Happiness
Happiness - Feeling or showing contentment and pleasure. Having a sense of confidence or satisfaction with a person or situation.
Everyone likes to feel happy in life. Happiness is a wonderful thing, but it can also be a fragile thing.
Since five is the number for grace, I wish to ask you five simple questions concerning happiness.
1) How would you define happiness?
2) Is happiness your primary goal in life?
3) What circumstance or outcome are you hanging your happiness on?
4) Is there someone other than you that you’ve made responsible for your happiness?
5) Who should really be responsible for your happiness?
In the Book of Wisdom in the Amplified Bible, it says, Proverbs 3:13 Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is the man who finds skillful and godly Wisdom, and the man who gets understanding [drawing it forth from God’s Word] NKJV Proverbs 16:20 He who heeds the word wisely will find good, And whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he.
Someone cried out to Jesus one day, saying, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts that supplied You with milk.” Luke 11:28 But He said, Blessed (happy and to be envied) rather are those who hear the Word of God and obey and practice it!
My wife Sheila often says, “If you have a word from the Lord, you already have all you need.”
I feel sad for those who have not discovered the delight of hearing from the Lord. They have not tasted the security, excitement, and sense of well-being that it is to converse with Him. A strong sense of happiness flows from knowing you have heard from the One who created everything and loves you with everlasting love.
In Genesis 13, God blessed Abraham, and his nephew Lot also benefitted from that. Their herds had greatly increased, and their herdsman began quarreling over space. Abraham was so secure that he gave Lot the choice of whatever area he wanted. Lot chose the lush plains of Jordan and journeyed east, not far from Sodom. Abraham dwelt in Canaan. Abraham did not need a choice situation to be happy. He knew God was with him, and it was enough. God blessed him, and thus, Abraham could be generous without worry.
Abraham was a man who heard God. When you desire a healthy relationship with someone, you feel sad when you’re not experiencing any interaction, such as listening and responding. To be ignored by someone can be painful when your deep desire is to be loved and cared for by them.
I can confidently promise that Jesus does not play manipulative games with you and go zero dark thirty or ghost you simply because He is not getting His way in your life. He promised never to leave or forsake you. If He has an issue with something you’re doing, He lets you know about it. Likewise, He often affirms you and makes you aware of His desires. Zero dark thirty and ghosting may be something common to your experience in your earthly relationships, but it is not characteristic of the Lord.
John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
Being in a real relationship with Jesus and hearing Him speak to you is the most secure source of happiness there is. Lasting happiness is knowing Jesus.
