|
True Happiness Can Be Yours
Chapter One
True Happiness is something we all desire and seek to obtain. No matter what our nationality, race, age, gender, social status, intelligence, religion or education, we all want to experience and enjoy True Happiness.
The fact that we share a universal desire to obtain and experience True Happiness tells us that it is something that should be an integral part of our daily lives and that each of us is justified and right in his or her search or quest for True Happiness.
The entire world system is always attempting to provide us with anything and everything that might bring us True Happiness, but if we are honest about the quality of our lives, we have to admit that we are not truly happy; something is still missing!
The authors of this book believe that every person, no matter who he or she is, is entitled to and meant to have a truly happy life, and therefore, we now share with you:
True Happiness CAN Be Yours.......
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. All was good. The earth was a wonderful paradise where He placed the first man and woman after creating them in His own image and likeness.
They lived a wonderfully blessed life as they reigned together with their Creator. God gave them power and dominion over all living creatures on the earth and told them to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. God basically placed them in charge of everything down to the naming of the animals.
The Garden of Eden, which was their home, was a paradise. The word “Eden” actually means pleasure and delight. They had constant fellowship and communion with their Creator and harmony with His creation. There was no sin, no violence, no sickness or disease, no lack or want of any kind, and no death. This was God’s plan for all people and still is today!
Adam, the first man, and Eve, his wife, had the most wonderful life that anyone has ever had on earth, and this was also God’s plan for the entire human race -- all who would be born of Adam and Eve. They had an abundance of everything to make them truly happy, but to protect their happiness, God placed one restriction on them.
“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
God gave Adam and Eve the ability to choose. He did not create them as puppets or robots. He desired a relationship with them based on mutual trust and respect. God did not want them to die and told them to not eat from that one tree. They didn’t trust God and were deceived as follows:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The consequences of Adam and Eve’s choice to not trust their Creator, to not take Him at His Word, were devastating to the entire human race, both then and now. Adam and Eve’s unbelief and disobedience brought sin into the world and alienated mankind from their Creator. All forms of evil and selfishness, along with sickness, disease, and even death, followed their disbelief and sin.
Adam and Eve, the parents of the human race, chose to believe the serpent, the devil, Satan, instead of believing their Creator God. Not only was mankind alienated from God by sin, but Satan now had dominion on earth among the human race. Adam and Eve had been given authority by God over all earthly creatures including the serpent, but by obeying the devil instead of asserting their authority over him, they became slaves to sin and Satan instead of ruling and reigning with God, their Creator.
Life on earth for them and for all mankind was no longer what God had originally intended. Living became an existence rather than a life filled with God’s blessings and abundance. The entry of sin into the world, resulting in man’s separation from God and the rise in Satanic activity on earth today, help us to understand why the human race is in such a state of chaos, confusion, and turmoil and why people are experiencing such a low standard of life, with all the selfishness, sickness and disease, poverty, suicide, murder, sexual sin and perversion, rebellion against authority, divorce, drug and alcohol abuse, and all the other evils of society.
Out of ignorance, and by the devil’s own design, most people blame God, or “the gods” for the chaotic condition of the world today and for the problems they face in their own life, family, and country. Not understanding what the real problem is, and without any real solutions that work, mankind fights to survive and get ahead and even succeeds at life, only to find that in the end, they face death, the judgment, and eternity without God.
People everywhere go through the motions of life everyday trying to find something that will fill that void in them but without success. Entertainment, worldly amusements, sex, drugs, alcohol, sports, careers, relationships, even religion, fail to fill that God-shaped void that only a relationship with their Creator can fill. Satan and his world system give pleasure for a season, but it is short lived and in the end, brings even more pain and emptiness.
God, in whose image and likeness we were all created, continued to value and love mankind, even though people had been separated from Him by sin and disbelief. Even though His love for us had not changed, our Creator could not violate the rules He had made about the consequences of sin, or His Word would then not be trustworthy. Therefore, He had to implement a remedy to solve mankind’s dilemma so that He could again have fellowship with us and restore us to our original state of peace, blessing, and abundance, as well as our God-given authority on earth while upholding the truthfulness and integrity of His Word.
