Thursday, 25th May 2023
Bible Reading: Philippians 4:11-13
Memory Verse: You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 (NKJV)
One dictionary describes the word ‘misearable’ to mean a person who is wretchedly unhappy or uncomfortable. It is a pitiable state of distress or unhappiness. With Global economic meltdown, many people are becoming more miserable and unhappy. There are bills to be settled, mouths to be fed, fees to be paid, projects to be finished, aged parents to be cared for, etc. Sometimes, it might just be too overwhelming resulting in stress, indignation, mental fatigue, and ultimately depression. Hear me beloved: Only the living can share a testimony. If you don’t want to end up early in the grave, or become hypertensive or become stressed out, you must guard your happiness with all diligence.
How?
1. Renew your faith daily in God: If the devil can launch a successful attack on your faith, he has succeeded in killing your joy. Hold on to God. This is one reason you must study your Bible for yourself daily and fill your heart with words of faith.
2. Hope in God: See the end from the beginning. Fill your heart with the mental picture of your expected end. With the eyes of your spirit and the eyes of the mind, see yourself walk again, live the best of life, blessed with needed financial resources, etc. Proverbs 23:18 (NASB), “Certainly there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off.”
3. Comfort yourself with the testimony of others: There many who have passed through similar situation, and God brought them out of the dunghill until they sat with the princes of the earth.
4. Join a support group: This is one reason why there is a need to belong to a house fellowship. Never fight the battle of loneliness, unhappiness, overt stress all alone.
5. Render a helping hand: This may sound odd but it is the law of life. Do you want to be happy? Look for someone and do something to make such a person happy. Happiness is transferable. We are creatures of change.
6. Shut your eyes to your unhappy circumstances: As the children of Israel in the wilderness, only those who didn’t focus on their circumstances, but rather looked up unto the brazen serpent erected by Moses lived. Look unto God and not your situations. He is the author and finisher of your faith.
7. Pray for grace to pull through: There is a grace to pull through very challenging situations in your life. Don’t rely only on your own understanding. It is the Spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing. The arm of flesh will always fail. Pray for grace.
Quote: Happiness is a choice. No matter what you are going through, with God, you can come through.
Prophetic Decree: Receive the joy of the Lord that passes understanding, in Jesus name.
Prayer Focus
1. Sing the song, “I have got joy like a river, Joy like a river, You like a river in my soul” (2ce).
2. I refuse to see my circumstances because my hope is in the Lord, in Jesus name.
3. Joy killers, within an around me, die, in Jesus name.
4. Open my eyes O Lord to the great and wonderful life you have for me beyond my present unpleasant situation.
5. I receive grace to press hard for a change of situation. I will not be discouraged. I shall not faint. I shall not grow weary. My strength is renewed, in Jesus name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Chronicles 23-25