word is appropriate for us today.  Rejoice and have joy for the joy of the Lord is our strength.  

   Let’s look at this statement in two contexts centuries apart—the jailer of Paul and Silas in the town of Philippi and a noted present-day pastor, Keith Moore.  The contexts are very different, but the message is the same today as it was in Paul’s time—the joy of the Lord is our strength!  

   The jailer was told that Paul and Silas were dangerous men and that they should be kept in tight security, so he put them in the dungeon with leg chains.  They were known as “dangerous people” because they had been preaching the Gospel.  During the night Paul and Silas were praying and singing.  A sudden earthquake hit the area, and all the doors of the prison were opened, and all the chains were broken off the prisoners.  The jailer, thinking all the prisoners had escaped was preparing to kill himself when Paul cried out, “Don’t be alarmed.  We are all still here.”  The jailer must have heard their prayers and their songs because he came before them and asked what he must do to be saved.  They replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”  The jailers’ entire household believed and were saved—all of them.  The jailer washed Paul’s and Silas’s wounds, took them into his house and asked for all of his household to be baptized.  In Acts 16:34 we are told, “The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.”  The jailer was filled with joy for the best reason in the world—he and his entire household were assured of eternity in heaven with the Lord.”

   Keith Moore had a very different experience.  He was walking through the children’s department of his church, carrying a little girl.  She saw a picture of a baby elephant and started to laugh.  Keith asked her why she was laughing, and her answer was, “He’s silly.”  The picture made her think that the elephant looked silly, so she laughed.  Keith looked at the picture and began laughing with her.  Keith’s statement about this happening was, “That little girl and little children everywhere know how to do something so simple, something that so many grumpy, grouchy adults have forgotten.  They know how to yield to joy.” 

   Keith then related the account of Nehemiah 8:10 that ends with “…The joy of the Lord is your strength.”   We sometimes leave a church service feeling great because of the joy that we feel.   But let us deal with some problem in our lives, medical, financial, or personal when we get home and we let the joy slip away and depression enters.  That is satan at work, doing his worst, stealing our joy.   A depressed Christian is not a very good witness.   Keith suggests that the next time we run into a problem dumped on us by satan, we need to stop and say out loud, “The joy of the Lord is my strength,” and repeat it several times.  For, as Zephania 3:27 says, “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.”  The Lord has joy, He rests,  He sings, and He rejoices over me.  With God on my side, in joy, resting, rejoicing, and singing, I can be in joy also.  Keith Moore ends his article with this:  “That’s what the body of Christ is supposed to do—have fun and rejoice in our salvation.   We’re supposed to enjoy the goodness of God.  We’re supposed to be so blessed and happy that sinners look at us and say, ‘I want that!   I want that kind of Christianity.’   Glory to God!”

   The jailer of Paul and Silas, and Kieth Moore agree:  “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

   (I suggest that you read Keith Moore’s article, “Yield to Joy” in the October, 2026 edition of “The Believer’s Voice of Victory” magazine published by Kenneth Copeland Ministries.)