“In a recent global survey of people’s greatest wants, happiness was number one, ahead of love and health, with money coming fourth – …..” (ALIVE magazine , Issue 8-2011, page 57, The article is called APPRECIATE THE MOMENT by Lindsey Dawson)
1. Happiness
When I am thinking about happiness, THE BEATITUDES are coming to my mind. The eight Beatitudes are starting with “‘God blesses…..'” in most translations of the Bible. (NLT and NIV)
But read THE BEATITUDES in THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE and you will find that it says in Matthew 5:3
“Blessed –
happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous
[that is, with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favour and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions] –
“Try to set aside cares and worries that haven’t been dealt with during the day. Imagine putting them into an envelope to be opened another time.”
Sleeping well is a problem for many people. The above is one of the tips to get a good night in the little booklet called AGEING WELL from the Ministy of Health.
What does the Bible, the Word of the Living God, say about cares, worries and anxieties?
The Bible says that the Lord Jesus Christ cares for us. And not only that. In First Peter 5:7 we are told what to do with our anxieties. We are told to cast them on the Lord!
Please read here the words of the Lord in Matthew 6:25 until the end of the chapter.
Read also the promise in Psalm 55:22. It says there that the Lord will sustain us and that “he will never let the righteous fall.” But we must cast our cares on Him.
Trust in the Lord, and He cares for you. (Nahum 1:7)
In Philippians 4:6 we are told what not to do and what to do. We are told not to be anxious. We are told to pray to God.
Put your cares, worries and anxieties into the hand of the LIVING GOD!
In the publication called COFFEE NEWS (Vol 127:4) I am reading the quote by Peyton C. March:
“There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life – happiness, freedom, and peace of mind – are always attained by giving them to someone else.”
Are you craving for hapiness? Are you craving for freedom? Are you craving for peace of mind?
I think we can put a string around those three things and deal with them together.
When a person accepts the Lord Jesus Christ or rather when the Lord Jesus Christ accepts a person, the sinner may only be conscious of happiness or freedom from sin or peace. But I have learned that in fact 38 things are happening when a person comes out of darkness into light, from death into life.
Do you want happiness? Do you want freedom? Do you want peace of mind?
The Lord Jesus Christ says in Matthew 11:28:
“‘COME TO ME , ALL YOU WHO ARE WEARY AND BURDENED, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.'”
“HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS,” says the most beautiful New Zealand Childcare Association advertisement.
It says also: “At NZCA we understand that many of our students want to study for a degree close to home and stay working in their own communities.” That’s why “The Bachelor of Teaching (ECE) is offered in 14 nationwide teaching bases, from Kaitaia to Dunedin,…”
“Home is where the heart is.”
MY heart is in heaven. Heaven is my home! Hallelujah!
Heaven has not always been my home. I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ when I was eighteen years of age.
Since then :
I have heavenly citizenship. Philippians 3:20
I possess eternal Life. John 10:28
My name is recorded in heaven. Luke 10:20
I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Ephesians 2:6
