Part 7 in a book discussion series on the book "The Myth of Happiness". Use in a church homegroup, sunday school, or Bible study.

1. Session 7: Joy Busters <br />Joy Buster #1: FUD <br />1. What is FUD? <br />2. How is FUD used in the business world, and how might that offer clues as to how Satan uses it? <br />3. What examples in Scripture are there of God’s people being paralyzed with fear?<br />4. Read Stephen’s story on page 118-19. Was that an appropriate response for a joy-filled believer? How should he have responded? <br />5. When something stressful or difficult happens in your life, how much of a factor does emotion play in your reaction? How much of a part should emotion play as a mature believer? <br />6. Do we draw closer to Christ or more inward to ourselves? <br />Joy Buster #2: Discouragement<br />7. Why do we get discouraged as believers? After all, “we don’t grieve like the rest of men who have no hope.” (1 Thes. 4:13)<br />8. When we get discouraged, how easy is it for us to take on the role of the righteous victim? <br />Joy Buster #3: Grumbling and Negativity <br />9. What is “grumbling”?<br />10. Read the story of Reggie on page 120. Do you know a Reggie? What’s his impact on the world around him? <br />11. Grumbling is a cancer on the body of Christ and sucks the joy out of the individual Christian life. So why is negativity and grumbling so glossed over by us today? Why is it an acceptable sin that we seldom ever really deal with inside the body of Christ? <br />Joy Buster #4: Guilt <br />12. How does guilt rob us of joy? <br />13. Read 2 Cor. 7:10. How does “godly sorrow” differ from “guilt”? What do both produce over the long term? <br />Joy Buster #5: Unforgiveness <br />14. Why is forgiveness of others so critical to experiencing God’s joy? <br />15. What is the ultimate source of things that rob us of joy? <br />Busting the Busters <br />16. Is God more concerned with specific, individual sins or the long-term consequences of the ingrained spiritual attitudes/qualities that we have? <br />17. What steps can we take to deal with “joy busters” even when we don’t have all the answers? <br />18. Changing conduct is far easier than changing a hardened attitude. Agree or disagree? So how do you do it? <br />19. Which of these five is your joy buster? Or perhaps something else? <br />