How to Experience God's Joy Every Day

The Christian life should be one of joy.

In Psalm 28:7, we’re told that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.”

In Galatians 5:22, we see that joy is one of the fruit of the Spirit.

And in Psalm 100:2, we’re called to serve the Lord with joy:
“Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.”

The reality is that joy is a key component of the Christian life and we need to experience God’s joy every single day. If we don’t regularly experience the joy of the Lord, following God can become drudgery. We can get into a rut, simply going through the motions of the Christian life instead of serving the Lord with gladness.

So how do we experience the joy of the Lord every single day? Here are two simple ways.

Step #1: Spend Time With God

God is the source of all joy.

He is the most joyful, glad, happy Being in the universe and all true, deep, lasting joy comes from Him. If we want to experience joy daily, we must regularly spend time with God, the fountain of joy.

In Psalm 43:4, David says, “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God.”

God was David’s exceeding joy.

David experienced the deepest joy in the presence of God. When he was in God’s presence, his heart overflowed with gladness and thankfulness and songs of praise.

In Psalm 4:7, David writes, “You have put gladness in my heart, More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.”

This kind of joy that David describes can only come from God. It can’t be found in anything in this world. No amount of possessions or parties or people can create this kind of joy.

If we want to experience joy, we must follow the example of David. We must fellowship with God through His Word and prayer. When we read God’s word, God Himself speaks to us. He encourages us and comforts us. He gives us strength for the day and hope for tomorrow. When we read the Bible, God pours His joy into us.

When we pray, we pour out our hearts to God.

We lay our burdens at His feet and ask Him to carry our burdens. In response, He answers our prayers, encourages us, and fills us anew with joy.

Do you want to experience joy? Then fellowship with God every day.

Step #2: Cultivate Thankfulness

We are incredibly, overwhelmingly, abundantly blessed.

Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”

Isn’t that a staggering verse? In Christ, we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We have forgiveness of sins, we’ve been adopted as beloved children, God is our loving Father, and we have an inheritance that is coming. We are blessed beyond measure!

Additionally, we have an overwhelming number of physical blessings as well. From our health to our houses, our friends to our food, God has been incredibly kind to us. We truly do have 10,000 reasons to bless the Lord.

One of the keys to experiencing joy is to cultivate the habit of thankfulness.

To regularly remember and reflect upon all the blessings that God has given us and then to pour out praise and thanksgiving to God.

Psalm 9:1 says, “I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works.”

If we want to experience the joy of the Lord, we must recount all the wonderful deeds that He has performed on our behalf (all the ways He has blessed us), and then pour out thanksgiving to God. The more we do this, the more we’ll experience deep, abundant, overflowing joy.

Experiencing Joy Isn’t Complicated

When it comes to experiencing joy on a daily basis, we don’t need to overcomplicate things. The first step is to spend time with the Lord on a consistent basis. The more time we spend in the presence of the Lord, the more joy we’ll experience. The second step is to remember all of God’s wonderful blessings that He has poured out on us and then respond in thanksgiving to Him.

When we do these things, the end result is great joy.