JOY

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Galatians 5:16 NIV

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

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NLT Version 

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

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Nehemiah 8:10 NIV

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.”

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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.

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Psalm 16:9-11 NIV

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful[a] one see decay. 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.

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Amplified v11

You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

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JOY ISN’T OUT THERE SOMEWHERE - IT’S RIGHT HERE.

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Luke 15:12-20 NIV

12 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.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

V 17

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

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Isaiah 54:1-2 NIV

“Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband, says the Lord. “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.

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Proverbs 17:22 ESV

A joyful heart is good medicine,

but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

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Habbakuk 3:17-19 MSG

Though the cherry trees don’t blossom and the strawberries don’t ripen, Though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted, Though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty, I’m singing joyful praise to God. I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God.

Counting on God’s Rule to prevail, I take heart and gain strength. I run like a deer. I feel like I’m king of the mountain!

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Ecclesiastes 11:4-5 NIV

Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed[a] in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

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James 1:2 ESV

 Count it all joy, my brothers,when you meet trials of various kinds,

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Luke 15:20 NIV

So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

JOY IS TO BE RELEASED NOT RESERVED.

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Philippians 4:6 NIV 

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

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Psalms 30:5 NLT

For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime!

Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

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Psalms 34:8 NLT

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

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Psalms 100:1-5 NIV

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are His people, the sheep of his pasture. 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.

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Isaiah 61:3-4 NLT

To all who mourn in Israel,he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory. They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago.
They will revive them,though they have been deserted for many generations.

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NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT THAT YOU’RE FOUND!

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Luke 15:32 NIV

But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

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Psalm 51:10-12 NIV 

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

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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.

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Luke 15:7 NIV
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Luke 15:25-32 NIV

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “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. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

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