This song has changed quite a bit since inception. Being that I am about to consider this version more or less done – I want to share a little on the background to the song. Some time ago I had a strange dream – where I was tempted to do something, and this temptation was more or less staring me in the eyes with black invitation…and my response (in my dream) was to scream, shout, sing “the joy of the Lord is my strength”…over and over – until my lips and face were tingling. I don’t know if you have ever shouted, sang or yelled very – very hard, as hard as you can for a long time – but that was what I did. And then I woke up to the still of my bedroom. My wife was sound asleep – and not a creature was stirring. I was perplexed. Why in the world would I respond like that? What did it mean? Over the next few days in thinking and praying and weighing it out the thought suddenly occurred to me that indeed the joy of the Lord is my strength. When I have joy in my walk with God I am not as interested in sinful desires. Sin is – in essence – seeking satisfaction and pleasure. When I have satisfaction and pleasure in my walk with God I am better able to defend myself against the lies of the enemy – especially since all sin ends in death and shame – we can better defend against the reality of the temptation. I am ’strong’ against the enemy. Thomas Aquinas said – and I believe I wrote elsewhere here on the blog – “we are designed for delight, and if we do not get our delight in the proper things (i.e. – our walk with God) we will seek it in carnal pleasures”… the seed for the song joy is that principal. I have really redone a large portion of this song; new drums, new guitar, new (real) horns, new gospel choir and soloists, removed a lot of original instruments, dropped the drum solo (which I may do with a guitar solo in an extended version remix..), enjoy ‘joy’ .