Luke 15:7 lost sheep; 10 lost coin; 20 lost son – God is our joyful Father

Numbers 6:24-27

Psalm 89:14-16 “countenance” in Hebrew is paneh – “face”

Psalm 16:11 “presence” is again “face”

1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 joy is experienced in a relationship when someones face lights up when they look upon you with love

Neurologists and psychologists often distinguish:

• Pleasure — brief sensory enjoyment
• Happiness — a broader emotional condition
• Joy — a deeper, often relational or meaningful, positive emotional state that can coexist even with hardship

Psalm 31:16, 19-20 You hide them in the secret place of Your presence

Psalm 67:1 cause His face to shine upon us

Psalm 80:3, 7, 19 when Yahweh shines His face upon us we experience joy; thus enjoy stability, balance, peace, and well-being

Zephaniah 3:17; Psalm 149:4; Jeremiah 31:3; Micah 7:18; Nehemiah 8:10; 1 John 3:1

Two great ways to fill your joy tank are fellowship with fellow believers and practice gratitude.

Acts 2:41-47 face time at church, prayer partner, mentor, socialize

Gratitude – increasing your joy capacity

• think of a memory that makes you feel grateful and connect with God in that memory
• give the memory a short title
• what do you think God might have been wanting to impress upon you by the memory
• start a list of grateful memories with the goal of having ten
• use this list to go into five minutes of nonverbal gratitude every day