July 19th, 2023
Questions, Answers & Prayer:
Can you define divine joy?
Divine joy is an inner peace of mind that flows into Your heart when you’re doing your best to love God with your whole heart.
Define natural happiness?
Natural happy feelings that flow when things are going well in your external circumstances.
God’s not against external things, wealth, or happiness?
True! Here’s the difficulty: Seek happiness, first, & all of these things are now controlling you.
“…no other gods before Me.”
Why’s such happiness illusory?
You can’t control things you don’t have the power to control.
Seeking, first, to be happy tries to over-control circumstances:
1) To avoid loss, hurt, pain & sorrow. 2) Do things to feel happy directly or instantly.
It’s not humanly possible to do either. There’s no life without suffering & happy feelings can’t be created directly or instantly?
As it’s not humanly possible to jump 100 feet high in the air.
Are you saying it’s impossible to feel unhappy due to bad circumstances & then to turn the sorrow into divine joy?
There’s all the difference in the world between changing feelings “directly,” which can’t be done, & changing feelings, “indirectly,” which is a choice.
Feelings change indirectly how?
When what you believe & do changes; feelings will change.
How can you control the indirect change of feelings?
You can control whether you choose to rejoice “in the Lord,”even when you’re unhappy.
You’re choosing to rejoice in the strength of Jesus living within.
Seeking, first, happiness looks to self & to human strength which will fail apart from God.
If you ask for strength to: patiently endure, “rejoice in the Lord,” persist & don’t give up, your sorrow will be turned to joy.
“Father, this is the day You have made. I rejoice & I’m glad in it. I choose to delight in You, Lord. You gently turn my sorrow to joy
(Ps. 118:24;144:15; Phil. 4:4,8; Proverbs 15:13,30; John 16:20; Zeph 3:17;Neh 8:10;Isaiah 51:11; James 1:2; 1 John 5:4; Eph 6:10; 5:18-19; 2 Cor 5:7; Prov 17:22; Rom 14:17; Ex. 20:3) Amen.”