4 replies to this topic

[Candice]

What does the bible have to say about "happiness"?  One author sums this up on the back cover of his book, "Happiness", a thorough, biblically researched book on happiness...synonymously "joy"...

 

"Christians are supposed to be happy. In fact, we are supposed to radiate joy, peace, and contentment that is so unmistakable and so attractive that others are naturally drawn to us because they want what we have. And yet, in today’s culture, the vast majority of Christians are perceived as angry, judgmental people who don’t seem to derive any joy from life whatsoever. So why aren’t we happy?

 

Unfortunately, many Christians are taught early on that God doesn’t want us to be happy (he wants us to be holy). In fact, many Christians are laboring under the false notion that God himself is not happy. But nothing could be further from the truth! God does want us to be happy. The Bible is filled with verses that prove that ours is a happy, joy-filled God who not only loves celebrations but also desperately wants his children to be happy. Why else would He go to the lengths He did to ensure our eternal happiness in His presence? We know that we will experience unimaginable joy and happiness in Heaven, but that doesn’t mean we can’t also experience joy and happiness here on earth.

 

In Happiness, noted theologian Randy Alcorn dispels centuries of misconceptions about happiness and provides indisputable proof that God not only wants us to be happy, He commands it. The most definitive study on the subject of happiness to date, this book is a paradigm-shifting wake-up call for the church and Christians everywhere. 

 

Wondering about this....seems that many very persecuted believers, i.e, Corrie Ten Boom, were happy despite their circumstances because of their relationship with the Lord. 

 

Please weigh-in if you care to.

[Meema]

Happiness and/or joy is human emotion that is not simply or easily defined, sort of like art and love - it is what you think it is. Much the same as the Greeks who had three different words to describe love, I think of ‘happy’ as something that can happen in different ways, for multiple and often contradictory reasons. 

 

For example, I can be deliriously happy that a cold rainy Saturday has forced me to hunker down with a good book or I can be distraught and frustrated that a cold rain has interfered with an outdoor plan. Thus being happy is subjective and dependent entirely on where my head is. 

 

But joy, for me anyway, is something that comes from outside of me. I had a moment just this last week that exemplifies this. 

 

Not going into unnecessary detail, I am currently in the middle of a great striving against evil right now. Every single day brings new challenge. In this moment of trial and testing, I can experience, on any given day, a huge range of emotion–from cold angst to peace. While this might sound like bi-polar disorder, actually it’s just me allowing my childish human weaknesses to be at odds with my spiritual maturity. All it takes is one bad report or email or yet another set back to send me into the old ‘what if God’s plan isn’t what I am praying for?’ mode. 

 

I had one of these cold sweat moments a couple days ago and then the most amazing thing happened. Joy. It came out of nowhere, lasted long enough to calm me and restore my emotional equilibrium and reset my focus. If I could describe it based on a physical sensation I’d say it was like a warm blanket being wrapped around my shivering body. My thoughts changed instantly from ‘what if’ to ‘it doesn’t matter because...He is with me’. Not because I deserve it, but because He chooses to be. He chooses. I can absolutely count on that no matter what else happens. But this was not the same as simply capitulating or resigning myself to God’s will (that might not be my will). Gratitude bubbled up out of nowhere. Suddenly I was counting all my blessings, the big ones and the miniscule, and thanking Him. I couldn’t stop smiling. If I had been in a public place I’m sure I’d have been looked at with suspicion - what is that fool smiling at?

 

Is this where spiritual maturity prevails? Experience and lessons learned? I have been in strife and tribulation many times before and He was with me then so why would I not trust that He is with me now? Or was it something else? Did He have mercy on me and touch me with Grace? The kind of Grace that reorders the brain to think in terms of blessings instead of troubles? Why would He do that? 

 

What if the whole exercise was God desiring to be happy? This made me consider that perhaps making God happy is way more important than me being happy. Which begs the question, what makes God smile? 

 

So while I have no way to explain the unfathomable depth of all that, just realizing it gives me a joy that definitely surpasses all understanding. For me, the take away is: joy is one of those experiences that we can’t find but rather it finds us, even in the middle of the storm. It’s another kind of blessing and probably the best.

[Candice]

...., I can experience, on any given day, a huge range of emotion–from cold angst to peace. While this might sound like bi-polar disorder, actually it’s just me allowing my childish human weaknesses to be at odds with my spiritual maturity.

Yes, this is the essence...the human (flesh) weaknesses and the spirit...always warring. Amen Meema.

[radar]

In the New Testament, the Stong's concordance 3107 is makarios: blessed, happy. I heard that a few days ago. I had always thought that it meant God prosper you and keep you in peace. I now know it means much more than that.

Blessed describes a believer in enviable ("fortunate") position from receiving God's provisions (favor) – which (literally) extend ("make long, large") His grace (benefits). This happens with receiving (obeying) the Lord's inbirthings of faith.

That brought mind the prayer of Jabez.

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (9) Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, "Because I bore him with pain." (10) Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" And God granted him what he requested.

