Joy comes before obedience, rather than after.

"Joy comes before obedience, rather than after. If you don’t understand that, you will really be messed up all of your days. Joy is not the result of obedience, joy is the result of what God has done. So now your joy is fixed on a fixed and stable source. When your joy is based on your performance it is going to be up and down like the wind.” ”“ Paul Washer

So agree! Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Thus we focus on Jesus who is the source of our joy. Let us remember the truth is found in a Person. And not in the abstracts of theology. If we have a testimony of an encounter with the person of Jesus. Then we know that we truly have joy.

Amen, bearmaster,

It is the joy of the Lord that is our strength.