True happiness! Did you know that God made your brain in such a way that you can have this true happiness every day? 

Many believers are taught that God wants us to be holy but not happy and that joy and happiness are fundamentally different. We’ve even been left with the impression that God himself isn’t happpy. Yet nothing could be further from the truth!

So says Christian author Randy Alcorn in his book Happiness.

If you’d like true happiness, consider these three parts of getting from where you’re at to where God wants you to be.

  1. Your thoughts make THE difference.
  2. Creating your own on-going happiness.
  3. Take the 3-minute focus challenge.

As you think healthy, godly thoughts, these new positive thoughts rewire your brain. Over time as they are repeated, your new thoughts become automatic positive thoughts that replace your old automatic negative thoughts. As your thoughts change so do your emotions. By the way, my popular “Transform Your Thoughts e-Journal” helps you learn to change your thoughts resulting in improved, godly emotions. Get it here.

Your thoughts make THE difference

Late last century, scientists began proving what God knew all along:

What you think every moment of every day deeply affects you.

Your mind is designed to control the body. Not the other way around.

While you and I cannot control the circumstances of life, we can control our response.

Neuroscientific research underscores the truth of this verse:

As a man thinks, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7

Crazy as it may sound, your thought life may contribute to 75 to 98 percent of mental, physical, and behavioral illness, says Dr. Caroline Leaf, a specialist in traumatic brain injuries and learning disabilities, and author of several books including Switch on Your Brain (Baker Books, 2013). Our bodies and minds are always interacting. One affects the other.

Our Great Physician has a remedy. Call it the 4:8 prescription, if you like.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble,

whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable

—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

True, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy — this is where God wants your focus. And isn’t God alone truly praiseworthy?

Creating On-Going Happiness

As you think about “such things,” you experience a peace and contentment, which the average Joanne describes as happiness.  In his letter to his like-minded Christians in Philippi, the apostle Paul said, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” He encouraged them to follow his path to peace and contentment.

More great news: You can observe your thoughts and make decisions about them! Yes, you can become aware of what you’re thinking and choose healthy thoughts leading to happiness. As one friend likes to say: Respond thoughtfully, don’t react emotionally.

Make no mistake. A happy life of contentment isn’t comfort. Choosing Jesus first is outrageously uncomfortable yet always the pathway to true happiness.

CHALLENGE: 3-Minute Thought Focus

Important to a happy life of contentment in Christ is tuning in to your negative self-talk so you can identify it as decrepit. Then you change it to positive inner thoughts. Here are three steps

First do this:

  1. Find a quiet place to sit, and take two or three deep breaths. Feel your body begin to relax.
  2. For a minute or two minutes, tune in to your self-talk. What are you saying to yourself? Jot down a few of your thoughts.

Now do this:

  1. Ask yourself, Is my thought negative?
  2. Then ask, What positive 4:8 thought can replace this negative thought? Write it down.

EXAMPLE:

Negative thought: “My boss is a jerk. She says I can’t do anything right!”

4:8 thought: “I choose to work hard even though my boss is inconsiderate. I know God is with me and gives me wisdom in handling this work relationship, so I trust him.”

During the rest of the day:

Every time you have the negative job thought, replace it with the positive 4:8 thought.

Happy on Repeat!

As you replace your negative thought with the new positive, God-honoring thought, your brain makes new neural pathways, researchers have found. Just think–by improving the environment of your inner thought life, you’ll experience peace, contentment, and, yes, happiness.

If you need help with this, let me know. I’ve been counseling women and families by the effective, comforting promises and truth of the Bible since 2008 by online video worldwide.

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