Are You Missing the True Power of Joy

Tauren Wells shares remarkable secrets

 

Tauren Wells joined Family Life Radio Morning Show and shared how his understanding of joy evolved beyond feelings and into something foundational.

If you know Tauren Wells, it’s probably from his chart-topping songs like “Known” or “Joy in the Morning.” But Tauren is more than a Grammy-nominated artist—he’s a pastor, speaker, and now, an author. In his debut book Joy Bomb, Tauren dives deep into the nature of joy—not as a fleeting emotion, but as a spiritual power that transforms our lives from the inside out.

Tauren said, “A lot of people may not know this, but I was in a band before I was a solo artist, a band called Royal Tailor. And even back then, every song that we wrote, that we put out, I wrote a devotion for.”

The Origin of “Joy Bomb”

Tauren’s journey into writing Joy Bomb began with his song “Joy in the Morning.” What started as a devotional for a song became a deeper revelation about joy itself.

“Once God kind of breathes a song in my direction that I would start to unpack the theme of that song so that, you know, when people ask about it, they’ve already experienced the lyric in the melody,” Tauren continued. “They really wanna know the heart and the layers behind it. And I always kind of feel like songs are kind of the top layer of ideas….But the Bible is so rich and God is so wonderful that something like joy has very deep complex layers to it.”

As he studied the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, Tauren was struck by how Jesus led with the word blessed. “The word blessed that Jesus uses in the Beatitudes means happy… but I don’t think we’ve fully considered the impact that Jesus speaking about happiness actually has made.”

This challenged Tauren’s understanding of joy—not as an escape from pain but as a transformative power that thrives even in hardship.

Joy is a detonation, not a distraction

“Before joy impacts everybody else around us, it has to detonate within us. And that’s why I wanted to call this book Joy Bomb.”

He explains the title raised some eyebrows, even for some at his publishing house. “They were on the fence about the title, like, ‘Can we mail this book to people?’” But to Tauren, no term better captured the message of Jesus. He explained, “I don’t know of better language to qualify the impact of the message Jesus shared in the Sermon on the Mount.”

Joy Is Not What You Think

Tauren offers a powerful redefinition: “Joy is the overwhelming flow of God’s character present in every aspect of our lives.”

This insight flips much of conventional Christian thinking on its head. “This is why I point to the character of God and not a feeling… because joy comes from Christ being formed in us.”

For Tauren, the myth that Christians must choose between seriousness and happiness is not only harmful—it’s unbiblical. “Smiling Christians doesn’t mean weak theology… if God is a God of infinite joy, why would we not be people who experience and project that same type of joy?”

“Joy is possible in ordinary places.”

Tauren’s reflected on where Jesus delivered the Beatitudes. It wasn’t on a grand mountaintop, but a small, nearly nameless hill called Aramis. “Aramis means desolate, isolated, and strength… He talked about joy in a nameless place. Not at the top of a mountain—that would insinuate joy is in the high places. Not the bottom—that it’s only in our lowest. But just on the hillside… joy is possible in ordinary places.”

This seemingly small detail reveals joy isn’t reserved for the spiritually elite or emotionally unshaken. It’s for all of us—right where we are.

Joy Starts Within

If there’s one message Tauren wants readers to walk away with, it’s that joy is not circumstantial. It’s not a thin veneer of optimism. It’s a steady, soul-deep reality formed in the presence and character of God.

“Joy doesn’t just uplift. It changes us. And through us, it changes others.”

No matter what the world throws at us, God has given us something stronger to throw back—joy.

Tauren Wells is a Grammy-nominated Christian artist, pastor, and author known for hits like “Known” and “Joy in the Morning.” He and his wife, Lorna, co-lead Church of Whitestone in Austin, Texas. His debut book, Joy Bomb: Unleash Jesus’s Explosive Joy for an Extraordinary Life, releases on May 20, 2025, and is available for pre-order through Amazon or Zondervan.

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Connect with Tauren:

Website: taurenwells.com

Instagram: @taurenwells

Facebook: Tauren Wells Official

YouTube: Tauren Wells

X (formerly Twitter): @taurenwells

 

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