The Joy of the Lord Is Your Strength: What That Actually Means
Tod McDowell had prayed about what to bring to New River Church and felt led to speak on the joy-fueled life. Then he walked into the service — and the very first song the church sang that morning was about joy. He grinned at the room: “Thank you guys for hearing the Lord with me.”
But before the encouragement came an honest acknowledgment of the season. It’s easy to sing the songs this time of year, McDowell said, but studies show there’s more depression at this time of year than any other — more suicide, too — because of the lack of family and the lack of joy. The season can exacerbate the loneliness and isolation so many people carry, even in a big family, a big crowd, or a church.
What he came to share was an antidote: a God-given, scientifically supported, biblical principle that releases true, organic, authentic joy — not as a one-off, but as a lifestyle with the Lord and with each other.
In a special message called A Joy Fueled Life, guest speaker Tod McDowell — a longtime friend of Pastor Keith Roberson — opened Nehemiah 8:10 and a trail of Scriptures about the face of God to show where joy actually comes from, and how to get more of it.
What this sermon is about
The anchor is a verse most church kids can quote. Israel is mourning, and Nehemiah tells the people to stop being overwhelmed, to eat and to feed each other, “for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).
Break that down, McDowell said, and you get the title of the message. Strength is power. It’s energy. It’s fuel. So joy fuels you. It’s not just a feeling of happiness — it’s the thing you run on. And as he made clear, we can’t love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength without first receiving love. “We love because he first loved us.” The same goes for each other: we need life-giving relationships where we’re receiving and giving love. That’s where joy lives.
Joy is the emotion of someone glad to be with you
Here’s where the message went somewhere most sermons don’t: neuroscience. McDowell has been reading in the same stream as Chip Dodd (whose teaching on the voice of the heart New River has heard before), and the science, he said, backs up the Scripture.
“In neuroscience, joy is defined as the emotion you feel when someone is glad to be with you. Joy comes from connection.” — Tod McDowell
That makes joy fundamentally different from excitement or pleasure. Pleasure is self-serving — it’s dopamine, and it’s addictive. But joy activates the brain’s attachment circuitry, the areas that tell us I belong, I am seen, I matter. He walked the room through the wiring: the right orbital prefrontal cortex, where relational identity is built. The anterior cingulate cortex, which regulates emotions. Mirror neuron systems that let us read faces and give back what we receive. The vagus nerve, which runs from the brainstem to the heart, lungs, and gut, regulating calm and safety.
And it all starts with a newborn. When a parent looks at a baby with soft eyes full of delight, the baby’s face mirrors back — I’m happy to be with you — and identity gets wired in through that joy. Comfort chemicals release. The baby’s nervous system learns safety, building the child’s capacity to return to peace after distress. It’s why trauma, neglect, or emotionally absent parenting produces anxiety, difficulty trusting, identity confusion, and poor emotional regulation — the things so much of our modern society is carrying.
Joy, McDowell said, is the birthplace of identity. Low-joy relationships require constant performance, control, or emotional distance. High-joy relationships feel like safety, acceptance, mutual delight — an emotional home where you can rest.
So “joy to the world” means a lot more than let’s smile and have some cake. This is transformational. (And it’s not too late, he added, repenting on the spot for his over-concerned parenting years: “I would’ve smiled more.”)
“Presence” in Hebrew is actually “face”
Then came the revelation at the center of the sermon. The neuroscience says joy is released by what you see in someone’s face — not the words, the face. And Scripture has been saying it all along:
Psalm 4:6-7 — “There are many who say, ‘Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!’ You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.”
What fills the heart with more joy than abundance, wealth, and natural security? The face of God lifted toward us — the exact picture of a father or mother holding a newborn and gazing.
“Every time the Old Testament says ‘presence of God,’ the word in the original Hebrew is face. God is not a feeling. It’s not a force. His presence is his face. It’s him — a person in the room, his face shining on us.” — Tod McDowell
He stacked up the receipts. Exodus 33:14 — “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” — is literally my face will go with you. Psalm 16:11 — “In your presence there is fullness of joy” — is literally in your face is fullness of joy.
And then he turned to the words New River hears almost every Sunday, the benediction Pastor Keith closes services with:
Numbers 6:24-26 — “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
Twice in that one blessing, God’s face shines on you — “countenance” is the same word, face. McDowell painted the posture like a father lifting a child: I’m picking you up to bless you, and I’m going to keep you — holding you tight, not letting go, you’re safe. Now my face shines on you, and I’m gracious to you — there’s nothing you can do that keeps my love from you. Now look at my face again. And then: peace. It’s okay. Shhh. That’s what the passage is about. That overdosing of God’s joy is what gives identity, security, calm, and rest — not hours and hours of counseling alone, but joy from the Lord. Science backs it up, and the Bible is full of it.
