If you want to see a perfect example of miserable, unhappy people, look at the Pharisees in the Bible. What a grim lot they were. A grumbling, negative, faithless group of unhappy men. Their poor wives.
This chapter looks at where happiness thrives in us. We’ve seen that the root of our lasting happiness is Christ’s life in us by His Spirit, and I’ve introduced Quiet Prayer as a route to reach the depths of intimacy with Him. Now I want to point out the amazing totality of who you are and how lasting happiness can sprout and prosper in both your heart and soul.
The Place of Faith
Nothing beautiful happens to us spiritually without faith. Everything starts with faith. With faith all things are possible. Without faith nothing is possible. Jesus said more than once, “Your faith has made you whole.” We’re made whole in every way, not only physically when our bodies are healthy but also in our souls. We’re whole in our thinking, our emotions, our inclinations, our decisions, our attitudes.
I told you at the beginning of this book that happiness is a skill we teach ourselves. Faith is the function that initiates new life and the journey to the unfathomable riches of happiness that lasts. Without faith, let me say right off, none of this is possible.
Where does faith reside in you? The answer is everywhere, but it starts in the soul. First, you absorb the initial gleanings of faith by means of your mind. Faith channels through your mind until it reaches the heart, where you feel things. Now you have thinking, feeling faith. And from there it expands into the other faculties of your soul. Your soul is your mind, your emotions, and your will. It includes your personality, your desires, your talent, your intellect, the full spectrum of your emotions, and your will. Like a sweet summer breeze swirling about, faith reaches into your heart and soul and takes flight. But that’s not the end of it.
Your human heart, soul, and mind need to connect with the heart, soul, and mind of the Holy Spirit of God. Every believer is familiar with the story of Nicodemus (a Pharisee, by the way), who made a secret visit at night to ask the Lord serious questions about faith. Jesus told him that we’re born once in human flesh and blood, but we need to be born again by the Holy Spirit of God. It’s then, when our human spirit is made alive by His Holy Spirit, that we have the potential to become our true self because we have God in us connecting to every part of our being.
Let’s look at faith’s itinerary as it moves through these human frames. Faith comes to you first through your mind. You see or hear something that impresses you, and you accept whatever it is as true or real, and you believe that it is what it says it is or does. People either believed Jesus was who He said He was, or they didn’t. They either believed what He preached, the miracles He performed, or they didn’t. They had faith in Him, or they didn’t. Faith happens first in the mind.
Some people can remain in their mind for a lifetime, never allowing their faith to seep into their heart. Their life of faith is strictly intellectual, mental. They can talk about God day and night, study the Scriptures in both Greek and Hebrew, but their faith stays fixed in their intellect, which is only one component of their soul. They become better critics than lovers.
This kind of assenting faith doesn’t move mountains. An intellectual believer isn’t usually motivated to pray for miracles or to walk in the supernatural realm. And happiness is something that comes and goes depending on circumstances. This is the person who says it’s not possible to have lasting happiness because they have no reference in the laboratory of their mind as to what that means. They lack the faith to believe there’s a life of happiness above the cares and trials of the world.
From the fertile ground of your mind, your faith moves into your heart. It lodges there and then leaps across the mountains and valleys of your reasoning and senses. It captures your human soul (your intellect, emotions, will, thoughts, ideas, talents, personality), and then beautifully and gloriously, if you surrender to Him completely, sweeps the totality of you up in the magnificent power of the Holy Spirit, and you’re completely alive. When the totality of you is ignited by His power and presence, your human spirit is ignited by His Holy Spirit, and nothing is impossible to you.
When Jesus was on earth, He could tell instantly who had faith for miracles and who didn’t even before anyone said a word to Him. When the woman healed of the issue of blood touched the fringe of His robe, for instance, He felt her faith (Matt. 9:20–22). He physically felt the faith of this woman. She didn’t speak two words to Him; she didn’t even look Him in the eye. She reached down and simply touched the bottom fringe of his robe, in Hebrew called the tzitzit. She didn’t touch Him, and she didn’t touch the robe; she touched the tzitzit of the robe. He bolted around in the crowd, exclaiming, “Who touched Me? Somebody touched Me—I perceived power going out from Me!”
Jesus felt the woman’s faith. Faith in God that has dynamically moved into the heart of a human being cannot only be seen—it can be felt. The woman was healed immediately when Jesus said to her, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well” (v. 22).
