Things You'll Need:
- A Right Heart Attitude.
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Step 1
HAPPINESS IN BASED ON HAPPENINGS: Did you know that HAPPINESS is based on HAPPENINGS? What am I trying to say? Just think for a moment. Is happiness about vacations, birthdays, Christmas presents, a new car, a new video game, graduation, hitting the lottery, shopping? You fill in the blank. Happiness evokes images of what you can get or what you can do. It's based on feelings. But can money, for example, really buy happiness? I have seen news stories about numerous people who have won large sums of money by hitting the lottery and wishing they never did! Some people shop to find happiness, but what follows are credit card bills they can't pay. All too often HAPPINESS is fleeting and despair usually follows. The highs turn to lows then a new source for happiness is sought out. The cycle can be never ending. How many presents from this past Christmas or your last birthday are already forgotten? Where is that item you bought last year that you just could not live without? How many vacations have you come back from and regretted spending the money for a brief period of happiness. I have!
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Step 2
JOY CAN BE HAD BY ANYONE: The cycle of happiness and despair can be broken. Instead of looking for HAPPINESS to fulfill that inner desire, something else that is lasting needs to be sought. That something else is JOY! Everlasting JOY! JOY can be had by anyone if there is an open heart, and right state of mind. Let's use Hines Ward of the six time Super Bowl Champions Pittsburgh Steelers (Go Steelers!) for example. The next time the Steelers are being broadcast on television watch when the cameras zoom in on him after a play. When he gets brutally beaten into the ground by his counterparts on the football field, Hines will pick himself up, brush the dirt off and pick the grass out of his helmet then... SMILE! He could be upset by some of the punishment he gets, but he just smiles! To me, he is exuding something special... JOY! A no matter what happens type of JOY! That same JOY can be had by anyone, if there is just that right "heartitude".
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Step 3
HAVE HEARTITUDE: What is heartitude? The first time I heard this word is from my former pastor's wife. She is Norwegian and has trouble with her English. She would sometimes run her words together when she spoke. One of those combined words she would regularly use was "heartitude". What she was really trying to say when she said heartitude was that there needs to be a positive outlook, that need to have that right heart attitude. I like her unintentionally coined word and use it often myself. Heartitude might not come right away but with an open heart and peace of mind it can! Shaking off the things of the world and it's expectations is a good start. Quit feeding the flesh and begin feeding the spirit is another. Material thing don't last and you can't take it with you when you depart from this earth. But the things of God live on.
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Step 4
SEEK GOD: When you seek God you can find peace, you can find strength but most of all you find God's forgiveness and everlasting love that brings about an inner peace and JOY. Psalms 95:1 tells us: "O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation." And John 17:13 Jesus tells us: "And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves." Jesus wants us to be joyful... through HIM! If you have Jesus in your heart, you can have joy even in these turbulent times, through sickness, grief, loss of job, etc. If you have that personal relationship, all that you need to know is that there will be everlasting JOY with Christ when we depart this world! Through the good times but even more so through the bad times, we all need that everlasting JOY!
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Step 5
FIND JOY IN ALL SITUATIONS: Today there are a lot of people suffering... physically, mentally, spiritually, and monetary. More than we can imagine. Maybe it's you! Some are hungry, sickly, cold, out of work, homeless or about to be evicted. Again, maybe that's you! Saying you need to find JOY in those situations seems bazaar, but it is really about heartitude. Just read about Paul in the Bible. The books of Acts and Philippians are a good start. The Apostle Paul was nearly beaten and stoned to death on more than one occasion. He had an ongoing affliction. He depended on generosity of others to survive. He was imprisoned more than once. He finally died at the hands of his persecutors. But, you know what? He found JOY through all the suffering even to the end! He saw the big picture! It wasn't about him or the situation he was in. It was about having the right attitude. It was about sharing the JOY of Christ with others. It was about encouraging and reaching out to others, despite his plight, with the love of God. In a way he was PAYING HIS JOY FORWARD! HE found his JOY in helping and being there for others. Some of the most JOYOUS people I know have next to nothing, materially speaking, but are spiritually wealthy. When I was in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, I saw this truth first hand. People lifted their voices to heaven with JOY even though they had nothing physically.
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Step 6
TAKE YOUR FOCUS OFF YOURSELF: I have found myself to be more joyous when I take the focus off my circumstances of unemployment and heath problems and look outward to help those less off than I am. A friend of mine, by the name of Harold, was my Apostle Paul. A man of faith, Harold showed me, personally, how to have that inner JOY. Dying of cancer he showed the JOY of Christ to those around him, even to the end. He didn't ask for pity and he didn't say woe is me. He new his rewards and everlasting JOY were in heaven. His only regret was not having more time to tell others about the saving grace and JOY of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! Think about it, everlasting JOY is better than happiness any day! And remember when the world and satan beats you to the ground lean on God and be like Hines Ward, smile... with JOY!
