Tag Archives: Robert Rogers

Happiness is…

Happiness is fleeting, temporary, and fragile.  Joy continues on – no matter what.

“I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” (John 15:11)

“Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.” (John 16:24)

Happiness happens occasionally to us, but joy is an ongoing condition of our heart that comes from Knowing God through Jesus Christ. Joy can be continuous. It is more a perspective than an emotion.  The joy of Jesus’ Resurrection can infuse our hearts with inextinguishable joy – regardless of circumstance. We do this by “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2)

After my wife and 4 children died in the 2003 Kansas flash flood, many people wondered how I could still have joy on my countenance and in my heart. This is my secret: I kept my eyes on Jesus and my heart full of His Hope of Heaven. It doesn’t diminish or remove the grief, but we can grieve with hope.  Joy RISES ABOVE life’s challenges, regardless of circumstances – as Habakkuk describes:

“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD ! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.” (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

God wants you to ask, receive, and be filled with abundant joy, “so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

Be bold in your prayers. Ask Him today. I know it works. You’ll never regret it.

[KNOW GOD – no regrets] -Robert