Transformed by beholding his face
The New Testament carries the thread forward. 2 Corinthians 3:18 — “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” You’re transformed by beholding the face of Jesus. And the next chapter names where the light comes from: 2 Corinthians 4:6 — God who said “let light shine out of darkness” has shone in our hearts “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The same light that brought order out of chaos at creation brings clarity out of our confusion — it clarifies who you are, where your home is, where you belong.
Joy is also what carried Jesus himself. Hebrews 12:2 — “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” The delight of the Father, and the delight of having all of us as part of his family — that joy is what caused him to endure. And that’s the offer in John 15, where the most repeated command Jesus gave was to abide: “Abide in me, and I in you… These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
McDowell was careful not to promise a pain-free life. We’re going to go through hardship, suffering, and disappointment — we have the world, the flesh, and the enemy. The skill is not pretending. Psalm 30:5 — “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” We need to experience genuine pain and be honest about it — and then learn to return to joy, the very thing a securely loved baby learns. It doesn’t have to be a full day of sorrow.
And joy is meant to be released to each other. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 — “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” McDowell shared how he and his wife have been practicing this — genuinely smiling at one another, sharing their hearts, and thanking each other. Gratitude, he said, cultivates more joy, which produces more gratitude, a cycle that feeds itself. It’s better than ice cream or any other dopamine hit, because it doesn’t leave you empty afterwards. It gives you security, comfort, and rest you can cruise on for days.
A five-minute practice
McDowell ended with an activation he was quick to label as practical wisdom rather than Scripture — “this is just Tod’s thoughts” — and then led the whole room through it.
“Close your eyes, picture Jesus looking at you, and notice his expression. Let his face shine on you. Then just say, ‘Jesus, thank you that you’re glad to be with me’ — and wait, and receive his joy. It’s not something you can earn. It’s something you inherit as a son and a daughter.” — Tod McDowell
He prayed words he sensed for the church that morning: remind them of the Lord’s delight. He walks with you. He’s your shepherd. The Father’s favor follows you. He wants deep heart-connection with you, fresh identity, overwhelming love. And he prayed healing over anyone who has experienced abandonment, rejection, loneliness, or neglect: you are a beloved son, a beloved daughter, in whom he is well pleased.
What this means for your week in Franklin
If you take this sermon seriously, four things change about this week.
- Run the five-minute practice daily. Eyes closed, picture Jesus looking at you, notice his expression, thank him that he’s glad to be with you, and receive. This is how you refuel joy — and McDowell’s prayer was that it becomes a lifestyle, not a one-off.
- Hear the benediction differently this Sunday. When you hear “the Lord make his face to shine upon you,” don’t let it wash over you as church poetry. Picture being held, kept, and gazed at with delight. That blessing is describing the actual posture of God toward you.
- Give someone your face. Joy is the emotion of someone glad to be with you — so be that for somebody. Look up from the phone, look family and friends in the eye when you first see them, and let them read genuine delight. Then say thank you, and let the cycle feed itself.
- Practice returning to joy, not faking it. Weeping may tarry for the night. Be honest about the pain — name it, feel it — and then deliberately come back to the face that is still shining on you. Especially in a season when loneliness runs high, that return path is the strength you’ll run on.
Watch the full message
The full sermon — “A Joy Fueled Life,” a special message from guest speaker Tod McDowell — is in the video above. We post a new message every Sunday from New River Church in Franklin, TN. Browse our message library for more recent teaching.
Coming Sunday at New River Church in Franklin, TN
If this message resonated and you’d like to experience worship and community in person, we’d love to have you with us. New River Church meets Sundays at 9:00 AM and 10:45 AM at 1153 Lewisburg Pike in Franklin, TN 37064 — just minutes from downtown Franklin and easy to reach from across Williamson County, Brentwood, and Spring Hill.
You don’t need to dress up. You don’t need a good voice. You don’t need to know much about church or the Bible to come. We’re a community of ordinary people walking through ordinary life, trying to do it together with Jesus at the center. Whether you’ve been a Christian for forty years or you’ve never set foot in a church, you are welcome here.
If you’re new to the area or new to faith, our First Time Guest page walks through everything you need to know before your first visit: parking, what to expect on Sunday morning, what your kids will experience in River Kids, and how to find us when you arrive.
If you’re looking for deeper community beyond Sunday morning, our Community Groups meet across Franklin and the surrounding area throughout the week. Groups are where Sunday morning faith becomes Tuesday afternoon real life.
Whatever you’re carrying right now, you don’t have to carry it alone. There’s a place for you at New River Church in Franklin, Tennessee. Come as you are.
Watch more sermons: newriverfranklin.com/messages Plan your visit: newriverfranklin.com/firsttimeguest Find a group: newriverfranklin.com/groups
📍 New River Church | 1153 Lewisburg Pike, Franklin, TN 37064 | Sundays 9:00 AM & 10:45 AM
