Joy can be explained across three facets:
Joy is the feeling you experience when you follow how God wants you to live.
Joy is a condition or character trait. By following Jesus you naturally become more joyful not by the circumstances of your life, but because of the kind of person you become by following Jesus.
Joy is a discipline. In spite the circumstances of your life filled with trouble or sorrow, we make the choice to focus our hearts towards the good.
Sabbath is a “discipline of celebration” by which we become people who are full of joy or delight. Despite all the odd, downright crazy, and unpredictable situations we see occurring in our world today, we can choose to focus on all that is “very good”. This mindset reflects the calling of Jesus to have a different worldview of God’s creation and to delight and enjoy God and His creation. Dan Allender, author of Sabbath, expresses it this way:
“The Sabbath is an invitation to enter delight. The Sabbath when experienced as God intended, is the best day of our lives. Without question or thought, it is the best day of the week.”