How To Live Unhappy! Or happy! Capt. Kelly Durant 9-1-13
1.John 10:9-11 I am
the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go
out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I
have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
2. It may sound crazy to you, but there are people in parts
of the world who will argue that giraffes do not exist. Did a grandparent ever
tell you crazy stories about ignorant people? If this person lives geographically
landlocked, or in a poor village, they have never seen one and if they have
never been to the zoo or they have no trust in outsiders who tell things contrary to their ideas, then to
claim there is an animal like a giraffe is just too crazy for them.
For many people, a person with a new concept, a new discovery
(remember Galileo?) becomes stupid in their view and discredited in their
society for claiming something they never heard of really exists! How many of
you here have seen a real live giraffe anyway? If you haven’t you do trust they
exist because others have seen them, or because they are in books or film,
right?
How many of you know people that are not happy in life? Usually
they have never seen, or refuse to admit happy people exist. These are the
non-believers, the people who do not believe in giraffes because they have not
seen one.
Discontentment is the curse on humanity in all cultures in
all classes today! The people of the world deny that God’s love exists and
that
happiness is real! The unbelievers have never experienced the overflowing of the
joy of the Holy Spirit! Just because they are miserable doesn’t mean the rest
of us are, but they really think that! In their darkened minds they cannot
understand it and happiness is foolish to them! Everyone is a hypocrite to be
happy in their mind because they fake happiness!
3. All people everywhere are always limited to judge others
and their selves only by their own experiences and knowledge in life, and most
of the time this is very narrow scope! Most people copy others, and if the norm
in a culture is always to complain, always to blame others, and always to be
unhappy about something, then for them that is just life. And if you are happy with
the little that you have and different, then you are taken as a traitor to
their culture, race, or social class!
Think of it this way, when I say the word light, what comes
to mind? The sun, light bulbs, and the colors we see from sight, right? Actually this part of light is only a tiny
fraction of what light really is! There exists infrared light, x-rays, and a
whole spectrum of light that we do not perceive unless we study about it and
observe the effects of it. This is the same with our minds and hearts, our
fallen human brains exist in a darkened deceived state unless we bring clarity
to them with Jesus teachings and way of life about being free from evil deeds
and being happy.
Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of
darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the
knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
4. Today my point is actually how to live happy, not unhappy!
To be unhappy just comes by default in our human nature! Jesus came to save us
from those who steal and kill and Satan knows how to steal and kill your dreams
and happiness in your mind and heart whether it happens in a body experience
from outside sources or not.
Jesus solution is to give life abundantly, and how you
interpret abundant, or life to the full determines whether you will experience
it or not! What is Jesus’ life to the full? I cannot explain it but when I take time to
pray and read God’s word I feel like I am alive and full of life and I am
rejuvenated. Feeling good about life does not come from some momentary stimulation
and excitement: life comes from life and the source of that is God’s Holy
Spirit!
John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for
nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
Basically, people who live in, for, and with Jesus moment by moment are people
full of life and happiness and peace despite the conditions around them.
5. If you want to know how people full of life with Jesus can
have a supernaturally strange happiness and peace consider the martyrs. It is
recorded that while waiting to be fed to the lions or burned at the stake, they
would sing hymns. So impacting was their love for each other, and joy to die
for God to the Romans that they actually lost their appetite to see them be
killed in these horrific manners! Remember Rome converted but it took almost
300 years!
In The Salvation Army we don’t drink, but most of you have at
some time or another had a few, or you have been around relatives that have had
and they are loud and laughing and appear happy, right? That is how the
disciples were described to be when they were full of the Holy Spirit!
Acts 2: 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up
his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at
Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: 15 For these are
not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
I wish all of us could be as carefree as the drunken!
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone before coming to church would be all prayed
up, full of God’s word, and spirit to the point that each of us would appear
happy as if from strong drink? I long for the day that all believers will live
happy, and shine their smile and laughter to everyone around them instead of
the typical serious dry faces that wants it known they have an issue over
something.
6. The formula for unhappiness is the same as it has always
been, the focusing on the getting of ones’ own needs met above the priority of taking
in and living of God’s words that give life. James 4:1-3 4 From whence come
wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war
in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and
cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss,
that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
God answers prayer but not for greedy, only the needy!
Unhappy people are discontent because they want more out of
life than what they should have because they compare their lives to the people
of the world. They want the pride of having more money or fame or power than
others, and they are so selfish and lust driven that they do any and all
business and transactions in a self-centered manner trying to fill the void in
their empty souls with some momentary gain or stimulation.
7. Reserved, or introverted people who seek illusive
happiness usually work within systems that permit rewards and promotions but
they often are so competitive they become miserable because someone else in
that corporation or institution got something that they didn’t. In the end, it is a lust or greed for the pride
of recognition that eats at people’s souls for an authoritative position, be it
in a job, sports team, political party, school, or even a church.
Other more extrovert personalities with the adventure gene may
revert to illicit sex or illegal drugs to try and stimulate their way to
happiness. This path never works as it leads to guilt, depression, and
hopelessness. Sad to say, I know this from personal experience! The big lie
from all the glamourized life-styles of the rich and famous is that they are
happier than the rest of us! But the contrary is reality!
