{"id":10552,"date":"2015-10-01T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2015-10-01T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=10552"},"modified":"2015-09-24T14:28:10","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T18:28:10","slug":"happiness-is-what-god-wants-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2015\/10\/happiness-is-what-god-wants-for-you.html","title":{"rendered":"Happiness Is What God Wants For You"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Happiness\"<\/a>When you think of God do you imagine Him as happy? Many believers struggle with this idea of divine happiness because they see God through the lens of His anger toward sin. Author, theologian, and founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries, Randy Alcorn, provides believers with biblical truth and insight supporting the fact that God commands happiness and wants believers to be happy in his new book succinctly titled, Happiness<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0The book spends time debunking the myth that enjoying a happy personality is not what God intended for our lives.<\/p>\n

Through the writings of The Holy Scriptures the word \u201cblessed\u201d is used by the Apostle Paul to describe God\u2019s holy demeanor. The Greek word Paul chose in his letter to Timothy is \u201cmakarios\u201d<\/em> meaning \u201cpertaining to being happy.\u201d Alcorn writes, \u201cPaul doesn\u2019t simply talk about the gospel; he refers to the \u2018gospel of the glory of the happy God.\u2019\u201d Furthermore the book says that only in the letters to Timothy is this particular word used in reference to God, clearly showing that Paul is purposely doing something different by shaping God\u2019s personality as makarios<\/em>, happy.<\/p>\n

Sadly it\u2019s common in Christian circles to feel guilty or in some ways less-Christian for radiating this type of inner peace.\u00a0 Alcorn says, \u201cUnfortunately, many believers are taught that God wants us to be holy but not happy, and that joy and happiness are fundamentally different.\u201d The book encourages Christians that getting to know God\u2019s personality will open them up to learning about \u201cthe happy God.\u201d This in no way dismisses the reality that trials, hardship, and suffering are a part of the Christian walk, it just means we should walk in happiness on Earth and not wait until Heaven to experience it. God is happy and He wants us to be happy too!\u00a0 He even uses happiness to attract others to our lives in order to promote the Gospel.<\/p>\n

Alcorn challenges the reader to put meaning to the sometimes empty phrase \u201cspending time with God,\u201d explaining that one of the best things they can do is cultivate a daily God-consciousness.\u00a0 \u00a0Hearing from The Lord with a conscious awareness of His presence in times of prayer, during a meal, or in moments of solitude will\u00a0bring life to the soul and draw us nearer to Him. He also warns against the dangers of misinterpreting God\u2019s delight in His children\u2019s happiness for the false theology of the prosperity gospel saying, \u201cThe false gospel of health and wealth isn\u2019t wrong because it values happiness. It\u2019s wrong because it tries to obtain happiness in secondary things rather than in God, the primary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Happiness<\/em><\/a>\u00a0encourages believers to rise to the call of having true faith in a happy God. It shifts the paradigm from believing that joy is the only proper term for explaining biblical gladness. Accepting God\u2019s happiness means we maintain a constant awareness of His presence and personality. It\u2019s time for the church to stop being inhabited by sermons that suggest that happiness is superficial and sinful.\u00a0 Happiness is not a bad word and the Bible gives permission to\u00a0 enjoy it fully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you think of God do you imagine Him as happy? Many believers struggle with this idea of divine happiness because they see God through the lens of His anger toward sin. Author, theologian, and founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries, Randy Alcorn, provides believers with biblical truth and insight supporting the fact that God commands…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2798,2799],"class_list":["post-10552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-happiness","tag-randy-alcorn"],"yoast_head":"\nHappiness Is What God Wants For You<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Author, theologian, and founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries, Randy Alcorn, provides believers with biblical truth and insight supporting the fact that God commands happiness and wants believers to be happy in his new book succinctly titled, Happiness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2015\/10\/happiness-is-what-god-wants-for-you.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happiness Is What God Wants For You\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Author, theologian, and founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries, Randy Alcorn, provides believers with biblical truth and insight supporting the fact that God commands happiness and wants believers to be happy in his new book succinctly titled, Happiness.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2015\/10\/happiness-is-what-god-wants-for-you.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-01T13:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" 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