God’s justice had to be satisfied. Mankind’s sin and disobedience had to be punished. The punishment for sin was death, not only the cessation of our bodily life but also our spiritual death, which is separation from God. This is the reason why people who die in sin go to hell and are separated from God’s presence forever, even though hell was originally a place prepared for the devil and his fallen angels.
However, instead of destroying the entire human race, God provided a way for mankind to be saved from their sin and reconciled with their Creator so it could have fellowship with God and life as God had always intended. He made a way to redeem us, to buy us back from the slave market of sin, and also from Satan’s control over our lives. God accomplished this through His Son, Jesus Christ.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God’s Son, Jesus, was born supernaturally in the city of Bethlehem, in Israel. A virgin girl named Mary was the mother of God’s Son, Jesus. The Holy Spirit of God overshadowed Mary, causing her to conceive and bring forth the Holy Child of God, Jesus.
All of this had been predicted for centuries before His birth, as was Jesus’s purpose for coming to earth and the other events that would take place in His life. All prophecies about Him were fulfilled down to even the smallest detail. He grew in favor with God and man, living thirty-three years here on earth and fulfilling His purpose for coming, after which He returned to His Father in Heaven.
Jesus was different than any other man. He had no earthly father. He was not of Adam’s bloodline. God was His Father, and although He was tempted by Satan, as Adam and Eve were in the beginning, Jesus never sinned. He overcame every scheme and every temptation of the devil. He always did the will of God and lived in complete obedience to His Heavenly Father.
Therefore, Jesus Christ was able to fulfill God’s plan for redeeming mankind. He was God’s solution to our problem. Instead of punishing us for our sins, God punished His Son, Jesus, in our place. Jesus Christ, the only perfect, sinless human being to ever walk this earth, sacrificed His life for you, me, and the entire human race. Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross, died almost 2,000 years ago and shed His precious blood in payment for our sins, to redeem us from sin and its effects, and from Satan’s control over our lives.
Jesus Christ became our substitute. He suffered our punishment on that Cross. Jesus, who had no sin, became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He traded places with us. He became who we were so that we could become who He is. He bore our sins, sickness, and disease in His own body on that Cross and gave us His righteousness, health, and abundant life in its place. He took our defeat and gave us His victory. He died so that we could live life abundantly as God had originally intended.
Jesus Christ died for our sins as was prophesied. He was buried, and then He was raised on the third day, also according to what was foretold about Him. He then appeared to Peter and the other disciples, and then to more than five hundred of His followers at the same time. Shortly thereafter, Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven where He is now preparing a place for all who choose to believe in Him and receive Him as their Savior and Lord. Someday, Jesus will return to bring to Heaven forever all those who believe in Him.
Jesus Christ has conquered sin, sickness, disease, death, and all the works of the devil. He is alive and reigns victorious now and forever. He did this all for you, me, and the entire human race; and for whoever comes to Him and trusts Him, and puts his or her faith in His shed blood and receive Him as their own personal Savior and Lord. Whosoever calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.
Everything in this book is based on Truth as recorded in God’s Word, the Bible. The Bible is God’s written record, account, and revelation of Himself to mankind. God has preserved His Word for thousands of years so that you and I can know what to believe, how we can be saved from our sins, and how we can be redeemed, restored, and reconciled to God, our Creator, our Savior, and our Friend.
You have now read the Good News about Jesus Christ, that He died on that Cross almost two thousand years ago in your place, and for your sins as your substitute to bring you back to God. He suffered your punishment and torment, so that you would not have to go to hell when you die and suffer everlasting punishment. Your sin caused a debt that you could not repay. He paid that debt for you in full. It cost Him His very life to redeem you, and He did it all to prove His love for you. You are loved by God!
How will you respond to God’s love as you consider the fact that He gave His one and only Son to die in your place so He could bring you back to Himself? And how will you respond to Jesus’s love for you, that He was willing to die in your place and suffer your punishment so you could have Eternal Life? And how will you respond to the Holy Spirit, Who is revealing Jesus to you right now? How will you respond? You have two choices!
You can respond in faith and believe the Gospel, or you can respond with disbelief, rejecting the Good News about Jesus. You can accept the precious gift of God’s Son He paid for with His very life, or you can do nothing and thereby reject Him and all that He offers you. You can receive God’s forgiveness and be reconciled to your Creator, or you can remain dead in your sins forever. You can call on the Name of the Lord and be saved, or you can continue to be lost without God and without hope.
