Formula of Life

[dreadnought]

I am always trying to find a “formula of life” so that I can easily find, and hold onto, happiness. Each one I come up with is always “the formula to end all formulas,” yet no formula ever seems to work for long.

My latest:
1. Walk with the Lord.
2. Obey the Lord.
3. Understand that I am safe.
4. Enjoy the glory the Lord heaps on those who are obedient to his commandments.

 

[Winken]

1. Confess Jesus as Savior.
2. Walk on the Path he grants.
3. Rejoice in His eternal embrace.
4. Enjoy the glory that He heaps upon you as you share Him with others.

 

[BobRyan]

I am always trying to find a “formula of life” so that I can easily find, and hold onto, happiness. Each one I come up with is always “the formula to end all formulas,” yet no formula ever seems to work for long.

My latest:
1. Walk with the Lord.
2. Obey the Lord.
3. Understand that I am safe.
4. Enjoy the glory the Lord heaps on those who are obedient to his commandments.

Nice list.

1. Be born again - by first accepting the Gospel - so then New Creation
2. Pray that the Spirit fills you - "by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh" Romans 8
3. Choose to obey - and rely on God the Holy Spirit to enable it... by staying in the Word and in prayer
4. Offer up daily sacrifice of praise.
5. Ask God to open doors of witness to you - to share the Gospel with others.

 

[com7fy8]

yet no formula ever seems to work for long.

I understand that there can be two basic reasons why a formula does not work for a person.

First . . . a person possibly is trying to do what he or she thinks the Bible means, but the person has not gotten started with Jesus, in the first place. Possibly, the person copy-catted what others told him or her to do, but God did not really change the person.

Second . . . we all need character correction so we become more and more stable and consistent and growing all the more in how God's love has us living and loving > Hebrews 12:4-11 < therefore, all of us can still fail, more or less . . . even though our formulas are scripturally correct.

 

[dreadnought]

I understand that there can be two basic reasons why a formula does not work for a person.

First . . . a person possibly is trying to do what he or she thinks the Bible means, but the person has not gotten started with Jesus, in the first place. Possibly, the person copy-catted what others told him or her to do, but God did not really change the person.

Second . . . we all need character correction so we become more and more stable and consistent and growing all the more in how God's love has us living and loving > Hebrews 12:4-11 < therefore, all of us can still fail, more or less . . . even though our formulas are scripturally correct.

I don't think I am copy-catting - I have difficulty finding people who agree with my belief that repentance is key to carrying out the Lord's will. I would agree completely with the first part of your second explanation - we are evolving.

 

[Doug Melven]

Find out who you are in Christ.
1 Peter 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Then spend time in His Presence.
Psalm 16:11 In the presence of the LORD is fulness of joy.

Don't make it more complicated than necessary.

 

[com7fy8]

I have difficulty finding people who agree with my belief that repentance is key to carrying out the Lord's will.

In order to get started with Jesus, a person needs to repent of living one's own life. Then we need to repent of wrong things which we still can do and have in us.

We need how our Heavenly Father corrects us > Hebrews 12:4-11 < this correction does not only stop a few wrong behaviors, but He corrects our character so we become loving in nature and discover how this has us sharing with God, submitting to how He rules us in His peace, while we learn how to relate in love for each and every person . . . ready to share as family with others who are children of God, and having hope for anyone else

 

[dreadnought]

Find out who you are in Christ.
1 Peter 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Then spend time in His Presence.
Psalm 16:11 In the presence of the LORD is fulness of joy.

Don't make it more complicated than necessary.

Yes, I think it's helpful to keep it simple - easy to remember.

 

[Bible2+]

dreadnought said in post #1:

I am always trying to find a “formula of life” so that I can easily find, and hold onto, happiness.

In order to be truly happy, people must have a real relationship with God (Psalms 16:11). And the only way to have a real relationship with God is by being a Christian (John 14:6).

If people haven't become Christians yet, all they need to do in order to become Christians is believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, and the human/divine Son of God (John 20:31, John 3:36; 1 John 2:23), and that He suffered and died on the Cross for our sins, and rose physically from the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Luke 24:39,46-47, Matthew 20:19, Matthew 26:28).

