God Wants You Happy Series

God doesn’t want you happy when it is based on happenings. There’s a deeper gift that God gives us, and that’s a gift of joy and contentment that we can find in the life of the apostle Paul. I want to read you a verse that is fairly well known, Philippians 4:12-13, but before we read it, let me just remind you of the context in which this verse was written. The apostle Paul was writing this from within a prison, okay? He was locked up to another Roman soldier, and don’t forget this, he was waiting a decision that would decide whether he would be executed or whether he would live. So in other words, life wasn’t great right now for him. He was in prison and waiting to hear, was he going to be executed, and here’s what he wrote. He said, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.” In other words, “I’ve been on both sides of it.” “I have learned the,” what? Would you say it out loud? All of our campuses, “I have learned,” to what? “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” He said, “I can do,” how much? “I can do everything.” Say it one more time. “I can do everything through,” whom? “Through Christ who gives me strength.” Now, listen to what he is saying. “I’ve had it all, and I’ve lost it all. I’ve been healthy; I’ve been hurting. I’ve been blessed, and I’ve been cursed, but I have a secret that most people miss. I have a joy and a divine contentedness that is not based on happenings. It is based on something internal that no one can see, and that is that I can do everything. I can make it. I can make it through this. I can make it while being locked up in prison. I can make it if they kill me.” How? “I can do it all through Christ who gives me strength. There is something internal that sustains me. It is not the external happenings,” God wants you more than happy. He wants you to have a joy no matter what is going on on the outside.

Understand that we all want to believe that God wants you happy. Not always. He doesn’t want you happy when it causes you to sin. He doesn’t want you happy when it’s based on circumstances. And number three, if you are taking notes, God doesn’t want you happy as much as God wants you blessed. God doesn’t want you happy as much as Him wants you blessed. I love the Greek New Testament word that is translated blessed is the word makarios, and it goes like this. It goes dun ta da dun dun da tun ta ta da ta. Dun dun da dun ta ta. Dun dun tu dun ta, duuuuun ta … how it goes. Anyway, but, okay. It doesn’t go like that. What this word means is, it means supremely blessed. This word, very literally, it means more than happy. Do you understand that? If you are pursuing happiness, you may be very likely insulting the heart of God. Why are you shooting so low? Uh ha? Why are you settling for something that doesn’t last? Why are you pursuing something that is not even possible all of the time? It was Jesus who said, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart.” He said, “I have overcome the world.” God doesn’t want you happy as much as He wants you blessed.