Jesus also restored the sight of two blind men in Matthew 9:29, telling them, “According to your faith let it be to you.” He sensed their faith in Him and knew their faith had already healed them before He proclaimed it to them.
Faith wants to pervade every area of your life. Paul prayed for the believers at Ephesus that they “know the love of Christ which passes knowledge [beyond what the human mind and intellect can figure out]” and that they be “filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). Whole means complete.
Does becoming alive in the Spirit assure us of happy lives on earth? The answer is yes and no. I’ve known many miserable Christians. Though they were born again, they became stagnant through lack of spiritual participation, action, and effort. They didn’t read or study the powerful, positive promises and life-building words of the Bible; their prayer lives were empty; they rarely spent much time alone with God; and their minds were fixed on the cares of the world, not what God says about the cares of the world. They simply didn’t allow themselves to know and love God.
I also know some of the happiest people on earth, dynamic, gloriously anointed, blessed believers who have grasped the principles of lasting happiness that I’m teaching you in this book. To be in the presence of these dear saints of God is a gift. My life is made richer for them, and so is the world.
Layers of the Heart
You have a beautiful heart. The Old Testament mentions the heart 860 times. It is the place in us where both evil and good reside. It is also where the Word of God meets us. “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it” (Deut. 30:14).
The word heart is translated as “the inner person” fifteen times in the New Testament. Think of your heart as housing certain aspects of your soul, such as your passions, desires, inclinations, and longings. “Pharaoh hardened his heart” (Exod. 8:15)—referring to his place of no compassion. “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1)—referring to where emotional panic can arise. “I will praise You, O LORD my God, with all my heart” (Ps. 86:12)—referring to the whole of your passion.
The heart is like an onion; it has layers. Each layer contains and embodies certain qualities of ourselves that God uses to mold and fit us into Himself, into His personality. He shapes us to fit our spirits into His desires, passion, and purposes.
The Outward Layer of the Heart
This is the layer of our outer selves that we present to the world. We make this decision within us. We don’t just accidentally look or appear a certain way. We choose how we present our physical selves to the world.
The first aspect of this outer layer is how much attention we give to how we carry ourselves and what choices we make in how we carry ourselves. I have a friend, Sharon Libby, with post-polio syndrome, and she is confined to a wheelchair. She’s probably one of the most active, vibrant Christians I know. The outer layer of her heart is beautiful because she has made it so and she is at home with who she is physically. What we tell ourselves about our outer layer tells us much about what’s underneath.
Viktor Frankl, whom I quoted in chapter 1, survived terrible torture in the Holocaust, and to his torturers he said, “The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me.”1 The outer layer of his heart in the death camp did not shrivel or shatter under pain; he was not afraid of pain. He was outwardly tortured in the nightmare of the Auschwitz concentration camp, but his heart stayed intact.
Your body responds to what you tell yourself. It responds to the self-talk you engage in with physical weariness, aches and pains, sickness and brokenness, but also with vibrant health and vigor. You can choose to fold over and disintegrate, or you can rise up strong and determined. You wear the pain and drama of your life on your body. Your body pays the price for how much effort you invest in the beauty and strength of your soul.
The Second Layer of the Heart
This is the layer where you give your attention and enthusiasm to what you believe. This is your passion layer. Here is where you strip off that which drains your energies, that which drains you of life, that which drains you of your clear, holy vision in God. The mind-set is more intent on God and less on your outer image.
When you enter Quiet Prayer every day in the secret place and grow more intimate with God, you’ll become more excited about Him and who He is inside you. It will become easier for you to recognize the things that rob you of joy. You’ll become more able to identify the things that drain you of energy and the things that fill you with energy. It’s here in this layer of the heart where you begin to really take care of your spiritual walk in Christ. Hold your Quiet Prayer time as sacred and learn the meaning of Galatians 5:1: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
The Third Layer of the Heart
This layer is the protective layer. You’ve become more vulnerable in your faith. You realize your enthusiasm and openness, which are infectious, could bring you hurt. This layer of the heart is vulnerable to breaking and can show itself when you become defensive, telling yourself, “I’ll never be hurt again,” or “I don’t trust anybody,” or “It’s always the good guys who get shafted.” This is the layer that can block out the light. It’s where you might fall back into the ruts of “I can’t” and “poor me.”
