Joy is based on the spiritual knowledge that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world.
In the face of life’s difficulties, let us ask the Lord for the strength to remain joyful witnesses to our faith.
The trouble with many men is that they have got just enough religion to make them miserable. If there is not joy in religion, you have got a leak in your religion.
God is very serious about joy in the lives of His children.
Jesus did not promise to change the circumstances around us. He promised great peace and pure joy to those who would learn to believe that God actually controls all things.
I cannot imagine a Christian who does not know how to smile. May we joyfully witness to our faith.
Evangelicals always assume that humor and faith are contradictory. It's OK to smile, to be nice, but not frivolous.
I'm joyful in my religious belief.
Serve God joyfully. Let there be no sadness in your life: the only true sorrow is sin.
The Bible talks plentifully about joy, but it nowhere talks about a 'happy Christian.' Happiness depends on what happens; joy does not. Remember, Jesus Christ had joy, and He prayed 'that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.'
The religion of Jesus Christ is not ascetic, nor sour, nor gloomy, nor circumscribing. It is full of sweetness in the present and in promise.
Faith is born and sustained by the Word of God, and out of faith grows the flower of joy.
God is not a God of sadness, death, etc., but the devil is. Christ is a God of joy, and so the Scriptures often say that we should rejoice ... A Christian should and must be a cheerful person.
Faith and joy are the ascensive forces of song.
So much of what comes out of the faith community seems so dour and somber, and we want to say, 'Hey, we're real people. You can be a person of faith and really enjoy life and laugh.'
A true religious instinct never deprived man of one single joy; mournful faces and a sombre aspect are the conventional affectations of the weak-minded.
There are other kinds of joy found in other places in the world, but there is no place where you can find Christian joy except in Christ.
Since religion was so much a part of my life as a child, and since my childhood was so happy and so full of laughter and joy, I associate the two. Even my concept of Jesus goes along with this association of happiness and religion.
