HAPPINESS: EXPERIENCING HIS JOY
Happiness can be defined as a feeling of spiritual contentment that
will carry you through the triumphs, pitfalls, or even heartaches of
life with calm stability, serenity, peace of mind, and tranquility
(Matt. 5:3–12). Happiness may or may not be related to the happenings in
your life. In many instances, the outward happenings in a life affect
our attitudes. However, happiness is also an act of the will . We all have things “happen” in our lives that give us reason to be unhappy, but we have the power through Christ to make our own response to those happenings. Happiness is a potential positive choice.
Jesus gives some characteristics that promote a response of happiness
(meekness, righteousness, merciful, peacemakers; Matt. 5:8–11). A
believer must concentrate not on doing, but on BEING and LIVING! Total
commitment to the Lord will result in a believer’s instinctive
Christlike response to various happenings as they occur. You must
appropriate the tools God has given (His Word and His indwelling Spirit)
in order to pursue happiness (Prov. 3:13;
29:18). When a believer’s faith and conduct are balanced, happiness
will always result. Happiness is enjoying everything the Lord has given
you and not fretting about the things that have been taken away or
withheld (Matt. 6:33, 34). Happiness is trusting in God’s sovereignty
and omniscience. You must believe that in every “happening” God will
work for your good (Rom. 8:28). Happiness comes from daily obedience and faith in the Lord.
The Woman’s Study Bible.
Yes I always now think that we choose our emotions.
ReplyDeleteBut I recognize a problem I couldnt see before, when I was depressed all the time.
I feel sadness before my period. I have bad thoughts I take captive, but I dont like that at all.......
Menstruation can cause our hormones to go up and down and that can make us "feel" sad. Again we need to remember that the Lord says not to trust our feelings. Our thoughts also affect those hormones and we can change how we feel by changing our thoughts. it's work, and can be difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature. I always ask the Lord to point out any thoughts I need to take captive though, because I know that there are most likely times that I miss them and probably miss a lot without realizing it. So once I've gotten used to taking one area of thoughts captive and replacing them, the Lord often points out another area for me to work on.
ReplyDelete