After people become Christians, in order to help develop and keep up their relationship with God, they should pray to Him every day, such as with The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), praising and worshipping Him (Revelation 4:11), confessing their sins to Him (1 John 1:9), asking Him for what they need today (Luke 11:3), and thanking Him for everything which He has given them (Philippians 4:6). And throughout the day, they should immediately bring to Him in prayer anything which they become worried about at any time (Philippians 4:6-7).

They should also fellowship with other Christians every day (Hebrews 3:13, Hebrews 10:25), at least in some fashion (Matthew 18:20), such as on this forum, being exhorted by them, and exhorting them in turn (Hebrews 3:13).

They also need to examine themselves in order to make sure that they are truly in the Christian faith (2 Corinthians 13:5, Proverbs 28:26, Proverbs 14:12). The way to do this is to read every word of the Bible (Hebrews 4:12, Matthew 4:4), and see if they accept everything it teaches as having came from God (John 8:47; 2 Timothy 3:16). For just as true Christian faith will initially come from reading (or hearing) what the Bible teaches (Romans 10:17; 2 Timothy 3:15), so people can know that they are remaining in the true Christian faith, if they continue to believe that everything the Bible teaches came from God (John 8:31b; 2 Timothy 4:2-4; 1 Timothy 4:1, Mark 8:35-38).

In order to have any real relationship with Jesus, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), most importantly people must believe the right things about Jesus (John 14:6-7): that He is God the Word made flesh (John 1:1,14), that He is the Christ (1 John 5:1; 1 John 2:22), and that He is the only begotten (only born) Son of God (John 3:16,36; 1 John 2:23), meaning that He is the only person ever born without any human father (Luke 1:34-35). And people must believe that Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life (Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21), and so He could suffer and die on the Cross for our sins, and rise from the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). He rose, and will remain forever, in an immortal flesh and bones human body (Luke 24:39; 2 John 1:7), as Christians' eternally-human high priest/mediator (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 2:16-17, Hebrews 7:24-26).

Once people come into faith in Jesus Christ, they must obey Him, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, by repenting from their sins, and getting water-immersion (burial) baptized into Jesus (Acts 2:38, Romans 6:3-5, Galatians 3:27). And they must partake of the divine flesh and blood of the bread and wine of Communion (John 6:53, Matthew 26:26-28; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 11:27-30). And they should get hands laid on them to receive Holy Spirit baptism (Acts 8:17), and one or more of the Holy Spirit's wonderful Spiritual gifts (Acts 19:6; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10). Then, washed from their sins by water baptism (Acts 22:16), and empowered by the Holy Spirit within them (Acts 1:8, Ephesians 3:16), they must each and every day, for the rest of their lives, deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23; 2 Corinthians 5:15), by continuing in the faith to the end (Hebrews 3:6,12,14, Hebrews 6:4-8, John 15:6; 2 Timothy 2:12), by repenting from every sin which they commit (Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 Corinthians 9:27, Luke 12:45-46), and by doing to the end the particular spiritual works which He has given them as individuals to do (Mark 13:34, Romans 12:6-8, Titus 3:8).

But if they as Christians wrongly employ their free will to refuse to do these things, then they can't expect to have any continued real relationship with Jesus Christ, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. For a continued real relationship with them requires that people not only continue to believe in them, but also continue to obey them (John 15:10, John 14:21,23). Faith without works is dead (James 2:20), and can't ultimately save people from hell (James 2:14-26, Romans 2:6-8, Matthew 7:21, Hebrews 5:9).

 

[dreadnought]

In order to be truly happy, people must have a real relationship with God (Psalms 16:11). And the only way to have a real relationship with God is by being a Christian (John 14:6).

If people haven't become Christians yet, all they need to do in order to become Christians is believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, and the human/divine Son of God (John 20:31, John 3:36; 1 John 2:23), and that He suffered and died on the Cross for our sins, and rose physically from the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Luke 24:39,46-47, Matthew 20:19, Matthew 26:28).

