Ever Wish for Happiness? 

        by Tom Woodard

Do you ever wish for happiness? Many times, I think, we are in situations which appear hopeless and never-ending, and we wish for happiness, or peace, or financial security, or love, or a myriad of other things. But you know what? I’ve found that all of these things exist within us: we have them already, but sometimes just don’t realize it! Happiness, joy, peace, security -  they are all within us! We possess them all, and more, within our spirit and our soul, but we don’t own them as we should. Having them, without owning them, is like having a million dollars in a bank account we are unaware of. We have to recognize the possessions we hold, and among those are things which cannot be taken from us - at least not without our permission. Recognize these things, recognize that you possess them, and then lay hold to them, claim them, and own them.

‘What do I own that cannot be taken away from me?’ you ask. Well, the very things I mentioned: love, happiness, joy, peace, security. We may wish for them, but they are ours already. We merely have to open our spiritual ‘eyes’ to see them, and our heart, to claim them. They are gifted to us from God, but we have to be fully aware of these gifts in order to receive them. A gift not received is of no value to us. We have these gifts with us from the beginning of life. They are a part of us, imparted to us at birth by a loving and Holy Father.

Little children, I believe, are aware of these gifts in their lives. Just watch them, and I believe you will see this in them. They have within them a freedom of spirit, a trust, and love and security are taken for granted. But as we grow older we lose the knowledge of the presence of these gifts of joy, happiness, love, and security in our lives. Things happen to dampen our spirits and to make fragile our trust and our sense of security. We lose sight of these marvelous gifts of God. We go through life, then, wishing for that which is already ours, already within us, but no longer owned by us.
 
But then, as we grow older, reaching the ‘setting Sun’ part of our lives, and grow closer to our Lord, He reveals to us once again that we possess, and own, these gifts. He has revealed these things to me, clearly and without any haze or obscurity, just recently, at the age of sixty, and what a marvelous revelation it is! I see, as a child sees, that I have happiness, joy, love, and security, here and for eternity, all gifted to me by God, within my heart, my soul, my spirit! And you do, too. Perhaps you are just unaware of it. Perhaps you just need to claim your gifts, to receive and own them, and then to open them up and receive the glow that comes from them.

And then, best of all, once we own our precious gifts, we can freely share them with others, as I am doing for you right now, knowing that the more we share them the more we own them. In other words, the more happiness, joy, love, security, etc, we give away, the more we possess! Is this not a great revelation? All we have to do is become fully aware of God’s love for us, and His investment in us through Jesus Christ, and then accept that greatest of all gifts - eternal salvation by the grace of God - and He will, in due time, reveal to us all of these other gifts. Then, if we will possess, open, receive and own them, He will show us endless ways to give them away. And in the process of giving, we will gain more than we had before.

It is like the loaves and fish with which Christ fed the multitude on at least two occasions. He started with little, and when all had been fed and the leftovers gathered up, there was far more food left over than He had when He blessed and began to break it to share it with the hungry people gathered there. Thus it is with these magnificent gifts, once we realize that they are ours, and we invest ourselves with ownership of them.

I invite you, if you have not already done so, to accept the Lord Jesus into your life as your Lord and Savior, confessing your sins and repenting of your wayward life, and then commune with God in prayer, in the study of His Word, and through listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit which will indwell you, so that you can grow in your relationship with Him and He can reveal to you, too, that no matter what your outward circumstances, you possess happiness, joy, love, peace, and so many other wonderful gifts from God the Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ. Once you know that you possess them, you can take ownership of them, and share them freely with all those with whom you come in contact in your daily life. Wow! And best of all, the more you give them away, the more you will have left over! So don’t wish for happiness if you are a Child of God. You’ve already got it!

Furthermore, no one can take these gifts away from you unless you allow them to. Not even Satan himself can take them from you unless you allow him to do so! Only through ignorance of our possession of these marvelous gifts, and failure to claim them and own them, can we be deprived of them. And Satan does work on us to convince us that we do not have them. It is our job to stay close to the Lord, to trust Him with the trust of a little child, and to follow His will for our lives, so that all the wiles of Satan cannot take from us our ownership of happiness, joy, love, and security - both here on earth and for all eternity. 

Own your happiness! Own your joy! Own your love! Own your security! You possess them already; you just need to realize it!

Yours in Christ, Tom Woodard

Copyright January 15th, 2009, by Tom Woodard        

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