ENDURING HAPPINESS

My sister emailed me this question today, "If someone were to ask you what your favorite Scripture passage or theme is what would you tell them?"

This was my reply...

I've always loved Ephesians 1 but I'm moving more towards verses that talk of our enjoyment and pleasure in God.

I love Ps. 16:11 - "Thou wilt make known to me the path of life; In Thy presence is fullness of joy; In Thy right hand there are pleasures forever."

God takes great pleasure and is glorified in us finding pleasure in Him.

David also says in Ps. 16:8,9 - "I have set the LORD continually before me;...Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices."

David says in God's presence is fullness of joy...Compare that to what 2 Th. 1:8,9 says about those who do not know God...these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power..."

What an absolutely awesome privilege we have to be one of God's chosen, to delight in Him, to be in His presence, to see the glory of His power.

This is what I'm pondering on these days...God is a deeply happy God, not a frustrated, gloomy, irritable Father who wants to be left alone...He is a Father whose heart is so full of joy that it spills over onto those who thirst for Him.

John Piper in "Desiring God" says, "We should never try to deny or resist our longing to be happy, as though it were a bad impulse. Instead, we should seek to intensify this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction."

"THE DEEPEST AND MOST ENDURING HAPPINESS IS FOUND ONLY IN GOD."