if you're going to be happy you have to be happy on purpose because there will be people betrayals delays all kinds of things that can cause you to live sour you have to put your foot down and say that's it i'm not letting other people steal my joy i'm not letting what's not working out cause me to be sour not letting this problem at work keep me from enjoying my life i will rejoice i will be glad i will live this day happy god bless you it's great to be with you today and i hope
you'll stay connected with us during the week through our daily podcast our youtube channel social media we'll keep you encouraged and inspired i'd like to start with something funny and i heard about this elderly couple they were sitting on a swing celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary feeling romantic the husband said to his wife honey our love is tried and true she had difficulty hearing and asked him to repeat it he said it louder i said our love is tried and true she still couldn't hear him said what would you speak up frustrated he shouted i
said our love is tried and true she said well fine i'm sick of you too okay y'all nothing inspiring but here we go ready this is my bible i am what it says i am i have what it says i have i can do what it says i can do today i will be taught the word of god i boldly confess my mind is alert my heart is receptive i will never be the same in jesus name god bless you i want to talk to you today about choosing to be happy when we make up
in the morning we get to choose how we're going to live that day we can choose to live in faith happy expecting favor or we can choose to live discouraged defeated focused on our problems happiness doesn't automatically happen it's a choice we have to make you can't wait to see what kind of day it's going to be you have to decide what kind of day it's going to be first thing in the morning you need to make up your mind i'm going to live this day happy i'm going to see the good i'm going to
be grateful i'm going to love my family i'm going to enjoy this day if you don't decide how you're going to live circumstances will decide for you you'll see every problem how it's not going to work out you'll think i don't feel like going to work this traffic's so bad i never get any good breaks when you dwell on those thoughts you may not realize it but you're choosing to live discouraged you're choosing to have a lousy day the scripture says joy comes in the morning every morning god sends you a fresh supply of joy
you can dismiss it think that's not for me i have too much coming against me or you can receive it and say things may not be perfect in my life but i know god's on the throne he's ordering my steps his plans for me are for good so i'm going to enjoy this day this is what david did he had all kinds of opposition armies trying to stop him people slandering him but in the middle of all that he said this is the day the lord has made i will rejoice and be glad in it
his circumstances said he should be discouraged afraid lonely if he was reporting on the situation he would have said this is the day the lord has made and i'm really discouraged i've got a lot of problems that would have been the truth but he wasn't reporting he was making a declaration of faith he was saying despite the opposition i will be happy despite people lying about me i will be happy despite my family not believing in me i'm going to live this day happy if you're going to be happy you have to be happy on
purpose because there will be people betrayals delays all kinds of things that can cause you to live sour you have to put your foot down and say that's it i'm not letting other people steal my joy i'm not letting what's not working out caused me to be sour not letting this problem at work keep me from enjoying my life i will rejoice i will be glad i will live this day happy see your will is more powerful than how you feel david didn't feel happy when he wrote this but he declared i will rejoice don't
wait to feel happy before you decide to be happy you have to decide first then the happiness will come now like david you may feel discouraged you may have a good reason things were not fair you went through a loss nothing looks promising in your life the enemy would love for you to never get your hopes up to think that's the way it's always going to be just drag through the day sour no you have to kick your will into gear i will be happy i will enjoy this day i will focus on the goodness
of god your will is going to override how you feel now mark of maturity is when you can be happy even when things aren't going your way that your joy is not based on your circumstances well joel when the pandemic is over i'll get my joy back when i finish school i'll be happy again when the texans win i'll be in a good mood they'd be waiting a while when i get married when i get married i'll be happy or if i wasn't married i'd be happy if you're putting off your happiness there will always
be some reason to not be happy why don't you make a decision that you're going to be happy today not when it clears up not when your boss changes not when you lose 20 pounds not when you get the promotion this is the day the lord has made i've learned if you don't get happy where you are you probably won't get to where you want to be well i can't stand this job i don't like working at this place try a different approach god i'm happy that i have a job help me to not let
these people steal my joy if you'll have a good attitude where you are that's a seed that god will use to change things but if you're sour at that job and god gave you a better job when someone does you wrong there you'll be sour at that place too you have to get happy where you are may not be in my dream house yet but i'm happy in this apartment not marriage yet but i'm happy being single this health issue hasn't resolved yet but god i'm going to be happy while you're changing things you control
