How Does Learning Deepen Joy?

How Does Learning Deepen Joy? – “We are not well-educated people until we can respond to reality in healthy, mature, virtuous ways.”

God Calls Us to Find Happiness in Him

God Calls Us to Find Happiness in Him – “As Jeremiah and Jesus wept, we, too, will sometimes weep—and so we should. But if we’re not experiencing happiness in God, then we’re not obeying God’s commands and we’re missing out on the abundant life Jesus came to give us (see John 10:10).”

Can I Still Have Joy in Seasons of Doubt?

Can I Still Have Joy in Seasons of Doubt? – “Doubting is not a sign of no faith; it’s a sign of embattled faith.”

Should Our Joy Depend on Our Circumstances?

Should Our Joy Depend on Our Circumstances? – “Often after I’ve experienced a good night’s sleep and a brisk run, God has felt nearer, my problems smaller, the solutions clearer, and my future brighter.”

Should Our Joy Depend on Our Circumstances?

Should Our Joy Depend on Our Circumstances? – “The gospel is one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves his gospel purposes in me.”

What Makes You Happiest?

What Makes You Happiest? – “Christ died to bring us into fellowship with God because in God’s presence is fullness of joy.”

What does it mean to rejoice always, even with all the evil in the world?

What does it mean to rejoice always, even with all the evil in the world? – “To rejoice always doesn’t mean that we rejoice in the evil. It doesn’t mean that we like suffering, although we rejoice even in suffering. The basic explanation is that we rejoice in all circumstances because we have a reason to rejoice—and that reason is our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I Sing My Way Through Pain: Three Lessons in Resilient Joy

I Sing My Way Through Pain: Three Lessons in Resilient Joy – “When suffering begins to wither my resolve, I stoke my hope by taking several steps.”

Happiness: Good News Worth Sharing

Happiness: Good News Worth Sharing – “If you ask me, ‘Doesn’t the world need to see Christians as happy in order to know the truth of our faith and be drawn to the great Savior?’ my answer is ‘Yes, yes, yes!’ And they need to see that our happiness is the indomitable work of Christ in the midst of our sorrow.”

A Life-Giving Brain Cancer

A Life-Giving Brain Cancer – “I was diagnosed with a tumor in my brain … I’ve never been happier or felt more blessed than I do right now.” This is an excellent read.

 

The Farther We Move from God, the Farther We Move from Happiness

The Farther We Move from God, the Farther We Move from Happiness – “Since God Himself is the happiness that overflows into His creation, every attempt to separate Him from happiness is futile.”

Don’t Let the Culture War Steal Your Joy

Don’t Let the Culture War Steal Your Joy – “There’s a worrisome quality in many of today’s would-be prophets—writers and pundits who foresee only doom for the future of civilization, who seem perpetually distressed by the desecration of the church’s witness (whether by external pressures or internal rot).”

Analyzing Everything to Death and Sucking the Joy Out of Life

Analyzing Everything to Death and Sucking the Joy Out of Life – “If the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, and there are things to be enjoyed therein, let us enjoy them with all the joy that Jesus came to bring us.”

 

The Joy of Advent and Corrective Lenses of Tears

The Joy of Advent and Corrective Lenses of Tears – “Your joy doesn’t eliminate sorrow, distress, and grief before your return; but it does transform them. Our tears become the corrective-lenses through which we see other people’s pain with eyes of empathy and compassion.”

Joy in the Morning

Joy in the Morning – “How do you feel joy in the middle of suffering?”

The Good News of Great Joy

The Good News of Great Joy – “These phrases the Bible uses – new birth, life from death, sight to the blind – all describe the reality that everything from now on will be different as we live life in light of this glorious, good news.”

 

How Can Reading God’s Word Promote Lasting Happiness?

How Can Reading God’s Word Promote Lasting Happiness? – “Our happiness is proportionate to our investment in studying God’s Word. My conversion to Christ didn’t just make me a better person; it made me a happier person.”

Take Joy in the God of Your Salvation

Take Joy in the God of Your Salvation – “Habakkuk 3 is a musical prayer with one simple message: God is fully trustworthy and unlimited in power and is, therefore, our only hope. It’s an example of how “the righteous shall live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4), especially when we don’t understand God’s ways.”

Count it all Joy

Count it all Joy – “It is relatively easy to ‘count it all joy’ when things are going well around us. When God’s will matches our own will for our lives, it is easy to be a Christian and to ‘count it all joy.’ But when those two things don’t add up—when God’s will for our lives and our will for our lives don’t match—that is when things get hard.”

Serve the Lord with Gladness

Serve the Lord with Gladness – “We will be cheerful in even the most mundane tasks when we remember who we are ultimately serving. When we lack joy in service we should check ourselves. Are we truly aiming to please Jesus?”