This document outlines five main 'joy busters' that hinder spiritual joy: FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt), discouragement, grumbling and negativity, guilt, and unforgiveness. It discusses the emotional responses of believers to life’s difficulties and stresses the importance of faith in overcoming these challenges. The text encourages self-reflection on how these joy busters might manifest in one's life and provides insights on how to combat them through a closer relationship with Christ.

1. Session 7: Joy Busters
Joy Buster#1: FUD
1. What is FUD?
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt can rob us of our joy.
2. How is FUD used in the businessworld, and how might that offer clues as to how
Satan uses it?
3. What examples in Scriptureare there of God’s people being paralyzed with fear?
Israelites in desert
Israelites cowardly beforeGoliath (contrast with David)
Disciples during and leading up to crucifixion (contrast with them after Pentecost)
Bravery is a hallmarkof faith.It is thepoint at which there’s tension on a spiritual
quality – faith.
David
Daniel
SMA
Apostles
But we’re allworks in progress. We never just arrive and stay there.
David -> height offaith,dipped,rise again
Me -> faith crisis, low points
4. Read Stephen’s story on page 118-19.Was that an appropriate responsefor a
joy-filled believer? How should he have responded?
5. When somethingstressful or difficult happens in your life, how much of a factor
does emotion play in yourreaction? How much of a part shouldemotion play as a
mature believer?
Natural for emotionto fillin the immediateaftermath of a crisis or stress.
But once that wave of emotionpasses, we have a choice:
 We can dealwith these feelings at theemotionallevel, give themto God,and
move on.

2.  Or we can cling to these emotions and allowthem to becomeattitudesthat
burrow into our hearts.
The closer we walk with Christ, theless emotion willrule our lives in a crisis. As we
mature, themore we’ll respond from the spirit rather thanfrom our gut instinct.
Oswald Chambers: “The surest sign of a mature believer is that theydon’t get into
panics.”
6. Do we draw closerto Christ ormore inward to ourselves?
Joy Buster#2: Discouragement
“There’s nothing so blocks the spirit as gloom and dependency and downheartedness”
7. Why do we get discouragedas believers? After all, “we don’t grieve like the rest
of men who have no hope.” (1 Thes. 4:13)
8. When we get discouraged,how easy is it for us to take on the role of the
righteousvictim?
Joy Buster#3: Grumbling and Negativity
Dostoyevsky:“Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he doesn’t count his joys.”
9. What is “grumbling”?
Deep-seated complaining
10. Read the story of Reggie on page 120. Do you know a Reggie? What’s his impact
on the worldaround him?
11. Grumblingis a cancer on the body of Christ and sucks the joy out of the
individual Christian life. So why is negativity and grumblingso glossed overby us
today? Why is it an acceptable sin that we seldom ever really deal with inside the
body of Christ?
Joy Buster#4: Guilt
12. How does guilt rob us of joy?
13. Read 2 Cor. 7:10.How does “godly sorrow” differ from “guilt”? What do both
produceover the long term?

3. Joy Buster#5: Unforgiveness
14. Why is forgiveness of others so critical to experiencing God’sjoy?
Bitterresidue can remain on our hearts when we are wronged.
* * ** *
15. What is the ultimate sourceof thingsthat rob us of joy?
Ourselves
“Self love always magnifies our injuries”
“Could you onlyfor a moment fix your mind on something not yourself?”
16. Is God more concerned with specific, individual sins or the long-term
consequences of the ingrainedspiritual attitudes/qualities that we have?
Sins are raw materialfor which Godcan buildupon. A deadseed upon which can
producelife.
Is whethertheladyis a “grumbler – or only a grumble”?
The more we allow these sinful attitudesto penetrate our hearts, the more they
dehumanize us. We becomes less and less likeChrist and more like a “thing”.
Which was more dehumanized – thePharisees? Or Mary Magdellanor Zacheus?
Mary and Zacheus were flawed, but were full of life
* * ** *
17. What steps can we take to deal with “joy busters” even when we don’t have all
the answers?
Cling to faith.(top 125)
Focus on God(bottom125)
18. Changing conduct is far easier than changing a hardened attitude. Agree or
disagree? So how do you do it?
* * ** *

4. 19. Which of these five is your joy buster? Or perhaps somethingelse?
List the five joy busters discussedin the chapter. For each, rank their influence on
your life (1=no, 5=domination).