My Epiphany...

[NewHope2010]

My Epiphany

I’ve finally discovered what I want out of life - Happiness, Peace, and Joy
Happiness. What is happiness? To me, happiness is living each day of my life on purpose, without fear or regret. That freedom would be happiness to me. To know what I’m here for, to be content with it, to have no fear in doing it, and no regrets for what I’ve done. To know that all that I do is for a purpose, and that purpose is good.

Peace. What is peace? Peace is having a sound mind, free of worry about anything. No pressure, no anxiety, no concerns - just perfect trust in that everything will be alright.

Joy. What is joy? Joy is the act of enjoying every moment of your life. To revel in it and be perfectly content with every moment that passes by, as if each moment was truly worth the span of time it held.

I think this is what we ALL want, isn’t it? It is such a simple request, but it is so hard to find on earth. Truly living a purpose-filled life, with no fears, and no regrets is almost unheard of in our world, and in comparison to all the lives that have lived on earth, very few have ever experienced it. I have wondered, for so long, will it ever be possible for ME to experience it. Do I even deserve it?
Ask yourself, is happiness, peace, and joy what you want to experience in your life? If it is, then let me tell you that it took 29 years of my life to learn where to find it? Do you want to know?
Well, THIS IS IT! This is what you need to know to have the life that you want. Pay attention. Don’t miss a single word…
But before I get to that, let me back up just a bit.

The Change in Me

I’ve made some major changes in my life. It started about a year ago. I wasn’t happy with anything. I knew there had to be more to life than this, but I didn’t feel like I had any power to change the condition of my life. To make the long story short, I made a hearty attempt at being the best I could be, but for one reason or another things didn’t turn out the way I had planned. As a result, I succumbed to a certain level of hopelessness that I don’t think I had ever felt before. On the inside, the reality of the situation kept tugging at me - “You need help. You can’t do this all on your own.”

Reality bites, especially when it’s telling you that you’re failing. When it’s telling you that in spite of everything and in spite of all your efforts, you are failing at your attempt to find true happiness, peace, and joy in your life. So, what’s left?

Well, for me, I just went back to the drawing board - the drawing board of my faith. I have been a Christian for years - but somewhere along the line I must have taken a wrong turn or missed a memo or something because my faith didn’t seem to be helping me. HOWEVER, I didn’t give up on my faith. What I did was try to come at it from a different perspective.

You see, when I first came to Christianity, I accepted it because I thought I HAD to. But now, with all the experiences I’ve had in my life, I finally decided to come back to my faith because I realized I NEED to. I checked my pride at the door, and realized that it wasn’t FAITH that had failed ME, but it was ME who failed my FAITH. In other words, I didn’t take it nearly as serious enough as I should have the first time around.
So here comes the change: I decided to put all of my effort into finding out what I was missing, and where my faith was lacking. And instead of attacking life “my way”, I decided to surrender, and I finally (maybe for the first time in my life) began to seek happiness, peace, and joy, solely through God and my Christianity.

And now, without a doubt, I can finally say I found it! And I believe you can too!

This is my whole-hearted belief, and for once in my life I feel comfortable enough, and confident enough to share what it is that has led me to, and supports my belief. I want to tell you why I believe in Christianity. And if you’re interested, I want to take you on a “walk” with me through my head, my reasoning, and through some phases of my life that got me to this point.

But let me make one thing clear: I made the choice to follow this path NOT out of fear of condemnation or fear of God’s wrath, but simply because God’s way just makes sense to me now. You may disagree with my way of thinking, but that’s ok - all that really matters is that we all arrive at the same place.

So once again, this is all you need to know to have the life that you want - a life full of happiness, peace, and joy…

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all these things will be given to you.” Matthew 6:33

“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally as important: Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:30

“And if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe that God raised Him from the dead then you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
There you are! This is everything you need to know. So simple, yet so complex. If the reality of this truth doesn’t hit you like a ton of bricks, then that means it’s time to do what I did and go back to the basics (or the “drawing board” if you will).