When they asked Howard Hughes (the former billionaire a few
decades ago owned American Airlines, Hollywood film companies, and many things
if he was happy with his millions. He
replied, well a million is not worth what it use to be! In other words, the
wealthiest man on the planet who led an extravagant lifestyle like no one had ever
done before him was very unhappy because he wanted more! He actually developed
an obsessive–compulsive disorder and lived as a recluse suffering in pain.
8. So in life everyone pursues happiness, right? It is in fabric
of the American expectation. "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness" is a well-known phrase in the United States Declaration of
Independence. These are "unalienable rights" that all human beings
have been given by their Creator. A true statement, but only walking through
Jesus’ gate will get you there!
The problem with the illusion of happiness is so many people
commit atrocities seeking it disregarding the damage done to those around them.
The imbalance of wealth and poverty today is horrific with multi-billionaires
hoarding their money while 1/3 of the people of the world suffer hunger. So many divorces happen because someone
demanded the ‘right to be happy’ (but they were the problem!). Sexual freedom
for the pursuit of happiness has prompted not just divorces but the spread of
HIV and other STDs to the point that 50% of the populous in some countries in
Africa are affected! Happiness was the
pursuit of power for Hitler, Lenin, Mao, and other dictators who combined killed
well over 100 million people in the past 100 years! The pride of power is extremely
cruel!
The personal pursuit of happiness has no limits to its
deception and damage so it is inherently Satanic as Jesus points out in the
verses of John 10:10. According to the world’s standard, happiness will involve
doing something criminal and illicit such as stealing and killing in order to
get ahead in wealth or power.
9. What do people in power do for their happiness? They mismanage other people’s money for
personal gain (corruption), and they eliminate the competition by character
assassination, (if not by actual murder). Sound like the mafia? It is the
philosophy of life for those without Jesus!
Jesus answer is profound and amazing, the anecdote to this
destructive behavior is the pursuit of Jesus way of life which brings real happiness
and it involves doing the diametrically opposed action, that of loving God and
your neighbor as yourself!
There have been times when I have prayed with someone to
accept Jesus and I have felt so happy that I thought I was drugged, and it was
like a shot of endorphins to the brain, and I just wanted to explode with good
feelings laughter! They other person as well! Have you ever felt so happy that
you have felt your entire body, your chest and brain feel like they going to overflow?
That is the Holy Spirit! Some people get the Holy Spirit bumps (chicken skin)
too!
10. Let’s review what kills our happiness. How does Satan
ensnare with his thievery and murder? 1. Comparing yourself to the wealthy (privileged
class) people of the world. (Some of which have gained wealth by illegitimate
means and exploitation so they are guilty of stealing before God and men) 2.
Desiring more than what you need (Jealous and greedy people cause others to
suffer as they try to get something by abusing you, they are guilty of
coveting) 3. Pursuing destructive and addictive passions (this includes the
bottomless pit of the consumption of drugs, alcohol, illegitimate sex, etc.) 4.
The lust for power (Power usually involves war and maybe murder so the
positions in high places can be available for the a new set of prideful ambitious
ones) 5. Pride: Demanding worship of yourself and demanding your way only (This
leads to many sins being committed to protect a person’s image, and the
manipulation of others with much abuse, humiliation, and cruelty taking place)
Take note that people who commit
grave sins against God and humanity pursuing their own joys and passions suffer
from fear and guilt, whether they will admit it or not. To cover up their immature
actions they destroy others around them. And they destroy their selves as their
guilt leads to paranoia and depression which usually leads to pill or drug
addictions, and then physical illness from bodily abuses takes hold.
11. Don’t let Satan rob your joy!
People who live with demons that have moved in while they keep pushing the
limit of what they will try to obtain some satisfaction in life are fatally
sick! Have you ever walked into a room where a sick person is and then you
start feeling sick as well? This is how Satan spreads his discontentment,
through the deception of others who are embedded with his devices. We as
Christians do not go with the flow, we go against the current, the culture, and
the trend to be full of your own self and self- pity because we have the
victory in Jesus!
Some person not protected by
God’s word who idolizes a star with fame and wealth who goes in and out of
rehab centers, and in and out of prisons, could get the idea that to be cool on
their level , and one has to imitate their depression as well! Like with the
music industry, you’re cool if you self-destruct. Absurd right, but people worship it and imitate
it! Corruption of the soul is a disease that rapidly spreads, just look at most
singers and movie stars who degenerate into pathetic hedonism in just a few
years! We have recently seen a case on this matter!
Don’t let anyone in your family, in
your job, or in your world steal the joy of the Holy Spirit that God wants to
give you day by day! You will have happiness if you live in God’s word, and
obey his words knowing that your reward is in heaven for resisting temptations
and living totally free from the snares and chains of our enemy! A Holy life
lived within the Holy Spirit is a life vibrating with the joy of the Lord and
that is a strength that can even face death and die happy!
No comments:
Post a Comment