How to Be Happy

Fridays with Susan...

If you were to ask what God is teaching me of late in The School of Prayer, I would have to share with you the following individualized course of study.   

School of Prayer
HOW TO BE HAPPY
Post Grad Cerficate Program

Course Outlines:
1.   FORGIVENESS 101: 
Set yourself free from the prison of unforgiveness. You are really no better than anyone else. Your sin nature is capable of every bit as much evil as anyone else's sin nature.  We have all fallen short of God's glory.  Short of his glory is short of his glory.  A little short is of just as much consequence as a great deal short.  Forgive because whatever has been done to you (just like everything you have done to others) has been fully paid for.  God, the Father exacted the price of full justice for the sin perpetrated against you (and by you) on the back of his own Son.  Isaiah 53 says, "He was pleased to crush him..."   Pleased.  To crush his own son. For what was done to you, and for what was done by you...  Forgive.  It's not that hard when you take an honest look at yourself and acknowledge how much God and others have needed to forgive you.

2.  GRATITUDE 101:  
Be grateful.  In Christ Jesus we are lacking in nothing.  Remember this: "...The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want..."  and tell your heart to get in line with that fact.  Whatever your circumstances, you can choose to focus on what you have, and leave off thinking about what you think you don't have.  No matter how bad things get, my mother used to say, there is always someone worse off than you.  Gratitude is an attitude that frees your heart to sing - even in the rain.  Especially in the rain.  "Rejoice! I will say it again, rejoice!" Phil. 4:4 

3.  TRUST AND OBEY 101: 
Trust the Lord to direct your paths - every minute of every hour; every hour of every day.   "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will direct your paths..."  Prov 3:5,6.  When there's more to do than is humanly possible, if the task is God-sized, then trust that he will guide your steps to accomplish and complete whatever is most important to him.  You can't do it all, but you can do what is pleasing to the Father in this good day, this week, this year.  Trust him to show you which stepping stones to land on to get you safely through the river of pressing needs.  Trust him and just do it.  He will direct your steps and get you where he wants you to be, accomplishing what he wants you to get done. 

4.  DELIVERANCE 101
Claim your deliverance.  "Whom the son has set free is free indeed".  John 8:36  It's done.  It's accomplished.  Don't wait for deliverance to come to you as though it is something that hasn't happened yet or as though it is something you have to 'feel' first in order to be able to act upon.  You can choose the right thing, the righteous thing, right now, in this moment, in this situation, because Christ has set you free to be able to do so.  Deliverance isn't something that happens so much instantaneously, as something that needs to be walked out choice by choice, decision by decision, moment by moment.  Deliverance is something you choose to do.  I'm choosing this because I am delivered.  I'm not doing that because I am delivered.  It's not something you do because you necessarily want to, or because you feel like it right now, but because Christ has set you free to do it.

5.  DYING TO SELF 101: 
Get over yourself.  It's really not about "you".  Drop worrying about what you are or are not getting out of any given situation and/or relationship. Instead pick up on what God has placed you here to give.  Listen for the beating of his heart, and think on what He has brought you here to deliver to the person whose face you're looking into right now...  And then give it with all your heart.  Live for God's pleasure - for the affirmation and approval that comes only from him; and forget about trying to acquire it from others. 

There's no happiness like that which comes from knowing your obedience has brought some tiny little measure of joy to your Father.  Want to be happy in your heart?  Live to please him; his joy will overtake you.  And it's the very best kind - the only kind - of joy to have. 

Comments

Belinda said…
This was such a blessing to me this morning. Thank you Susan!
8:07 AM
Suzanne said…
I agree! It is a very good reminder to keep things in perspective and to realize it really is not about me (I usually forget that part) and there are things for me to do as I am guided in following Christ. Also there are so many resources available and opportunities to serve and blessings along the way. I appreciate this post very much. Thanks Susan!
8:25 AM
Glynis said…
Thanks Belinda, for linking this to FB. This post was the medicine I, too, needed this morning to kick start my day. Susan, those are mighty powerful and thought provoking words for us all. Thanks for making me think and hopefully act according to the will of God! Beautiful.
9:07 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Voyage

Image
Note from Belinda: I read this prayer yesterday and again today--and then I read it to Susan after cell group, when we were having our "second cup" of decaff coffee together. I knew that she'd love it. She has a framed picture on her office wall of a little blond haired girl in a sail boat on a stormy sea. A fatherly sailor,with a weather beaten face; in a gray sou'wester, holds her close, as he capably mans the tiller. This prayer reminds me of that picture and influenced what I wrote earlier today, when I used the metaphor of ebbing waves to describe a lack of consistency and my desire to crash over the sandbar into the peaceful pool on the other side.  ( Susan sent me a link to the painting, which was done by American impressionist Robert Reid in 1888.  It hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in NYC.) Be bless ed by the beauty of this prayer. OH LORD OF THE OCEANS, My little bark sails on a restless sea, Grant that Jesus may sit at the ...
Read more

Samson Beaver and his Family

Image
I first posted this in 2009, a little show and tell about one of my favourite photographs. Back then it hung on a wall, but now it's in my bathroom where I see it every morning! I'd forgotten the history behind the story, researched when I first posted this and thought that current readers might enjoy it--a story from a time when this land was still being discovered, not so very long ago. This photograph was taken by Mary Schaffer; artist, photographer, writer and naturalist, in 1907. It is of a Stoney Indian named Samson Beaver, with his wife Leah and daughter, Frances Louise. I bought the photo on a postcard, on a trip to British Columbia and it hangs framed, on the wall I face when sitting at my laptop. I love it. Don't you just feel as if you could gather Frances Louise up in your arms and cuddle her? I get a deep sense of peace and happiness when I look at this family, sitting in the grass of a long ago fall. They are dressed in their best, beautiful c...
Read more

Ere Zij God--Glory to God in the Highest! A Dutch Carol

Image
By Belinda This beautiful Dutch carol was shared today by a friend of Dutch ancestry, on Facebook. I had never heard it before but absolutely loved it. It moved me deeply, especially at the end after the crowd leaves the church and then breaks into spontaneous singing again around a brazier, with the sound of chiming church bells in the background. Listen to it with headphones or a good speaker to get the full effect of the harmonies. And happy first Sunday in Advent!
Read more