My Joy Is Full by Pastor Jerry Eze: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

John 16:15

All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore I said that he shall take of mine and show it unto you.

Luke 1:18-25

Joy Is Not a Feeling, It Is a Being

The Bible says it is with joy that we draw from the well of salvation — without joy, you draw nothing. The Bible also says in the presence of God there is fullness of joy, and at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore. If you do not understand the presence of God that is full of joy, you may not understand the pleasures at his right hand.

Joy is not what the believer feels — it is who the believer is. Joy for the believer is not excitement or a momentary outburst of emotion. Joy is a knowing. Joy is a conviction. The first evidence that you carry joy is the peace that comes within you — righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost is the tripod on which the kingdom stands, so joy cannot be claimed where peace has not preceded it.

Joy lives in the spirit, not the soul — it manifests in the soul as happiness. That is why some people always seem happy: there is an engine room of joy beneath the happiness. Circumstances can deflate the balloon of happiness for a moment, but the engine room of joy reinflates it. Until the spirit of joy you carry is misunderstood by a natural man, what you are carrying is not yet supernatural.

Joy Is a Weapon

• Joy is our weapon.
• Joy is our asset.
• Joy is our being.
• Joy is our atmosphere.
• Joy is the energy of the spirit that we carry.

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Pastor Jerry Eze
Streams of Joy International, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria
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When the Lord wanted his people to overcome, he told them to raise sounds of joy. When believers go to war against the enemy, they do not battle from bitterness — they battle from a place of joy. Every man carries an atmosphere; do not let another person's defilement infiltrate your atmosphere. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life.

The Fruit of the Spirit Is One

Galatians 5:22-23

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

Scripture does not call this "the fruits" of the Spirit — it is one fruit, like an orange containing juice, fiber, and seed all within a single fruit. It is impossible to have joy and not have love. It is impossible to have joy and not have peace, not have longsuffering, not have gentleness, not have goodness, not have faith, not have meekness and temperance. There are replies you no longer give, people you no longer dignify, and battles you no longer fight, because you are full of joy. A joyless soul lacks the rest of the fruit as well — it does not know how to be gentle or keep quiet, because the fruit does not come apart.

Zechariah's Prayer Was Answered While He Served

The angel told Zechariah that his prayer had been heard. But Zechariah, according to the earlier verses, was not praying for a child in that moment of service — the child had been requested at some point in the past, and the answer was delivered while he was serving in the temple, not while he was petitioning for himself. His own matter was answered while his focus was on serving God and standing in the gap for others. Prioritize other people's prayer points and let heaven take note — God has a way of moving on your own matter while you are focused on the advancement of others' lives.

His Name Shall Be Called Grace

By the following verse, it says the child would bring "joy and gladness," and many would rejoice at his birth. But it was not only the birth that would bring joy — it was the name given: John, which means grace. The evidence God was about to give would not be because Elizabeth or Zechariah's bodies could carry it on their own strength, but because grace was going to be demonstrated where nature had no capacity. For your joy to be full, your walk has to become a journey of grace, not a journey of labor — grace is your being, grace is the definition of your walk with him.

The Difference Between Zechariah's Doubt and Mary's Question

Both Zechariah and Mary asked the angel a similar question — "how shall this be?" But Mary's question came from a place of genuine wonder, since nothing in her natural experience could explain what she was being told. Zechariah's question was different: he was a priest who had entered the Holy of Holies, read the scrolls, and served in the temple his whole life. Someone with less access to the things of God might reasonably ask such a question and be overlooked, but Zechariah, by the weight of his own journey and exposure, was expected to say instead: "God, I know you can do it. You are not a man that you should lie."

There are things you no longer question, not because you fully understand them, but because of the journey you have already walked with God — you simply say, "Yes, Lord." After a season of consecration, the enemy will come back and ask, "How shall this thing be?" The answer to give him is silence, and the simple confidence: he did not carry you this far without capacity for what lies ahead.

Joy Comes from Knowing, Not from Feeling

One of the things that keeps joy full is not what God does — it is what you know of him. This is why the Apostle Paul prayed that he might know him, not merely see what he had done. A knowing means that even if a person's outward conduct on a given day is inconsistent, you do not judge their whole character by that one moment, because you already know who they are underneath it. In the same way, feelings will fluctuate, but a knowing of God's character does not change with the moment.

Till tomorrow, my feelings might be wrong, but my knowing is always right. I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded.