Proverbs chapter 3. Most of our scriptures are
going to be in the Psalms, but we're going to
kind of jump around, so if you don't catch a
scripture we go over, just let me know after
the fact, and I'll tell you where it was. We're
just going to pick a few short, simple scriptures
today, scriptures that I think are easy for us
to understand and for us to remember. We're going
to start in Proverbs chapter 3. I have one correction
from last week. Last week I told y 'all about
a good wife and a good mother in Psalms 31. I
didn't realize I said Psalm. It's actually Proverbs
31. So if you went home last week and you read
Psalm 31 and you said, that don't say nothing
about a good mother or a wife, then you'll know
why. So that was a slip that happens. So it was
Proverbs 31, and today we will be in Proverbs
chapter 3. Today I've got a good word for y 'all,
and the word for y 'all today is, I want everybody
to do what makes you happy. That's a good message.
That message will go far in our world today.
That's the message that people like to hear,
right? We like to do what makes us happy, and
I'm telling you today, that's what I want you
to do. I want you to do what makes you happy.
And some of you are saying, well, what's the
catch? Well, I guess there is a little bit of
a catch. I want to tell you the secret of being
happy, which is also something that we want to
know in our world today, praise the Lord. We
all want to be happy, and today I'm going to
tell you the secret of how to be happy, and then
you can go do whatever makes you happy. Let's
read Proverbs chapter 3, verses 13 and 14, then
we'll pray and we'll jump into it. Happy is the
man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding,
for she is more profitable than silver and her
revenue is better than gold. Let's pray. God,
we come to you today. We thank you for being
good to us. I thank you for the love that's in
this place that you show on us that we can share
with one another. We thank you for the blessing
and the freedom we have to come and worship.
I thank you for the folks who come here and the
folks who watch and listen online each week.
I pray, God, that your Holy Spirit would bless
us today, dear Lord. Our lives are full of stress
and chaos and pain and just trouble sometimes,
dear Lord. And maybe there are some today that
are just searching for some peace and some joy
and some happiness. And maybe they've tried a
lot of things, dear Lord, but I pray that through
your word today they can see the real secret,
the real key to the things that... you call us
to to bring joy and happiness in our life. And
I pray that you just bless these few minutes.
Hide me behind the cross, dear Lord, that people
won't see me, but that they would see you and
that you would be glorified, God. Take away any
fear or pride that's within me today that I may
faithfully preach and teach your word. And I
ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, Proverbs
chapter 3 is a good chapter. We've covered most
of the first few verses over the last couple
of months. We've kind of gone back and forth
and looked at some of those things. And we're
just continuing on on the last verse in Proverbs
we left off on and not really looking at the
whole context of that passage of Scripture starting
in verse 13. In the context, it's really talking
a lot about wisdom. And we're introduced to that
topic, that idea. in these verses that we looked
at today. Now, we may get to those verses that
follow in the weeks to come, but today we're
going to just kind of pluck out that first little
part and not talk too much about wisdom and understanding
today, but really the topic that I shared with
you before, and that is be happy. We want to
be happy. Everybody wants to be happy. That's
what we all want. That's a good feeling when
you're happy. But sometimes it's hard for us
to be happy. Life is tough and stressful, and
there's all kind of stuff that goes on. And sometimes
we just find ourselves just kind of being down
and out and bummed. And maybe it's for a day
or for a week or for a month, or maybe for some
of us it's been years. And you're just not happy.
And that wears on you, and that's really tough.
But praise the Lord, we have the Word of God.
And the Word of God is so good if we would read
it. There are so many things in the Word of God
that are good for us. And we need to read it.
We don't just need to come on Sunday and hear
it. Praise the Lord. I'm glad you're here. For
those who go to Sunday school, I'm glad that
you came. For those who listen online, it's great.
But we don't want to just hear the Word of God
at church. We want to be in the Word of God and
read it ourself. And there are so many things
in there that help us, that encourage us, Really
show us the secret of success and of happiness.