Before the blessing, pain. I have been under the chastisement of The Lord for a while now. That triggered a deep depression with periods of uncontrollable mainia. I had to go back and find where I went wrong with God, and the spiritual warfare was very intense, more than I could remember in past years. I changed doctors, had my mood stabilizing drugs changed to bring my Bipolar 1 under control, and the racing, intruding thoughts slowly receded. I was then I was able to hear the voice of God when I went hiding in His word. I was broken in spirit. But throughout that pain was birthed a true blessing. I had the joy of my salvation restored. I found my rest in God, and He fought the spiritual battles for me. I had submitted to God, resisted the devil, and he has fled, but only for a season.

I learned that when you are on the mount of transfiguration, you have to go back into the valley of decision. That is where the battle is fought, deciding to obey God with a full heart. Obedience brings victory, and victory is life. I had be led by the spirit into the desert to test what faith I had.  When things went beyond what I thought I could bear, God, who is Faithful, added to me the battle fought faith. I had come to the end of myself as I lay sobbing on my bed, completely broken. Now my intimacy with God has been restored. I have a battle tested faith, forged in the furnace of affliction. Like King David, I can also say it was good to be afflicted. That faith has allowed me to go beyond what could do before in gaining ground for the Kingdom of God within me.

So before the blessing there has to be pain, the pain of daily denying myself, taking up my cross, and following Jesus. But as the Lord Jesus was in pain and sorrow in Gethsemane, He still had His joy set before Him knowing the promised blessing of obedience. To me that is the secret life hidden with Jesus, Joy admist the sorrow. I had been asking God how could this be possible. I had to be taken into the desert place to learn by experience to understand what joy admist sorrow is. I am glad that the scriptures did not specify what Paul's thorn in the flesh was. I now see that Jesus had His thorns, and each one of us has a thorn to keep us humbly obedient to the Master.

I had always wondered about what Jabez meant by God enlarging his borders. Personally, it means to me to enlarge my faith in order to receive an even greater blessing.

I know most of you all know this, but it made me go looking into what God has been showing me these past few months. By digging into the Word this morning, the things I have written here have now become as clear and pure as a diamond which reflects perfect light. Now there is a jewel for my crown to lay at the feet of Jesus. You never know when you communicate an idea, how it might impact one life for God's eternal glory.

[Candice]

In the New Testament, the Stong's concordance 3107 is makarios: blessed, happy. I heard that a few days ago. I had always thought that it meant God prosper you and keep you in peace. I now know it means much more than that.

Blessed describes a believer in enviable ("fortunate") position from receiving God's provisions (favor) – which (literally) extend ("make long, large") His grace (benefits). This happens with receiving (obeying) the Lord's inbirthings of faith.

That brought mind the prayer of Jabez.

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (9) Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, "Because I bore him with pain." (10) Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" And God granted him what he requested.

Before the blessing, pain. I have been under the chastisement of The Lord for a while now. That triggered a deep depression with periods of uncontrollable mainia. I had to go back and find where I went wrong with God, and the spiritual warfare was very intense, more than I could remember in past years. I changed doctors, had my mood stabilizing drugs changed to bring my Bipolar 1 under control, and the racing, intruding thoughts slowly receded. I was then I was able to hear the voice of God when I went hiding in His word. I was broken in spirit. But throughout that pain was birthed a true blessing. I had the joy of my salvation restored. I found my rest in God, and He fought the spiritual battles for me. I had submitted to God, resisted the devil, and he has fled, but only for a season.

I learned that when you are on the mount of transfiguration, you have to go back into the valley of decision. That is where the battle is fought, deciding to obey God with a full heart. Obedience brings victory, and victory is life. I had be led by the spirit into the desert to test what faith I had.  When things went beyond what I thought I could bear, God, who is Faithful, added to me the battle fought faith. I had come to the end of myself as I lay sobbing on my bed, completely broken. Now my intimacy with God has been restored. I have a battle tested faith, forged in the furnace of affliction. Like King David, I can also say it was good to be afflicted. That faith has allowed me to go beyond what could do before in gaining ground for the Kingdom of God within me.

So before the blessing there has to be pain, the pain of daily denying myself, taking up my cross, and following Jesus. But as the Lord Jesus was in pain and sorrow in Gethsemane, He still had His joy set before Him knowing the promised blessing of obedience. To me that is the secret life hidden with Jesus, Joy admist the sorrow. I had been asking God how could this be possible. I had to be taken into the desert place to learn by experience to understand what joy admist sorrow is. I am glad that the scriptures did not specify what Paul's thorn in the flesh was. I now see that Jesus had His thorns, and each one of us has a thorn to keep us humbly obedient to the Master.

I had always wondered about what Jabez meant by God enlarging his borders. Personally, it means to me to enlarge my faith in order to receive an even greater blessing.

I know most of you all know this, but it made me go looking into what God has been showing me these past few months. By digging into the Word this morning, the things I have written here have now become as clear and pure as a diamond which reflects perfect light. Now there is a jewel for my crown to lay at the feet of Jesus. You never know when you communicate an idea, how it might impact one life for God's eternal glory.

Radar - I'm glad you're back on the forum.  I'm sorry you had to go through mood disorder problems so severe. But, then Amen that you are healed and enlared in faith!.