God wants you to trust Him and to receive His Son Jesus and all the resulting benefits, but Satan wants you to doubt God like Adam and Eve did in the beginning and remain as you are under his control. God wants you to be blessed. Satan wants you to be cursed. God wants to help you. Satan wants to hurt you. God wants you to live free from the effects of sin. Satan wants you to live in bondage to sin. God wants you to live in abundance and divine health. Satan wants you to live in lack and sickness. God is the author of life. Satan is the author of death. God wants you to enjoy Heaven forever with Him. Satan wants you to be tortured in Hell forever with him.
Jesus Christ went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil. He healed the sick, made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. He cast out evil spirits, He raised the dead, healed the lepers, and made the lame to walk. He healed everyone that came to him in faith, no matter how serious their sickness or disease. He forgave the sins of everyone that put their trust in Him. Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, and He was manifested to destroy the works of the devil.
Jesus Christ is alive forevermore, and is the same yesterday, today and forever. The works that He did 2,000 years ago, He still does today. You can trust Jesus. His love is real. All the promises of God are “yes” and “Amen” in Jesus. When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, except by Me”, He meant just that. There is no other way back to God, except through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
The Bible says, “But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them gave He power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His Name”. The Bible also says, “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” It is also written, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Now it is time for you to make a choice, the most important decision you will ever make in your life. You did not arrive at this place and time by accident. God’s love has brought you to this point. His Holy Spirit is drawing you to Him so that you can be saved and have a whole new life -- a life of peace, joy, security, happiness, and abundance -- and the promise of life everlasting in Heaven.
If your choice is to remain as you are under the control of Satan, you should go back and reread this chapter and prayerfully consider your choice. If you want to be restored to your Creator and live the life He originally intended for you with all its benefits, you can say the following prayer right now:
Dear God,
Thank you for creating me in Your Image and Likeness and for not giving up on me, for valuing me and loving me so much that you gave your Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die in my place to buy me back from the bondage of sin, and out from under the control of Satan, all through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
I, here and now, choose to believe in the Name of Jesus Christ, and I open the door of my heart and receive Jesus into my life, as my Savior, my Healer, my Deliverer, my Redeemer and my Provider. With my mouth, I confess Jesus Christ as Lord and believe in my heart that You have raised Him from the dead. I believe that Jesus is alive and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I call on the Name of the Lord to be saved right now!
Thank you for saving me and for forgiving and forgetting all my sins. I am changing how I think and feel, and because of Your love for me, I purpose in my heart to live a life of love towards You and others. I believe You are the only True God. You are now Number One in my life. From this moment forward, I want to know You and do Your Will, instead of living my life apart from You as I have in the past. I renounce Satan and everything and anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of You and Your Word.
Thank you for accepting me just as I am, for making me your child, and for giving me an entirely new and abundant life full of all your blessings, just as if I had never sinned. Thank you for being my Heavenly Father and for the gift of Eternal Life. Your love, forgiveness, and acceptance are beyond my comprehension, but I receive them all with a very grateful and humble heart, and I look forward to growing in my relationship with You and discovering who I am as Your child.
I will no longer doubt either Your Existence, or Your Word. I believe that You are Who You say You are, I believe that You do everything that You promise to do, and I believe that You have done for me everything that You say You have done for me. I also believe that I now am who You say that I am, and that I have what You say that I now have, and I believe that I now can do everything that You say I can.
Therefore, I take my new and rightful place in Your family as Your child. I am thankful for my new life and ready to live as You know is best for me. Heavenly Father, please fill me with Your Holy Spirit, teach me Your ways, and guide and direct my life completely, as I love You and trust You to guide me into all Truth. Help me to always know what pleases You, and then give me the boldness to do it. I really do want to please You.
Jesus, thank You for bearing my sins, sicknesses, and pains in Your body on the cross, and for taking the punishment that I deserved for my sins. The shedding of Your blood and your other acts of love for me make me want to live for You and honor You with my life. I am thankful that You now live in me, that You are here to stay, and that You will never go away. I believe in You, Jesus. AMEN!
Chapter Two
|