What is faith?
To have faith is to believe without proof.
There are many things we believe which we often take for granted; and many other things that we can believe if we choose to.
You can believe:
Something/Someone is real, or does exist
Something can or will happen
Something you hear, or are told is the truth
Something/Someone is true to their word, or faithful to what they said they would do
Something is right or wrong
You can also believe in:
The power of something/someone to do something
There are many examples of these different kinds of faith in our everyday lives.
The Bible says “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1. In other words, it is that something inside of you that says “This is the truth.”
Here is an important question: What do you believe in?
There are some who would say, “I believe in what I can see or what I have proof of.” The problem with this is that your eyes may deceive you, and your mind can always trick you. Not everything you see or have been shown proof of is accurate.
Others would say, “I believe in myself.” That’s great! But you believe in yourself to do what? Everything? Obviously not. To do what’s possible? That’s complicated - how do you define possible? How high (or how low) are your expectations of possible? To do what’s right? Right for who? Just yourself? Surely you believe in something greater than just yourself?
Still others may say, “I don’t believe in anything.” Really? Never say you don’t believe in anything. You must believe in something. If you don’t believe in anything, you believe in nothing (not even yourself). If that’s the case, then in your own mind you are nothing. If you don’t believe in anything, then you believe your life is purposeless and it means nothing to you. As a result, for you, there is no life (or at least no life worth living). This is exactly why having faith in God and Jesus Christ is so important for our lives:
It is through faith that a righteous person has life.
Jesus came so that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
And then, there are the people who don’t know what they believe. That is not to say they have no belief, but what they do believe is that there has to be something more to life than this. They just don’t quite know what it is.
Here is another important question: Why do we have faith or believe in anything? What causes us to believe?
Sometimes we believe because:
We have heard it from a lot of people
We have heard it from one or more people who are an authority figure in our lives
It makes sense to us
We’ve seen or experienced proof of it before
We feel in our hearts so strongly about it, you can’t make us doubt it.
But know this: People will always have room to challenge your beliefs, because each of these things which causes us to believe has its limitations. So, in light of this, you must remember that even proof is something you must believe in.
　
Why do I say that?
I say that because even what appears to be real (by our senses) may not be, depending on our perspective (our mindset, or mental view). With that said, would it be fair to say that our human mind has its limitations? Of course! But the Bible says, “Lean not on your own understanding, but on every word that proceeds from the Word of God.”
So the lesson we must learn is this:
Whatever it is you choose to believe, you must first be willing to believe it. This means that at some point, in order to truly believe in something (in anything) you must surrender yourself (especially your mind) to the idea in which you choose to believe.
What does it mean to surrender?
To yield something (yourself) to the possession or power of another
To give yourself up (or give up your power)
To give up, abandon, or relinquish (comfort, security, hope, etc - in yourself)
The bottom line is, faith is a choice you must be willing to make, without proof, which requires surrender.
Here is what you need to know as a believer:
Hebrews 11:6 says, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
And you must believe this Word of God is true, in spite of the limitations and your inability to understand it in the beginning.”
In Romans 1:17 is says, “This Good News tells us how God makes us right in His sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
“So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. And that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved.
And while you are in the midst of your life’s journey, remember that in Proverbs 3:5-7 it says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do and He will show you which path to take.
The prayers of the righteous availeth much.
“Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain “May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea” and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins too.” Mark 11:22

There are 2 steps to becoming a believer in God and Jesus Christ.
Step 1: Be willing to believe
Step 2: Believe


　

 

[RickardoHolmes]

That's a gret post thanks for sharing.
I think you hit upon the basis of what it means to be free, to have joy and happiness. You have to let go of fear.
Now here I like to quote not the Bible but Master Yoda and the Jedi Religion.
Fear leads to anger.... anger to hate.... and hate is a path to the dark side.
Simple but true We must NOT live a fear based life.
Case in point, I have never met an "enlightened" teacher ot seeker who lives a fear based life. But I have met many many miserable unhappy people who have. That is sad, because it serves no purpose but to defeat the self.
And YOU, New Hope, deserve better than that. you are smarter and more insightful than that, and the prooof of that is in what you wrote. You have learned tolive the positive lifestyle.
As some say "Let Go....and Let GOD....." That sums up not only the Willingness to believe, but the belief itself.
Peace and Love to you ....

 

[aiki]

I’ve finally discovered what I want out of life - Happiness, Peace, and Joy

Philippians 1:21
21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

I was talking with a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago about becoming a Christian. God has been drawing him over the last few years and now, finally, he is seriously considering being born again. As we talked, my friend kept citing the peace, and contentment, and joy he saw in the lives of the Christians he knew as the motivation for his desire to convert. Something in this didn't quite sit right with me, however. Eventually, as we continued to talk about his interest in becoming God's child, the problem with my friend's words dawned on me. You see, he wanted the good things a relationship with God would bring, but he never once said he wanted the Source of those good things: God Himself. But the joy, peace, grace, faith, etc, with which God blesses His children are not separate from Himself. God is all those things to every believer; if we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within, we have joy, peace, faith, etc. (Gal. 5:22)

My friend went away to carefully consider this truth.

What is faith?
To have faith is to believe without proof.

This is not so. Faith for the Christian rests upon hard fact found in the Scripture. It is because we have these facts upon which to rest our faith that we are able to go beyond the scope of reason and logic and follow God into the supernatural.

Selah.