Joy vs. Happiness
Joy is the product of Contentment. Happiness, on the other hand, is a result of Happenstance.
When something is HAPPENING TO US, we allow our circumstances to get between God and us instead of putting God between us and our circumstances.
Are we living in and for the moment? We can get so in the moment, we lose perspective on the future and the things God has gotten us out of or kept us from.
Sometimes when you hear God answers prayers for others, it can be discouraging, not encouraging. You wonder why God has answered their prayers but not yours. Let me remind you that their answers have rarely happened as quickly or easily as they seem. There is usually a back-story.
I’ve never met a person who didn’t experience some big disappointments on the way to his or her big dream. The hardest thing about praying hard is enduring unanswered prayers. If you don’t guard your heart, unresolved anger toward God can undermine faith. Sometimes your only option is trust because it is the last card in your hand, but it’s the wild card. If you can trust God when the answer is no, you’re likely to give Him praise when the answer is yes.
Offense stirs up anger. Contentment brings peace.
“Blessed is the one who is not offended by me” Luke 7:23
Living an unoffended life is not some Zen-like experience. It’s living a life surrendered in His sovereignty, His mystery, and His love. Jesus promises blessing if we are not offended when He does things for others. And if he does it for them, He might do it for us.
Psalm 84:11 captures the heart of the Heavenly Father. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Offense stirs up anger. Contentment brings peace.
BUT…..Contentment is not Apathy. Apathy is giving up, accepting misery or at the least numbness.
The reason many of us give up too soon is that we feel like we have failed if God doesn’t answer our prayer. That isn’t failure. The only way you can fail is if you stop praying.
We need the patience of a planter, the foresight of a farmer, the mindset of a sower.
We live in a culture that overvalues fifteen minutes of fame and undervalues lifelong faithfulness. Maybe we have it backward. Just as our greatest successes often come on the heels of our greatest failures.
Some of us need to Dream again. Nolan Bushness the creator of the Atari video game system once stated, “everyone who’s ever taken a shower have had an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference. “ God’s grammar says: Never put a comma where God puts a period and never put a period where God puts a comma.
John 16:23-24 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
He isn’t just following us, he is hunting us down. Jesus has wanted your heart and to fulfill your hopes and dreams your whole life. It may not make sense for years…but sometimes God gets in the way to show us the way.
Sonny Hennessy