How to Be Happy in and with The Lord

There are a couple of ways we define happy
1 Feeling pleasure or contentment
2 having a sense of confidence or satisfaction with a person, or perhaps a situation

Joy is similar. It means a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.

In Philippians 4:11, Paul said that he had learned to be content in whatever circumstances he found himself. When we are content, we feel safe, we feel that we have what we need, we feel gratitude and joy in our present circumstances.

We’re human, of course, so when we face hard problems, uncertain outcomes, and great loss, our feelings are not often happy and joyful.

There’s an old hymn that says, “trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” There is great truth in that lyric.

In John 15:9–14 (NLT), Jesus said,
“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”

But we might think Love is hard—and it certainly can be—however, it is also what comes naturally to us in Christ.

Some of the traits of God that Holy Sirit produces in us are Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, and Self-control. He tells us in Romans 5:5 that He has poured His Love into our soft warm new hearts.

So, happiness in and with God comes from trusting that He loves us and that all He has said is true, and it comes from allowing His Love to overflow from us to others.

This breeds a settled confidence and godly contentment that causes happiness and joy to well up in us—even when our circumstances are crummy.