Source of Happiness
I’ve tried everything and I’ve experienced a lot of things to be happy: Drugs, alcohol, sex, marriage, parenthood, work, sports, physical appearance, diet, money, cell phones, etc. I’ve even tried church (not Church in the spiritual sense, but “church” in the physical sense).
There are so many other things, people, situations, circumstances and dreams that I have tried to be happy. Too many to list here. Chasing and recounting all these things, people and this world to be “happy” is what I spend too much of my time doing. A never-ending cycle of disappointment.
You feel the same. And that’s the problem. We seek to “feel” from the wrong source - our emotion, which is in our soul.
Source of Happiness
The source of happiness is the Spirit within our spirit. Every human has a spirit. It’s what makes us humans unique. A spirit designed by God to communicate with God. The breath of God. “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7.
Brothers, the breath of life from God is our source. The sooner we men recognize this truth, the sooner we receive life. The more often we receive this breath, the more often we receive this life from God. The more we receive this life from God, the more “happy” we become.
Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23. Everything we seek in life is from the breath of God. The breath of God comes from the Spirit. The Spirit of God is in our spirit. In order to tap into the fruits of the Spirit, we MUST tap into our spirit.
Think of a fire hydrant. Water is always in the hydrant, we just rarely open the hydrant, if ever at all. We go about our days and walk right past the hydrant and probably never think about the water inside it, ready for our use. If we open the hydrant, water gushes out. The city doesn’t turn the hydrant off, we have to turn it on. It’s always available, ready and waiting.
God is the same. His water, His breath of life, is always on. We just shut it off. Then we walk past it most of the time. We rarely open it up. It doesn’t just bust open, but if it does, we typically turn it off again. We have to choose to open the flow. Our motto for WarriorLifeGroup is “Choose God. Forget Not.” We have to choose God.
God gave us free will. That’s no accident. He wants us to choose Him. He wants us to turn Him on and open the valve of our spirit to tap into His Spirit as our supply in life. We have all had an experience of “choosing” God. The moment of your salvation was a moment you chose God by your own free will. That experience was life-giving! You found your home! You touched the very God in your spirit, mingled with His Spirit. What a glorious experience!
So you know the experience of tapping into the life of God. But, we need the experiences of “Forget Not” to become warriors. A warrior of God never forgets:
His source is God, not his self, this world with its people and things
God’s source is always on and never runs out
To tap into God continuously in his own spirit for every circumstance
A warrior is not immune to the battles of life on this earth. It’s actually quite the opposite. A warrior is on the front lines of the battle. You are a leader within the army of God, for His purpose. God is your King. How can a warrior, who is a leader within the battle, not be connected to his King? How can a warrior not choose his King? How can a warrior forget about his King? A warrior like this is not a warrior, but an isolated, defeated man. And trust me brother, this man will get his butt kicked.
How to be Happy
Turn to your spirit and fellowship with God every moment of every day in every situation. Continuous turning is how you walk in spirit. “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16.
Is that easy? Certainly not. But that is the war, right? War is not easy. Your soul and body (flesh) will always try to seek its own desires. The world (people and things) will always try to tell you what “happiness” is.
But we know by experience that when we touch God we are consumed with joy and happiness. It’s an unspeakable joy, full of glory. Guess what, this experience with God is never-ending, it never runs dry. But God did NOT make us men passive creatures. We have to choose Him and not forget.
So no matter what situation and circumstance you face, choose God. When your wife says something, choose God. When your boss or client says something, choose God. When you wake up in the morning and you are tired, sad or sick, choose God.
Brothers, we must focus on how we connect with our spirit. Become a warrior of connecting with your spirit. It’s so simple and it is easy. Pray, call on the Lord, memorize scripture, sing songs, breathe Him in, worship, praise, fellowship with brothers, get into nature. Whatever we do, however we do it, wherever we go…
“Choose God. Forget Not.”