And the answers are right before us in the pages
of Scripture. And we need to make sure that we
read those words. And here we see in Proverbs
3, verse 13, he says, Happy is the man who finds
wisdom and who acquires understanding. Now, when
I read this verse, I thought, man, there's...
There's quite a few verses that talk about being
happy, and that's kind of our theme today. And
I thought, well, what is the key to happiness?
According to Scripture, there's plenty of Scriptures
that says, happy is the man who does blank, fill
in the blank. Well, we don't get to fill in the
blank ourselves. If we filled in the blank, we
wouldn't do too good. Happy is the man who is
wealthy. Happy is the man who is successful.
Happy is the man who has the biggest house. Happy
is the man who has the most beautiful wife. Happy
is the woman who has the strongest husband. Now,
it's polar alert. The Bible doesn't say any of
those. None of those happy hours are in the Bible.
The things that the Bible says make us happy
are not the things that maybe come to our mind
first. may not be the things that we strive for.
The Bible is so good in that way, that the things
that we think are important to us or that we
think are important to God, when we read Scripture
just a little bit, we realize that maybe God's
ideas of what's important to Him and what should
be important to us are different than ours. And
indeed, they almost always are. But it says here,
Happy is the man who... finds wisdom and who
acquires understanding. Okay, this is good. This
is good. You say, I am unhappy. Alright, here's
a test. Are you seeking wisdom and understanding
in your life? Or do you just keep living in the
same old foolishness? Now for many of us, if
we're honest, we've just kept on making the same
foolish decisions. And there's a part of us who
really know in our heart that it's foolish. We
really know that it's not good, but we keep doing
it. And you may say to yourself, okay, this is
good. I want to be happy. The scripture says
that I need to be one who finds wisdom, one who
acquires understanding. Well, how do I do that?
Well, I'm glad you asked because the scripture
says in Proverbs 2, verse 6, for the Lord gives
wisdom from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Okay, there's our starting point. So we say,
I want to be happy. I want to start with what
the Word of God says. It says I'm happy if I'm
wise and I have some understanding. How do I
find that? Well, we find it through the Lord.
We find it through God's Word. God's Word is
full of things, and it says this is a wise thing
to do. It's a wise thing to do. Maybe not spend
every penny you have. Maybe you don't want to
go to the casino. Every week when you get your
paycheck and put it all on red. And some people
do that. Maybe some in here. There's people that
do that every week. And they lose their money
every week. And they say, but one day it's going
to hit. Well, maybe it will. But guess what?
That's foolishness. Now what does the Bible say
of wisdom? Well, maybe it's things that God blessed
us with. Maybe we need to be a little wiser with
it. Maybe we need to tuck a little back. Maybe
we need to use it to help other people. Those
are the types of things that God's Word says
are wise. That's not what our fleshly desires
may be. Our fleshly desires almost always want
what's foolish. We don't have understanding.
We don't understand, why does this go on? Why
does that go on? Well, you know, when we begin
to read the Word of God, we begin to have a lot
better understanding of things. Not fully. Certainly
there are things that happen in our life or in
our world that maybe even those who walk with
the Lord would say, I don't understand why the
Lord does that. But there are a lot of things
in Scripture that as we begin to read the Word
of God, we begin to get a whole different understanding
of, let's say, what love is. Now our world understands
love to some degree, but a lot of times it's
in a fleshly way. What the world called love
is not really love. But then we begin to read
God's word. We begin to see that we're sinners.
And then we begin to see that Jesus died for
sinners. That he was nailed to a cross. That
he suffered greatly. And you say, why would a
man do that? Well, the scripture tells us that
that's love. That what love is, it's not... Just
a word that we say, but it's an action. It's
shown in how we treat people. And so we have
understanding of, okay, well, God calls me to
love. He calls me to love him. He calls me to
love those that I encounter. We talked about
a lot of that in Sunday school this morning.
What does love look like according to Jesus?
It looks like helping our neighbors, feeding
those who are hungry, clothing those who are
naked. visiting those who are sick and those
who are in prison. Like, these are the things
that God's Word puts kind of at the forefront.