your own happiness it's not up to anyone else you're as happy as you want to be i played basketball with a young man and he was always in a good mood so friendly and upbeat one day after the game i asked if he wanted to go get something to eat he said no i have to go up to the clinic i'm taking chemotherapy he'd been fighting cancer for three years i was so surprised i couldn't tell anything was wrong i said i'm so sorry to hear that he said don't feel sorry for me life is
good i'm blessed i have a beautiful wife a new son i'm grateful to be alive he could have been depressed thinking why me this is not fair sitting around in self-pity instead he made the choice to be happy where he was i asked him how he had such a great attitude he said when i wake up in the morning i ask myself do you want to live depressed or do you want to live happy i choose to live happy i wonder how much more we would enjoy our lives if we would do like him and
start choosing to be happy we can't get away from negative circumstances i can't tell you that having faith will keep you from trouble bad breaks people that do you wrong but i can tell you those things don't have to take your joy you're in control of your happiness david said in psalm 144 happy are the people whose god is the lord and sometimes we look at circumstances and there's nothing to be happy about fighting cancer going through a pandemic having trouble at work nothing good about that no the reason we can be happy is our
god is on the throne he controls the universe he's our provider he's our healer he's our vindicator he's our waymaker we can be happy that the most powerful force in the universe is on our side no person can stop him no bad break no sickness no addiction all the forces of darkness cannot stop what god has ordained for you it's significant that david started off by saying this is the day the lord has made he could have just said i'm going to be glad today i'm going to rejoice he was saying god i recognize that
you not only made this day but you've allowed me to be alive you chose me before i could choose you you formed me in my mother's womb now i'm not going to waste this day living negative focused on my problems dwelling on my hurts i'm going to live this day to the full you and i are not here by accident god could have chosen anyone to be alive today there are billions of people that have lived and died but god hand-picked you to be here at this time he woke you up this morning he gave
you strength to get out of bed he's crowned you with favor he put seeds of greatness in you he calls you more than a conqueror the head and not the tail one way we honor god is by living happy he didn't create you to drag through the day overcome by problems discouraged by disappointments this day is a gift from god we should feel a responsibility to live it in faith happy joyful good-natured once this day is over we can never get it back we don't have time to waste another minute being negative discouraged focused on
what didn't work out complaining over who did us wrong get your joy back well joel i'd be happier but i've been through hurts people have done me wrong i say this respectfully everyone's been hurt i've had disappointments bad breaks loss we all have you can use that as an excuse and let it sour the rest of your life or you can say father thank you for entrusting me with another day i'm not going to take it for granted i recognize it's a day that you have made i'm going to choose to be happy i'm going
to choose to enjoy this day i'm going to live it to the full when you have that kind of attitude god will give you beauty for ashes he'll make up for the wrongs a few months ago there were some birds right outside our bedroom window five o'clock in the morning they started chirping and chirping so loudly that they woke me up this went on for over an hour all this singing different sounds melodies one would chirp real loud there'd be a pause then another would answer at times they'd all chirp together sounded like a symphony
i would have enjoyed it but it was five o'clock in the morning i wanted to sleep the next morning five o'clock the same thing again and again one morning it was raining thundering i thought there's no way those birds are gonna sing today no way they're gonna be happy cold rainy lightning five o'clock right on cue here came the birds louder than ever i wanted to say to those birds why are you so happy don't you know we're in a pandemic haven't you read the news there are problems in the world the price of gas
is high the supply chain is messed up how can you be singing what if you don't get your worms tomorrow it's interesting how god put something in those birds to start the day off singing they're saying in effect life is good we're happy we're going to enjoy this day what would happen if we would have that song of praise every morning like those birds not be moved by our circumstances but sing in the dark when things aren't going our way sing in the rain when circumstances are against us sing in the cold when we don't
feel like it we could be discouraged complaining instead we're making this choice that we're going to live this day happy one reason those birds are so happy is they haven't watched the news they haven't read the papers they're not on social media nobody has told them they're supposed to be worried afraid upset they believe that their heavenly father is in control they've seen him take care of them in the past they believe he'll take care of them in the future if you're going to live happier you may have to tune some things out you can't
take in negative all the time and stay in faith the scripture says think on things that are of a good report things that are positive hopeful our thinking has a lot to do with our happiness the apostle paul went through a lot of bad breaks second corinthians 11 it lists some of these difficulties five times he was beaten with rods once he was stoned three times he had been shipwrecked he was bitten by a poisonous snake he faced angry mobs fought off bandits survived flooded rivers he'd gone without food proper clothing sleepless nights nobody had