After people become Christians, in order to help develop and keep up their relationship with God, they should pray to Him every day, such as with The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), praising and worshipping Him (Revelation 4:11), confessing their sins to Him (1 John 1:9), asking Him for what they need today (Luke 11:3), and thanking Him for everything which He has given them (Philippians 4:6). And throughout the day, they should immediately bring to Him in prayer anything which they become worried about at any time (Philippians 4:6-7).

They should also fellowship with other Christians every day (Hebrews 3:13, Hebrews 10:25), at least in some fashion (Matthew 18:20), such as on this forum, being exhorted by them, and exhorting them in turn (Hebrews 3:13).

They also need to examine themselves in order to make sure that they are truly in the Christian faith (2 Corinthians 13:5, Proverbs 28:26, Proverbs 14:12). The way to do this is to read every word of the Bible (Hebrews 4:12, Matthew 4:4), and see if they accept everything it teaches as having came from God (John 8:47; 2 Timothy 3:16). For just as true Christian faith will initially come from reading (or hearing) what the Bible teaches (Romans 10:17; 2 Timothy 3:15), so people can know that they are remaining in the true Christian faith, if they continue to believe that everything the Bible teaches came from God (John 8:31b; 2 Timothy 4:2-4; 1 Timothy 4:1, Mark 8:35-38).

In order to have any real relationship with Jesus, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), most importantly people must believe the right things about Jesus (John 14:6-7): that He is God the Word made flesh (John 1:1,14), that He is the Christ (1 John 5:1; 1 John 2:22), and that He is the only begotten (only born) Son of God (John 3:16,36; 1 John 2:23), meaning that He is the only person ever born without any human father (Luke 1:34-35). And people must believe that Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life (Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21), and so He could suffer and die on the Cross for our sins, and rise from the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). He rose, and will remain forever, in an immortal flesh and bones human body (Luke 24:39; 2 John 1:7), as Christians' eternally-human high priest/mediator (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 2:16-17, Hebrews 7:24-26).

Once people come into faith in Jesus Christ, they must obey Him, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, by repenting from their sins, and getting water-immersion (burial) baptized into Jesus (Acts 2:38, Romans 6:3-5, Galatians 3:27). And they must partake of the divine flesh and blood of the bread and wine of Communion (John 6:53, Matthew 26:26-28; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 11:27-30). And they should get hands laid on them to receive Holy Spirit baptism (Acts 8:17), and one or more of the Holy Spirit's wonderful Spiritual gifts (Acts 19:6; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10). Then, washed from their sins by water baptism (Acts 22:16), and empowered by the Holy Spirit within them (Acts 1:8, Ephesians 3:16), they must each and every day, for the rest of their lives, deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23; 2 Corinthians 5:15), by continuing in the faith to the end (Hebrews 3:6,12,14, Hebrews 6:4-8, John 15:6; 2 Timothy 2:12), by repenting from every sin which they commit (Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 Corinthians 9:27, Luke 12:45-46), and by doing to the end the particular spiritual works which He has given them as individuals to do (Mark 13:34, Romans 12:6-8, Titus 3:8).

But if they as Christians wrongly employ their free will to refuse to do these things, then they can't expect to have any continued real relationship with Jesus Christ, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. For a continued real relationship with them requires that people not only continue to believe in them, but also continue to obey them (John 15:10, John 14:21,23). Faith without works is dead (James 2:20), and can't ultimately save people from hell (James 2:14-26, Romans 2:6-8, Matthew 7:21, Hebrews 5:9).

A lot of people consider themselves Christians. I wonder how many of them walk closely with the Lord.

 

[Christie insb]

I am always trying to find a “formula of life” so that I can easily find, and hold onto, happiness. Each one I come up with is always “the formula to end all formulas,” yet no formula ever seems to work for long.

My latest:
1. Walk with the Lord.
2. Obey the Lord.
3. Understand that I am safe.
4. Enjoy the glory the Lord heaps on those who are obedient to his commandments.

