Joy & Happiness

January 16, 2014

. . . this philosophical postulate that the end of all being is the happiness of man has been sort of covered over with evangelical terms and Biblical doctrine until God reigns in heaven for the happiness of man, Jesus Christ was incarnate for the happiness of man, all the angels exist for the happiness of man, everything is for the happiness of man! And I submit to you that this is unchristian! Isn’t man happy? Didn’t God intend to make man happy? Yes. But as a by-product and not a prime-product.

– Paris Reidhead –

January 14, 2014

So, then, poor Christian, thou needest not to go pumping up thy poor heart to make it glad. Go to thy Maker, and ask him to give thee a song in the night. Thou art a poor dry well: thou hast heard it said, that when a pump is dry, you must pour water down it first of all, and then you will get some up; and so, Christian, when thou art dry, go to God, ask him to pour some joy down thee, and then you will find them Job’s comforters, after all; but go thou first and foremost to thy Maker, for he is the great composer of songs and teacher of music; he it is who can teach thee how to sing: “God, my Maker, who giveth me songs in the night.”

– Charles Spurgeon –

January 11, 2014

Sweet, sweet grace of God! It was a happy day, spent with saints and sinners. Street meetings tonight brought me into contact with a successful man who has an empty heart. How shall I praise God sufficiently for the inexplicable miracle of divine grace in my soul? And how explain it to others? I have committed this man’s soul to God, and His Word, expecting to write one day in these [journal] pages of his turning to the Lord and finding great peace. You see these words, Lord, and are my Judge as to whether they are in faith.

– Jim Elliot –

December 9, 2013

There is nothing fuller than full, and nothing longer than forever, so you cannot offer me anything better than life with Jesus.

– John Piper –

September 12, 2013

The world looks for happiness through self-assertion. The Christian knows that joy is found in self-abandonment. “If a man will let himself be lost for My sake,” Jesus said, “he will find his true self.”

– Elisabeth Elliot –

September 11, 2013

After grief for sin there should be joy for forgiveness.

– AW Pink –

September 10, 2013

It matters little what form of prayer we adopt or how many words we use. What matters is the faith which lays hold on God, knowing that He knows our needs before we even ask Him. That is what gives Christian prayer its boundless confidence and its joyous certainty.

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer –

September 9, 2013

Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.

– Thomas Aquinas –