more come against them than paul after being in prison for two years he was brought before king agrippa for his trial when he stood up to give his defense the first thing he said was king agrippa i think myself happy you would think he would see himself as a victim be bitter angry have a chip on his shoulder but he shows us a secret of how to overcome all that he said i think myself happy you can think yourself depressed you can think yourself into a bad mood think yourself a victim or you can do
like paul and say yes i've had a lot of difficulties i could be sour live discouraged but i'm going to think myself happy as long as you're thinking about your hurts what you didn't get how you were left out you're going to be discouraged why don't you start thinking happy thoughts happy thoughts or i have a bright future something good is going to happen to me my latter days will be better than my former days i'm not saying to deny the negative i'm saying don't dwell on it don't relive what didn't work out don't replay
the loss the disappointment the failure you can't move forward if you're looking back you can't enjoy today if you're focused on yesterday you may have had disappointments things that are not fair you need to do like paul and start thinking yourself happy i get up every morning and tell victoria today is going to be a great day you know what i'm doing thinking myself happy i'm getting my mind going in the right direction it's easy to get up and think yourself sad think yourself into self-pity why did i come down with this illness my friends
are all married why am i still single these people at work are not treating me right this is not fair you're thinking yourself defeated you have to change what you're thinking yes i came down with this illness but father i want to thank you that you're restoring health back unto me that i will live and not die that my best days are still in front of me yes these people at work are not treating me right but i'm not a victim i know i'm a victor god you're my vindicator you said you would always cause
me to triumph happy thoughts are god i'm grateful to be alive i'm excited about my future i believe you're taking me from glory to glory that i haven't seen or imagined the great things you have in store when you think happy thoughts it not only lifts your spirit but that attitude of faith is what allows god to do amazing things after paul gave this great speech to king agrippa he was sent back to prison his prayer wasn't answered you would think now he would surely be discouraged surely he'd be complaining no in prison he wrote
rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice he was telling us even when it doesn't go your way just keep thinking happy thoughts keep giving god praise keep thanking god that he's working keep being grateful when you could be complaining keep thinking victory when you're seeing defeat happiness is not dependent on what's going on around you it's dependent on what's going on in you what kind of thoughts are you thinking i'll never get well i've had this too long you're thinking yourself discouraged i can't break this addiction it's been in my family for
years you're thinking yourself limited i can't be happy joel i've been through a lot of loss a lot of heartache that's not how your story ends here's a key you have to give yourself permission to be happy sometimes we bought into the lie that we're not supposed to be happy we've been through too much we've made too many mistakes if we're happy people may not understand can i tell you you're supposed to be happy god created you to enjoy your life to laugh to smile happiness starts on the inside give god something to work with
every morning you need to say to yourself i'm happy i'm grateful i'm blessed you can't receive happiness if you're thinking sadness joy is coming every morning some people have been bypassing it year after year because of their thoughts you will live happier if you'll start thinking happier while paul was in prison he wrote in first thessalonians be happy in the faith glad-hearted continually he was telling us again think happy thoughts be glad-hearted he didn't say anything about our circumstances be happy if people treat you good be happy if your plans work out be happy if
you don't have any disappointments he was saying get in a habit of thinking happy thoughts don't let the negative circumstances talk you out of living happy i was driving down the road the other day and i was in a hurry to get to an appointment there was a car in front of me that was driving 20 miles an hour in a 45 mile an hour zone it was a one-lane street you couldn't pass it wasn't a school zone the driver wasn't elderly i couldn't understand why they wouldn't go at that point i had to make
up my mind that i was going to think happy thoughts because the thoughts that were coming were not happy my first thoughts would blow the horn call them a name get out of my way i was about to think myself upset but i did what i'm asking you to do god i know you're in control you're ordering my steps i thank you that it's a good day i'm healthy i'm blessed i have a bright future i just switched over to happy thoughts not long after that they turned i honked my horn and went on but
in the scripture habakkuk i didn't honk and the scripture habakkuk put it this way though the fig tree does not blossom though there be no fruit on the vine though the olive crops fell and there are no cattles in the stall everything was going wrong for habakkuk business was down his crops weren't producing his income was limited if he would have stopped there he'd been depressed discouraged drugged through the day but he went on to say yet will i rejoice in the lord i will joy in the god of my salvation he was saying even
