How to find True Happiness and Joy in your Life

Hello...I'm sure you are very interested in this topic.  It has been a mystery to all people since the beginning of time.  Well here goes:  the way to true enduring happiness and joy is not what we would naturally think it is.  We cannot find true enduring happiness and joy that lasts apart from God, because it doesn't exist.  Knowing God is what provides us with deep enduring joy that LASTS.  This is not a temporary quick fix of fleeting happiness that comes and goes.  This is the real deal, permanent inner joy, regardless of outer circumstances.

I cried myself to sleep last night because I feel so discouraged right now in my life.  The Christian life is not always living on a mountain top of ecstasy, and that's definitely an understatement.  We have to be realistic and know that we will have trouble in this life. BUT we can have hope no matter what situation we are going through and find joy in any situation and praise God in ALL circumstances.  That takes a change of mind from negativity to positivity.  We need to transform our minds.  This morning I woke up and cried out to God about my tough circumstances, and this is what he showed me: 


A truly, deeply GRATEFUL heart is the ONLY WAY to find true happiness and joy.  True gratitude cannot coexist with negative emotions.  You have probably heard of gratitude and it's great attributes.  What you may not have heard is exactly what you have to be so grateful about.  We can ALWAYS be thankful for one word: five letters, JESUS.  Jesus is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.  Because of Jesus we can be redeemed.  How awesome!  Since I have been saved, God has opened my eyes to the depths of my depravity and need for a Savior.  Until I understood this, I was not able to worship with abandon and the type of gratitude that knows no bounds.  This is the type of gratitude that breaks open the expensive bottle of perfume and pours it out on Jesus' feet.  When you realize his worth you realize there is no price too high to pay for him. You lose all care of what people think.  All you know is you must kiss the feet of your Savior and lavish all your praise on him.


John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the waythe truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." 


No matter how bad our situation is, we can always praise Jesus for what he did for us on the cross.  If we ignore it and remain miserable, it's worse than slapping him in the face. It's making a mockery of what he did for us on the cross. He DIED to give us LIFE, and life more abundantly!  All problems pale in comparison when we begin to understand what he did for us, and the vastness of his love for us.  


Start by crying out to God to help you understand the magnitude of what was done for you on the cross!  The Holy Spirit will help understand more and more, as time goes on. Spiritual things can only be discerned spiritually, and spiritual growth is a process.


Jesus said:

John 10:10
"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."


Do you understand the DEPTH of what was done for you on the cross?  This is the greatest story of sacrificial love ever told, the scope of which is hard to fully imagine.  This is not some fairy tale!  If you fully understood the depth of what was done for you on the cross, you would fall flat on your face at his feet, cry THANK YOU and give him everything!  Your soul was pardoned for eternity by the great depths of his GRACE and MERCY, so you could LIVE forever.  He DIED so you could LIVE.  In order to carry out his divine plan for salvation, God became a man.  He humbled himself as God and creator of all of heaven and earth to come to this earth to be a suffering servant of all.  He sacrificed his own life, taking on the sins of the world.  The burden of the sins of the world were so great, nothing else could cover them but the priceless, precious, holy blood of God himself.  He paid the debt that you owed, a debt so great that you could never begin to pay it, and paid them himself by giving his life.  He took on the unspeakable burden of the sins of the entire world, nailed to a cross of torture and shame to save US!  
We do NOT deserve what was done for us!  Because of our sin, we only deserve eternal separation from a perfect GOD, which is hell.  Being separated from God IS hell.  Being near God is heaven. Wherever he is, it's heaven.  


Oh, the blessed eternal glory and grace of God!
Romans 5:8
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were STILL sinners, Christ died for us."


We didn't deserve it then, we don't deserve it now, and never will!  By his GRACE we are saved!  


If you have any negativity inside of you, you are not living a victorious life that was designed for you to live.  You simply cannot have negativity and joy at the same time. They CANNOT coexist in your mind.  They are at war with each other, so you must choose a side.  You must choose to think either thoughts of life or death.  Negative thoughts bring death and sickness.  


Mark 3:25
"And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand."


Your body is a house.  After being born again it's a temple of God INSIDE OF YOU, which is the Holy Spirit. 


1 Corinthians 6:19-20
"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought aa price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s." 



 Live your life in such a way to glorify God with your body in every action and every attitude, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ.  



2 Corinthians 10:5

"casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,"

Living a victorious life of true happiness and joy is a CHOICE.  Sometimes it's a fight to overcome our natural negative nature, but God gives us every tool we need to fight this fight to renew our minds, including prayer, His Holy Word and the Holy Spirit in us.  We have no time or place for negativity in our lives, including negative people.  Our souls are saved eternally!  We can focus on the eternal more than the present, and we will always have something to look forward to and hope for.  This life is but a vapor.  This life will soon pass away, along with all of it's problems.  What remains is the eternal destination of heaven.  That's our hope!  Keep looking forward to the future, and have faith.  



2 Corinthians 4:18

"while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Let's live for the eternal, and walk by faith, not by sight.  



2 Corinthians 5:7

"For we walk by faith, not by sight."

If you are saved and proclaim the victorious name of Jesus, then LIVE the victorious life he DIED to give you!  Just like there is only ONE way to heaven (Jesus), there is NO WAY I'm letting anything or anyone steal my peace and joy in Jesus Christ!  My salvation is a gift he gave me, and no one can take that away from me, no matter how hard they try.  This gift is available to ALL, so no one take it away from me if they have rejected their own gift.  Run from negative people who try to bring you down and steal your hope and joy!  They only bring death and sickness to every situation.  We want to bring LIGHT to this world and words of LIFE.



Matthew 5:14-16

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

God bless you as you have read this.  May God's joy unspeakable descend upon your spirit and lift you up and strengthen your heart!  God bless you!



1 Peter 2:9

"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;"



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