But this is also where you can rejoice in your safety. At this level, the verse, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You” (Isa. 26:3) comes alive. The apostle Paul said he learned to be at peace in all situations: “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Phil. 4:11). At this level, you can know a deeper contentment and peace in trusting who God is and who you are in Him because you’re safe.
The Fourth Layer of the Heart
This is your truth layer. It’s here where your knowledge and experience merge with your spirit and your life reflects not only your integrity but also your walk with God. This layer of your heart contains the years of what the world has taught you together with what God has taught you. Sometimes the world has been your major teacher, and God has ranked second in influence. You can change that right now if that’s the case. If your truth layer is slim on the God side, you can increase your understanding. Proverbs 3:5 tells us we aren’t to lean on our own understanding, which is futile; we’d be much happier if we trusted in the Lord with all our heart. If you acknowledge (recognize and honor) Him in all your ways, He (not the world around you) will direct your path.
This layer of your heart demonstrates what you’ve taught yourself to believe. Jesus told His disciples to grab hold of (possess) the words He spoke and live in them. See yourself climbing into the Word of God as though it were a tent, its walls snug around you. The Word of God is actually a “He” because Jesus is the Word (John 1:1). When you open your Bible and enter its words, you’re absorbing the presence of Jesus Himself into your heart, mind, and spirit—your inner parts. Don’t underestimate what’s taking place in you when you read the Word.
In Psalm 51:6, David prayed, “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.” Jesus said we will know the truth and the truth will make us free (John 8:32). It’s knowing that counts. Your heart needs to be filled with truth in order for you to be made a free person from the inside out and in every aspect of your life.
David prayed in Psalm 26:2, “Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my mind and my heart.” When God looks at your heart, He sees the level of truth you live in. When you know the truth, you live in the truth. That’s why David could proclaim in Psalm 27:1, “The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” When the truth has lodged triumphantly in your heart, made its home there, you’ll see that you live inside God’s loving-kindness and you will be fearless.
The heart is the place of courage and also where fear does its havoc if you allow it to. Fear of tomorrow, fear of dying, fear of being alone, fear of hard work, fear of pain, fear of rejection—all of these ferment to condemn your beautiful heart. But there’s a way out! God says if your heart condemns you, not to worry. He is much greater than your heart, and He knows all things (1 John 3:20). This is the demonstration of His wisdom, as he forges the path for mercy and righteousness to become sealed in your personality and character (Pss. 117:2; 119:160; Prov. 3:3).
The Fifth and Final Layer of the Heart
Here’s where you were born to live. “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).
Here’s the fire, the flame, and the core of your being. It’s where everything you are emanates from. It’s the eternal seed and center of your being. As much of God as you have in this deep center core is as much as you’ll know who you are. We can exist day in and day out without being present in our own lives. Don’t let it happen to you. As you unwrap the layers of your heart, consider yourself the most blessed person on the planet. Be present in yourself. Whatever circumstances you’re in right now, be present in them exactly as things are.
We’ve been taught to think that wisdom is something that’s birthed and nurtured in the mind. We think of wisdom as a reasoning ability, but wisdom lives in the heart. When young Solomon became king after his father, David, he prayed for an understanding heart, and it pleased God greatly. Solomon didn’t pray for a smart, clever brain. He prayed for an understanding heart, a listening heart (1 Kings 3:9).
The verse, “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4) is telling you to let go of every hassle of the heart and let wisdom emerge. Wisdom always delights in the Lord, for He is wisdom. Open the petals of your heart and delight yourself. The verse says you do it. You delight in the Lord. You. Purpose in your heart to enter the presence of the Lord and there, in His magnificence, to delight in Him.
Where your heart is, your treasure is (Matt. 6:21). Your treasure doesn’t exist outside of you; it is in you. You carry your treasure around in you. You go to bed at night with it in you. You play tennis with your treasure in you. You shop, eat, dance, play, work, and pray with your treasure right there inside your heart.
How big is your treasure?
Choosing Happiness
You can see by what we’ve examined so far that happiness is something we choose. Something we purposely work at possessing. Your beautiful heart and soul are more than just a bunch of feelings at the whim of events, circumstances, and people. To know lasting happiness requires all of your attention—body, soul, and spirit. Faith doesn’t exist out there on a limb waiting for you to come pluck some up when things go wrong; faith lives in you and it needs daily nourishing. Your heart and soul crave it. Faith inspires wisdom, wisdom inspires gratitude, gratitude inspires delight, and delight inspires the truly happy soul.