Blessed Assurance: Part Two- Happy and Blest

I in my Savior am happy and blest
  I think that I could sometimes characterize myself as 'always joyful, never happy'.  I know this sounds pretty ridiculous, but I make a distinction between joy and happiness.  Joy is the constant hope we have in the promises and character of Christ.  Happiness is the enjoyment we have in our current circumstances. I realized recently that though I may be thankful for Christ and the security that I have in Him, I hardly ever allow Him to make me happy. Sure, I let my friends make me happy, or the kids that I take care of, or the music I listen to, even baking makes me happy.  But I never just enjoyed Christ and his every day blessings, receiving happiness from these things also.  I would equate this to a scenario where I get married and let my husband know how very thankful I am for him and how he he was the best option for matrimony and such, but I absolutely never ever smiled or laughed. Besides being super creepy and awkward, I wouldn't make for a very good wife.  Yeah, maybe I would be thankful, but he certainly wouldn't feel enjoyed or delighted in.

Psalm 37:4 tells us to delight ourselves in the Lord! That's God talking! He desires for us to delight in Him!
Philippians 4:4 and Romans 12:12 both tell us to be rejoicing always!
Romans 8:28 says that God causes all things to come together for good for those who seek Him! We are blessed! Let's act like it!

God's ultimate purpose is to bring praise and worship to HIS name. That is what we are here for.  I think that Joy and Thanksgiving are absolutely crucial in this.  And though circumstantial happiness is not as necessary, it is still important.  Let's take a minute to smile while we think of Jesus, or find other ways to give Him affection in our day to day lives.  Maybe you already do this, and that is wonderful!  Affection is not my strong suit so I am still learning! But I am excited! God blesses us all the time, so let's live it up!

One more thing, happiness is circumstantial and fleeting so it will not always come naturally and sometimes we will lose it.  God's ultimate goal is not for us to live happy lives; it is for us to strive after Him in worship.  But many times, worship and happiness come hand in hand.  There are other times that we are upset and we just need to go to God and share that with Him.  But here is something many people don't know about feelings, and happiness is certainly a feeling.  We do have some control over them.  Our emotions are going to come from our thoughts and what we are dwelling on.  We have the ability to stir up emotions in ourselves by thinking of Christ. When we dwell on Him in praise even when we don't feel like it, our emotions will eventually catch up.