Today's faith action verse: cast all your cares on Him

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how to be happy?

How to be happy?

How To Be Happy - Article Previous Article Next Article How To Be HappyBy Andrew Wommack   Related Materials   •  Free MP3 download   •  Online TV broadcast   •  CD album   •  DVD album Everyone longs for happiness, but few possess it. The pursuit of it is universal and timeless. Generations ago, the writers of the United States Declaration of Independence recognized that longing. In it they wrote that every man is endued by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, one of which is the pursuit of happiness. For most people, however, happiness is elusive. To make it even more elusive, many Christians have been told that holiness and happiness just don’t go together. That’s because in the church, there has been an emphasis placed on Jesus as a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” However, that is not the whole story. The same Bible that says Jesus suffered also says He was anointed with the oil of gladness above everyone else and that the joy of the Lord is our strength. “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Heb. 1:9). “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). No joy—no strength. This is one of the reasons we have a lot of weak Christians. So, is true happiness obtainable? And if so, how do we get it? First, let me say there are many scriptures that command us to rejoice and be glad (Ps. 32:11, 40:16, 68:3, 70:4, to list a few). Some specifically command rejoicing in the midst of trouble (Ps. 34:1, Matt. 5:12, and John 16:33). The people of Israel were even punished because they didn’t serve the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart for the abundance of all the things the Lord had done. “Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee” (Deut. 28:47-48). So, if joy was a command and people were punished for not rejoicing, then happiness is something we can control. Otherwise, the Lord would have been unjust in commanding us to do it. Today people think happiness is a result, instead of a choice. They believe that if they didn’t have any problems and if they had an abundance of good things, happiness would be the inevitable result. That’s not true. Happiness isn’t a state of being; it’s a state of mind. A person can be happy when everyone and everything around them is in turmoil. They can be content no matter what the financial or physical conditions might be. True happiness and contentment isn’t dependent upon circumstances. Take Paul as an example.... read on at http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/be_happy download mp3 to listen to the teaching by Andrew Wommack: http://www.awmi.net/extra/audio/1019

re­mark­a­ble hymn : Christ Jesus lived and died for me

Jesus, Your Blood and Righteousness
http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/j/t/jtbloodr.htm  By: Nicolaus L. von Zinzendorf

Jesus, your blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
Mid flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.Bold shall I stand in that great day,
Cleansed and redeemed, no debt to pay;
For by your cross absolved I am
From sin and guilt, from fear and shame.Lord, I believe your precious blood,
Which at the mercy seat of God
Pleads for the captives’ liberty,
Was also shed in love for me.Lord, I believe, were sinners more
Than sands upon the ocean shore,
You have for all a ransom paid,
For all a full atonement made.When from the dust of death I rise
To claim my mansion in the skies,
This then shall be my only plea:
Christ Jesus lived and died for me.Then shall I praise you and adore
Your blessed name forevermore,
Who once, for me and all you made,
An everlasting ransom paid. Words: Nikolaus L. von Zin­zen­dorf, 1739 (Christi Blut und Ge­rech­tig­keit); first pub­lished in the eighth ap­pen­dix to his Das Ge­sang-Buch der Ge­meine in Herrn-Huth.; trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by John Wes­ley, Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems, 1740, alt.
Music: Ger­ma­ny, Sac­red Mel­o­dies, by Will­iam Gar­din­er, 1815 (MI­DI, score).

Christ Jesus lived and died for me.

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

Words: John­son Oat­man, Jr., in Songs for Young Peo­ple, by Ed­win Ex­cell (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: 1897).
Music: Edwin O. Excell (MI­DI, score).
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Refrain

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

Refrain

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

Refrain

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Refrain

Ephesians 1:3-6  (NKJV) Redemption in Christ

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵ having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
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HYMN HISTORY:   Rev. Johnson Oatman, Jr., was one of the important and prolific gospel song writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was born near Medford, New Jersey, on April 21, 1856. As a child he became acquainted with the hymns of the church through the singing talents of his father.
At the age of nineteen Oatman joined the Methodist Church and several years later was granted a license to preach in local Methodist congregations. Though he wrote over 5,000 hymn texts, Oatman was busily engaged throughout his life in a mercantile business and later as an administrator for a large insurance company in New Jersey. Other gospel favorites by Johnson Oatman include “Higher Ground, and “No, Not One!” (http://hishymnhistory.blogspot.com/2012/11/count-your-blessings.html)