God wants you to have joy?

Did you know that God wants you to have joy?
If you look up the words joy, rejoice, rejoicing, sing, singing, praise, praising, and praised in the Bible, you will find their combined total to be 745 times. (Not all of these are in direct reference to praising God, but the majority of them are.) With that many mentions, I believe that God is pretty serious about us praising Him and having joy!

How Does A Person Receive Joy?
1) We must know the Lord through salvation, since God is joy and the giver of true joy. Psalm 13:5 - "But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation."
2) We must spend time with the Lord. John 15:4, 11 - "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." If we do not spend time with God it is impossible to grow in having joy. Psalm 16:11 ~ "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."
3) We must be obedient. Psalm 119:1- "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD."
4) We must keep a right relationship with the Lord though confessing any sins. Psalm 51:10-12 - "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."
5) We must be meek (humble) before the Lord. Isaiah 29:19 ~ " The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel."
6) We must allow the Holy Spirit to control us and give us of His fruit. The more time we spend with the Lord the more His fruit will be evident through our lives. 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."
7) We must remember that Jesus is our example of joy, and we must seek His help to have joy. Hebrews 12:2 ~ " Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Reasons We Can Have Joy
1) The comfort and redemption that God gives us. Isaiah 52:9 - "Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem."
2) God gives us strength. Psalm 21:1 ~ "The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!"
3) God made us exactly the way He wanted us to be, and He is always with us. Psalm 139:14, 17, 18 ~ "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee."
Why we may not always be or feel joyous and what we must do to live joyfully:
1) Sin can rob us of joy, so we must confess our sin to God and He will restore joy to our hearts (Psalm 32:5, 11).
2) Difficult situations can discourage us. The prophet Habakkuk was discouraged because the people of Israel were not listening to God's message, but He determined that he would still rejoice in the Lord no matter what was happening around him (Habakkuk 3).
3) Bitterness, toward others who seem to have a better life than we do, hinders us from living with joy. Psalm 73:3 ~ " For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." But the Psalmist continues in verses 16 - 18~ " When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely Thou didest set them in slippery places: Thou castest them down into destruction."
We must also remember that God judges all with perfect righteousness (Psalm 64:4)
There are others things as well that can hinder our joy, so ask the Lord to show you what may be keeping you from experiencing joy, then confess any sin to Him and choose to let Him help you have joy. Also, listening to and singing Christ-honoring music every day helps us be joyful.

How Joy is described in the Bible:
~ Everlasting - Isaiah 35:10
~ No man can take it from us - John 10:22
~ great - I Kings 1:40 and many other verses 
~ fullness - Psalm 16:11
~ exceeding - Psalm 43:4
~ all - Romans 15:13
~ unspeakable - you cannot explain it - I Peter 1:8
Remember, God wants us to have and express joy each and every day; and we can because of Who He is and what He has done for us. As we spend time with the Lord and think about His goodness in every area our joy will grow and show.
Let's be a people of joy!