when i'm not seeing increase even when things aren't going my way slow drivers delays the medical report hasn't improved i'm not going to fall apart i'm still going to think happy thoughts i'm still going to thank god that i'm alive that i have purpose that good things are in store are you thinking yourself sad thinking yourself discouraged thinking yourself a victim it's time to start thinking happy thoughts a lady i know is very joyful she always has a smile and every time i'm around her she's so good-natured and so fun and she's had difficulties in
life hasn't been easy but she's learned this secret to think happy thoughts she was at a store and she went up to the counter to purchase something the men at the register asked how she was doing she said with a big smile very enthusiastically i'm blessed and just grateful to be alive he looked at her and said do you go to lakewood she said i do he said i should have known it everyone that comes in here like you goes to lakewood i believe we should be the happiest people on earth there should be a
difference between us and people that don't honor god when you go to work everyone may be complaining discouraged talking defeat don't fall into that trap stay full of joy keep a smile on your face keep thinking happy thoughts this world needs more happy people we need more joy in the world there's so much sadness gloom and despair if we're not careful we'll let what's happening around us get in us that's why every morning you have to choose to be happy not i feel but i will rejoice i will enjoy this day i will be happy
when you think about the best day of your life what day would it be the day you were married the day your child was born the day you found out you were cancer-free the day you moved into that new house those are all great days we look back with fond memories but do you know what i believe the best day of your life is today god has given us another day to be alive another day to enjoy your family another day to see the sunrise another day of possibilities to pursue your dreams to go after
your goals but sometimes we let the pressures of life the traffic what somebody said a challenge at work to keep us from enjoying this day we think it's just another ordinary day but there's no such thing as an ordinary day every day is a gift from god the scripture says our life is like a vapor we're here for a minute and then we're gone 100 years from now we'll all be finished if we really understood how valuable each day is i think we would live it happier it's easier to take it for granted just get
up go through the motions deal with the challenges and the day is gone but if you'll have a new perspective and start seeing every day as your best day then you won't let the little things upset you you'll take time to enjoy the people god's given you to love you'll stop by and say hello to that neighbor that's lonely you'll think more happy thoughts you'll live more grateful you'll make the most of each day a pastor friend of mine went to visit a 35 year old mother in the hospital she had cancer and wasn't supposed
to make it through the night walked in took her hand and told her that he loved her that he was praying for her she smiled ever so warmly and said in a faint voice pastor this is the best day of my life he seemed kind of puzzled thinking that doesn't seem like a very good day for you at all and she laid there very frail no hair she said you see i didn't know if i was going to wake up this morning now god has blessed me with another day to see my children another day
to spend with my family she went on to say if i make it through today tonight i'm going to look out the window and look at the stars i'm going to enjoy the moonlight you may have some difficulties things you could be sour about things that can take your joy but if you'll keep it in the right perspective recognizing that this day is a gift from god that really it's the best day of your life then it's much easier to live it happy to not be sidetracked by all the worries what didn't work out who
cut you off when paul came to the end of his life he said i want to finish my course with joy we're all going to go to be with the lord at some point i don't want to go discouraged feeling like a victim look what i've been through why did this happen let's go full of joy seeing each day as the best day getting up each morning and choosing to be happy saying with david it's not how i feel i will rejoice i will be glad like paul let's get in the habit of thinking happy
thoughts if you'll do this i believe and declare you're going to live happier you're going to enjoy your life more forces that have held you back are being broken right now god is about to release you into new levels of joy favor freedom fulfillment you will finish your course with joy in jesus name and if you believe it can you say amen i'd like to give you an opportunity to make jesus the lord of your life would you pray with me just say lord jesus i repent of my sins come into my heart i make
you my lord and savior if you prayed that simple prayer we believe you got born again we'd love to send you some free information on your new walk with the lord you can just text the number on the screen or go to the website i hope you'll get into a good bible-based church and keep god first place thanks for being a part of our youtube channel we post new videos right here every week to keep you inspired and encouraged when you subscribe to the channel it helps to get the message of hope around the world
if you've been impacted by our ministry let us know in the comments below and share this page with a friend we also want to take a moment and thank you for all you do to support the ministry with your donations and offerings you help keep the ministry going when you give i believe god will open the windows of heaven you'll see his favor in new ways in your life i know our best days are still up in front of us we love you and we'll see you next time
