The more we need the Lord the more we will be happy. The less we need the Lord the less we will be happy. We can choose and determine our level of happiness by our need of God. Some people don’t need the Lord as much as others do, so they go about their way in the world feeling all right with just a little bit of Him in their lives. They don’t feel the need to spend as much time as they need to talk to Him and spend time with Him. Some, like myself, need Him a lot. We cannot live without Him. And so we spend a lot of time with Him. Because of this we end up with so much more happiness. We know that our constant communion with Christ shapes our happiness. We know that if we don’t spend enough time with Him, nothing else matters.
Jesus is Happiness. Jesus said, “The thief (Satan) cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” {John 10:10} He also said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” {John 14:27} And, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” {John 8:12}
Jesus said that if we come to Him and learn of Him we will find rest unto our soul. {Matthew 11:28} He’s even the one who gives eternal life. He told His disciples concerning His sheep, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” {John 10:28} With all these wonderful things Jesus offers, life abundantly on this earth, peace the world could never give, being the light of the world, a rest for our souls when we are weary, and eternal life; there is nothing else we can ever need for happiness. The scripture states He supplies all our needs. {Philippians 4:19} So seriously speaking, He is happiness. There is nothing we can ever need in this life that He could not give to us. Indeed, He gives life abundantly, a life that fills our soul and our heart brimming with so much happiness and so much joy.
“For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness.” {Psalm 107:9}
The secret in having this happiness that is so elusive in our world today is in needing Jesus. If we need Him so much we will come to Him, we will spend time with Him. The more we spend time with Him the more we will be happy. If we don’t need Him, well, we will not spend that time with Him. But if we understand our need of Him then we will make the time to commune with Him and to love Him and be with Him. This need we have inside our hearts will cause us to spend the time that’s required to have our emptiness filled by Him. The Bible states without Him we can do nothing. {John 15:5} It is this need that will cause us to come to Him. The truth is we all need Him, but not everyone needs Him enough in their lives to ensure they spend time with Him.
Have you ever heard of people say, “I need chocolates to be happy or I need shoes to be happy?” On and on goes the list of what we think we need to make us happy. Even something as superficial as chocolates and shoes we will search high and low for if we believe these are essential to our happiness. Some people believe their need of money is everything to their happiness and they become obsessed in the pursuit of it. Some pursue their careers. Others lay awake at night wondering when Mr. Right or Mrs. Right will come. For some it’s their children or grandchildren. Regardless of how we define our happiness we all have our needs.
But the search for true happiness lies deeper within our heart and our soul. It’s our need of God. Nothing else can satisfy like Jesus can. Truly, if we understand our need of Him for happiness, we will come to realize that even if we have our significant others, our children, food, clothing, money, our shoes and our chocolates; if our soul is empty, if our soul is hungry, we will continue to be unhappy. If we really understand our need of Jesus for our happiness we will seek after Him. We will seek, and search, and go after Him like there is no tomorrow. We will spend the time that’s needed to fulfill that longing that we feel in our soul. We will look for Him high and low, wherever we believe we can find Him. We will never stop in our search of Him.
Fortunately we don’t need to look far for Jesus. The Bible says that our salvation is near to us, it is in our mouth. {Romans 10:8} All we have to do is open our mouth and talk to Him and invite Him in our lives. God Himself said, “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? Saith the LORD.” {Jeremiah 23:24} If we seek for Him with all of our heart we will find Him. {Jeremiah 29:13} In Proverbs 20:27 it says that, “The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.” So you don’t need to go far to find Him. He is already there wherever you are. All you need to do is talk to Him. The more we talk to Him the more we will have Him. The more we have the Lord the more we will find contentment and peace that the world could never give. He gives happiness. Whenever I am sad and upset about something in my life all I need to do is talk to Him about it. I believe with all my heart that He is my Friend who loves me and hears me. With that assurance in my heart, because I have made my talking to Him a habit in my life, I always find His comfort. His comfort brings me so much peace and rest. His comfort brings joy. The scripture states that He will show us the path of life: in His presence there is fullness of joy and in His right hand there are pleasures forever more. {Psalm 16:11} I have experienced again and again that when I talk to Him, He comes and comforts me. He said that He will come to us. He will comfort us. He said, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”{John 14:18} I have found this to be true again and again when I go to Him and talk to Him.
If you don’t know the Lord today and would like to have Him in your life, all you need to do is to take a moment to invite Him in your life by saying out loud or to yourself within your heart: “Jesus, I’m (state your name). I would like to meet you and have you in my life. I know that You love me because You are God who made me in my mother’s womb and who died for my sins at the cross at Calvary. I ask You to please forgive me for all of my sins and anything I have said or done in this life that was not pleasing before You. Please forgive me. I repent of them and desire to do what is good and pleasing before You from now on. But I ask that You would please help me to do that because I am only human and I make mistakes all the time. I need Your help to be good. I ask that You would please make my heart Your home so that You can teach me how to be like You. I ask that You would please show me how to know You and how to follow You all the days of my life. I would like to live forever and ever with You someday. Kindly please bless me today and give Yourself to me. I also give myself to You. I give You my heart and my soul. I thank You with all of my heart for hearing my prayer today, in Your wonderful name, Jesus Christ, I pray this prayer. Amen. Thank You.” He knows when you are speaking to Him. He knows when you are addressing Him. He even knows that you have been thinking of Him and want to talk to Him. He knows everything about you. Of course, whatever else you feel in your heart that you want to say to Him, feel free to tell Him so. He loves you so much there is nothing you can say wrong to Him especially when your desire is to make Him your God and your Friend.
This need of Jesus is the beginning of your road to happiness in this life. The secret is in always talking to Him and seeking after Him with all your heart and with all of your soul, with everything in you. Oh, this world will still bring you heartaches and disappointments, but with Jesus you can always find comfort. He knows how to work all things out for your good if you come to fall in love with Him and trust Him. {Romans 8:28} When you realize that, you will learn quickly enough that you need Him. Your need of Him will cause you to keep coming to Him by talking to Him. You can also learn about Him and hear Him talk back to you through His word by reading the Bible everyday. He has a wonderful way of talking back to us through His word. Oh, how wonderful you will feel when He responds to your thoughts through His word. It is happiness that cannot equal anything in this life. Eventually the more you come to Him and talk to Him and study about Him, the more He will reveal Himself to you. He will lead you and guide you to all truth. {John 16:13} Your faith for Him will increase more and more. One of these days He will become so real to you that you will end up feeling Him in your soul and in your heart, literally. His Spirit will come inside your soul and will fill you through and through with Himself. This filling of His Spirit is the kind of joy that many Christians experience today. The kind of joy that the Bible states is the “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” {1 Peter 1:8}
This kind of joy that is “unspeakable and full of glory” can be addicting to some Christians. To them a one-time experience is not enough. They must have this all the time. So they make it a priority in their lives to spend time with Jesus Christ, morning, noon, and night. They need Him so much they cannot live without Him. Hence He comes to them. He becomes so real that their joy is full. Jesus loves to come to those that need Him like this, that are dependent on Him like this. Jesus is God in the flesh who is full of love because He is Love. You can imagine Him as a God who is a ball of emotion filled with love. He cannot help Himself when He sees someone who needs Him so much and loves Him so much. He comes to you. He fulfills your heart’s desires and answers your prayers. He satisfies you with His Spirit that you are filled to the brim with Him. You are filled with so much peace and rest you want for nothing else. He comes to you, talks to you, and comforts you. He gives you life abundantly and makes you so happy.
“Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” {1 Peter 1:8}
