Biblical Answers for Happiness
How to Have a Happy Life
Protection from catastrophe is the foundation of having a happy life.
According to Funk and Wagnall’s Standard College Dictionary, happiness
is “The state of quality of being pleased or content.
Good fortune, prosperity, good luck.”
(1963) When we study the
Word of God, we find that a number of areas of our life contribute to our
happiness.
1.
Protection from catastrophe
De 33:29 Happy art thou, O Israel: who is
like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who
is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto
thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.
2.
Prosperity
Ps 128:2
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it
shall be well with thee.
3.
Trust and hope in God for the future
Ps 144:15 Happy is that people, that is in
such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.
146:5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob
for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
4.
Possessing and using wisdom
Pr 3:13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
Pr 3:18
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one
that retaineth her.
5.
Living by God’s principles
Jo 13:17 If ye know these things, happy are
ye if ye do them.
A common belief in this society is that if a person
is successful, they will be happy. This is not necessarily the case.
The world’s system fails in that it can never insure that anyone will be
completely secure or that all their needs will be met in the future.
Most people experience some moments of happiness in their lives, but are
unable to maintain this state for significant periods of time. This is
because they are basing their happiness on the current circumstances of
their lives and circumstances. When they perceive that things are not
going as they wish, their state of happiness vanishes. Because life
will have its tribulations (John 16:33), happiness, to most people, is an
elusive goal that easily slips out of their grasp. However, for those
Christians who are willing to take God at His Word in faith, not only
security, but also a life of continual happiness is possible. Both
security and happiness are essential parts of the abundant life that God has
provided for us. In order to achieve true happiness, we must do our
part to:
1. Trust in God for our protection, avoid pride, tempting God,
presumption, and direct disobedience. These are the requirements
for remaining under His protection.
Ps 91:1
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty. 2
I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him
will I trust. 3
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the
fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
2. Submit to God’s plan for our life. His ways are better.
God has a specific plan for our lives. He created us for this plan and
gave us the talents to accomplish it as we trust and rely on Him. In
order to be happy, we must fit within His perfect will for us.
Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I
think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to
give you an expected end.
Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
3. Trust in His shield of faith.
We must believe that we have absolute protection from evil as long as we
rely on the shield of faith or the presence of God. He always has our
best interests in mind from His standpoint of eternity. He knows the
future outcome of everything. Only those things that are for our
eternal good can pass through that shield of protection. In The
Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, Hannah Whithall Smith (1983)
explains a vision of this protection that helped her understand this
all-important biblical truth.
She thought she was in a perfectly dark place.
A body of light came toward her from a distance, which gradually surrounded
and enveloped her and everything around her. As it approached, a voice
seemed to say, “This is the presence of God. This is the presence of
God.” While surrounded with this presence, all the great and awful
things in life seemed to pass before her—fighting armies, wicked men, raging
beasts, storms and pestilences, sin and suffering of every kind. At
first she shrank back in terror. But she soon saw that the presence of
God so surrounded and enveloped her and each one of these things, that not a
lion could reach out a paw, nor a bullet fly through the air, except the
presence of God moved out of the way to permit it. And she saw that if
so thin a film of this glorious Presence of God were between her and the
most terrible violence not a hair of her head could be ruffled, nor anything
touch her, except the presence divided to let the evil through. Then
all the smaller and annoying things of life passed before her. She
also saw that she was so enveloped in this presence of God that not a cross
look, nor a harsh word, not petty trial of any kind could affect her unless
God’s encircling presence moved out of the way to let it. (p. 134-135)
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of
faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked.
Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about
him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou
hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the
land.
4. Believe that God has met and will
always meet all our needs, including our needs for worth, significance,
security and love. If we do not accept that our worth is based on
God’s love, our significance is based on our adoption as children of God,
our security is complete in Christ, and we will never be separated from
God’s love, we cannot maintain a happy life because part of the concept of
happiness requires that we know our needs have and will always be met.
Without faith that our needs will be met, we will strive to meet those needs
and again become entangled within the circumstances of our success or
failures.
Php 4: 19 But my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by
5. Know that God will work everything,
including our mistakes, for our good. If we meet the criteria of
this critical verse by loving God and submitting to God’s plans for us, we
can believe that everything, even our mistakes and failures, will be used by
God for our good. If we do not believe this, our happiness will be
constantly interrupted by events or the offenses of others that we interpret
as negative. God is so great that even though He will not override the
will of people, He is still able to control the events of our lives to turn
them around for our long-term good.
Ro 8:28 And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose.
6. Open our spiritual eyes to see the
chariots of God. If it is true that absolutely everything that
happens to us will be used by God for our eternal good, then we must see all
the events of our lives as good. In the book A Christian’s Secret
of a Happy Life (1983), the events of our lives are described as the
chariots of God. But just like in the days of Elisha, we need our eyes
to be opened so that we can see them as such. If we see them as
enemies, they will run over us, but if we see them as friends, we can ride
in them to victory over our circumstances.
They do not look like chariots. Instead they look like enemies,
sufferings, trials, defeats, misunderstandings, disappointments,
unkindnesses. They look like misery and wretchedness waiting to roll
over us and crush us into the earth. But if we could see them as they
really are, we would recognize them as chariots of triumph in which we may
ride to those heights of victory for which our souls have been longing and
praying. The difficulty is the visible thing. The chariot of God
is the invisible. …Lord, open our eyes that we may see. …And
when our eyes are opened, we will see in all of the events of life, whether
great or small; whether joyful or sad, a “chariot” for our souls.
Everything that comes to us becomes a chariot the moment we treat it as
such. And on the other hand, even the smallest trials may crush us
into misery or despair if we let them. It does not matter what the
events are, but how we take them. We can either lie down under them
and let them roll over us and crush us, or we can view them as chariots of
God and make them carry us triumphantly onward and upward. (1983, p.
216-217)
2 Ki 6:17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD,
I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of
the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and
chariots of fire round about Elisha.
7. Abide in the vine.
We are always tempted to try to do the things of God in our own flesh.
As we have seen in the previous chapters, this only increases our reliance
on the flesh. We must learn to trust harder, instead of working
harder. This is made very clear in the book of John.
Jo 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can
ye, except ye abide in me.
8. Submit to the care
of the good Shepherd knowing that, “surely goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life…” The 23rd Psalm is a
perfect description of what God’s abundant life is to be like. With an
all-powerful Shepherd such as Christ, how could we not be happy sheep?
Ps 23:1
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside
the still waters. 3 He
restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his
name's sake. 4 Yea, though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for
thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6
Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
for ever.
9.
Mount up on wings of eagles to see life from God’s perspective.
Finally, the key to all of this is to see the events of our lives from the
perspective of God. We need to mount up on the wings of eagles to look
down on the vapor of our life from God’s eternal perspective and see that
everything is good. He has not failed us and He cannot fail us.
Isa 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
How to Have a Happy life
1.
Trust in God for our protection avoiding: pride, tempting
God, presumption and direct disobedience.
2. Submit to God’s plan for our life. His ways are better. Jeremiah 29:11
3. Trust in His shield of faith. Only
those things that are for our
4. Believe that God has and will always meet
all our needs
5. Know that God will work everything—even
our mistakes—for our good. Romans 8:28
6. Open our spiritual eyes to see the
chariots of God. Do not let
7. Abide in the vine. Not work
harder but trust harder. John 15
8. Submit to the care of the good
Shepherd knowing that, “surely
9. Mount up on wings of eagles to see life from God’s perspective. Isaiah 40:31
For videos on this subject select the link below:
1. The Principles of Happiness (Faith Therapy Lesson 6) [Start 41:50]
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