This is a thoughtful exercise, although I can understand why you are having trouble narrowing it down to a formula. Life is complicated! Number one on my list is God loves you a shocking amount. And two would be that he loves your neighbor a shocking amount too.

A lot of people consider themselves Christians. I wonder how many of them walk closely with the Lord.

 

[dreadnought]

This is a thoughtful exercise, although I can understand why you are having trouble narrowing it down to a formula. Life is complicated! Number one on my list is God loves you a shocking amount. And two would be that he loves your neighbor a shocking amount too.

Well said.

 

[fhansen]

I am always trying to find a “formula of life” so that I can easily find, and hold onto, happiness. Each one I come up with is always “the formula to end all formulas,” yet no formula ever seems to work for long.

My latest:
1. Walk with the Lord.
2. Obey the Lord.
3. Understand that I am safe.
4. Enjoy the glory the Lord heaps on those who are obedient to his commandments.

Two things that have helped me:
1. God's in control, no matter what, even in the midst of the storm
2. Perfect happiness, the promised land, utopia, is not to be found on planet earth. We can begin to approach it here, but will be faced with many sufferings regardless. We were made for something greater and God's purpose is our happiness as well, beyond anything we can imagine. Knowing all that makes this life more bearable when desires are unfulfilled.

 

[revanneosl]

1. Refuse to desire anything that any person has the power to give you.
2. Refuse to value anything that any person has the power to take from you.

 

[dreadnought]

Two things that have helped me:
1. God's in control, no matter what, even in the midst of the storm
2. Perfect happiness, the promised land, utopia, is not to be found on planet earth. We can begin to approach it here, but will be faced with many sufferings regardless. We were made for something greater and God's purpose is our happiness as well, beyond anything we can imagine. Knowing all that makes this life more bearable when desires are unfulfilled.

But I don't think our happiness is dependent on where we are. We can be happy here if we walk with the Lord, and if we go astray after we've passed on to the resurrection, we will be unhappy. Wouldn't you agree?

 

[dreadnought]

1. Refuse to desire anything that any person has the power to give you.
2. Refuse to value anything that any person has the power to take from you.

Interesting. I would guess your formula is incomplete.

 

[revanneosl]

Yeah, me too. I originally came up with it for friends who were unbelievers. It's pretty Buddhist really. But a good start nonetheless.

 

[dreadnought]

Yeah, me too. I originally came up with it for friends who were unbelievers. It's pretty Buddhist really. But a good start nonetheless.

If a "formula of life" exists, I would hope it was simple, easy to remember.

 

[fhansen]

But I don't think our happiness is dependent on where we are. We can be happy here if we walk with the Lord, and if we go astray after we've passed on to the resurrection, we will be unhappy. Wouldn't you agree?

Well, yes except that I believe our happiness is directly related to our proximity to God-and we don't fully know or are fully known in this life. Anyway, that proximity-His "immediate presence" as it's been called- is what makes heaven eternally, incomparably, inexhaustibly happy. In fact, a lesson of the New Covenant is that Jesus' kingdom is not of this earth. I don't mean to be totally other-worldly; peace and joy start now with God. I only mean to say that our ability to be happy here is actually increased by not expecting or demanding that it be complete now. We were designed for happiness; that's why we often keep looking for it in the wrong places. But patience helps here too.

 

[dreadnought]

Well, yes except that I believe our happiness is directly related to our proximity to God-and we don't fully know or are fully known in this life. Anyway, that proximity-His "immediate presence" as it's been called- is what makes heaven eternally, incomparably, inexhaustibly happy. In fact, a lesson of the New Covenant is that Jesus' kingdom is not of this earth. I don't mean to be totally other-worldly; peace and joy start now with God. I only mean to say that our ability to be happy here is actually increased by not expecting or demanding that it be complete now. We were designed for happiness; that's why we often keep looking for it in the wrong places. But patience helps here too.

I agree that happiness depends on our being close to the Lord, but I believe also we need to obey his will. I think they are two separate things. I can walk with him and talk with him, but that doesn't mean I'm obeying him.