What is the difference between joy and happiness?
Joy is spiritual, while happiness is only material. That distinction means believers can be happy in poverty as well as in wealth, because their joy does not depend on material circumstances. Happiness, by contrast, is tied to material things and conditions.
Les teaches that joy is a spiritual thing, whereas happiness is only material. Because of that difference, believers can be happy in poverty as well as in wealth; their joy is not dependent on material circumstances. The same passage goes on to speak of enjoying God through the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement, showing the spiritual basis for the believer's joy.