Just before His passion Christ desired, because of the difficult days ahead, that His "joy might remain" in the disciples, and their "joy might be full."

Christ’s desire might have seemed a little strange and somewhat out of place con- sidering the grief, loneliness, and torment that lay ahead for the disciples. Notwithstanding, Christ knew true joy, in the midst of dark days and circumstances, only comes from Him and Him alone.

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. It is wrought in the spirit of the believer when salvation is believed and accepted. Spiritual joy is both nurtured and maintained by “abiding” (staying connected through fruit bearing) in Christ (Galatians 5:22-23). When the difficulties of life surface, the joy derived from abiding in Christ supersedes and enables the believer to endure and gain the victory.

As the Word of God is received into the spirit of the believer and placed into action, the joy of Christ is allowed to “remain” through union and relationship with Christ. Relationship with Christ causes the believer to think and act as Christ would. Having the “mind of Christ” allows the believer to do all things to please the Father as Christ did (St. John 8:29). Thus, when God is well pleased the joy of Christ is experienced.

Finally, the joy of Christ is realized through loving obedience. Jesus said “if ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love” (St. John 15:10). Loving obedience translates into “fullness of joy.” “Whom having not seen, ye love, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (I Peter 1:8).