And so the more we read God's Word, the more
we have understanding. Okay, so happy is the
one who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding.
Well, praise the Lord that Scripture tells us
that, that if we continually seek God, that's
where we're going to really learn. The things
that are wise. And we're going to be able to
understand a little more. What's wisdom? The
greatest wisdom in all of Scripture? We see it
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. It's Jesus Christ
crucified and resurrected. That is wisdom. That's
wisdom. Now until we have started with Jesus
Christ, until we have trusted in Jesus Christ,
then we really... haven't fully understood wisdom,
but the moment that we acknowledge our sinfulness
and repent and we trust Jesus Christ, we have
instantly obtained the source of wisdom. We've
come to the source of wisdom. And the more we
seek Him and His ways, and the more we seek God's
instructions in our life, the more we gain understanding,
and the more we walk according to those ways,
guess what that brings in our life? It brings
about... Happiness. Okay, there's our first verse.
If you're not happy today, here's something you
need to try. Try to find wisdom and try to acquire
understanding. That comes through Jesus Christ.
It comes through the Word of God. Here's another
scripture for you to consider today. Psalm 84,
verse 12. Happy is the person who trusts in you,
Lord of hosts. Okay. Praise the Lord. That's
pretty easy. Happy is the one who trusts in the
Lord. Here's a test you can take. One question
test. Let's see if you pass or fail. Don't answer
out loud. Answer to yourself. Do you trust the
Lord? Easy question. Now we probably, because
we're in church, we say to ourselves, of course
I trust the Lord. That's the church answer. But
really, when we look at our life, really who
do we trust? When hard times hit in our life,
do we immediately go to the Lord and really seek
him and leave it in his hands and say, okay,
God, I'm going to trust you. And I don't know
what's going on. It's tough. I don't understand
necessarily what's going on. But God, I'm going
to trust you. So God, please, please answer my
prayer and help me. Okay, that's a good place
to start. but how many times do we pray such
prayers? And then five minutes later, it's like,
well, God, I guess you didn't want to answer
it. And then we start figuring out how we're
going to solve the problem. What can I do to
solve the problem? And that's not to say that
there may not be things that we need to do in
situations in our life, but sometimes we kind
of try to take the ball out of God's court and
just kind of, even though we may not say it,
what we're really saying by our actions is, okay,
Lord, you didn't answer, so I'll take care of
this. And sometimes we try to take care of our
own problems instead of trusting in the Lord.
And guess what happens when we do that? It leaves
us unhappy because we can't take care of our
own problems. We cannot take care of anything.
We don't have the strength. We don't have the
ability on our own. It's only through the Lord
that He can bring about peace. He can bring about
solutions in those situations. Even if our situation
continues to be difficult, there's a certain
happiness that comes from trusting in the Lord.
So happy is the person who trusts in the Lord,
or blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord.
Some of your translations may say happy, some
may say blessed in some of these verses, but
it's the same idea. Okay, so if you're unhappy
today, Are you seeking wisdom and understanding?
Are you trusting in the Lord? If the answer to
those questions is no, then that may be why you're
unhappy. Let's look at another scripture. Psalm
119 verse 2. Happy are those who keep his decrees
and seek him with all their heart. Again, here's
a question. Are we keeping the Lord's decrees?
Are we following the Lord's instructions? Okay,
we read God's Word, and He gives us lots of instructions
of, you know, hey, you need to love people, you
need to even love your enemies, you need to help
people, those kind of instructions. He gives
us all kind of instructions. He says there are
some things you probably need to avoid, some
sinful things that aren't good for you. How do
we know the instructions of God? Well, you have
to read the Word of God. And I think we continually
have to read the Word of God. It's a lot in there.
Maybe it's just me or maybe not. I can't remember
some of those things. I'll read something and
then I'll go for a while and not read a scripture
and read it a couple of years later and be like,
oh yeah, I forgot about that scripture. I think
as humans we just need to constantly be reminded
of the word of God and the instructions of God
so that we can stay sharp and so we can say,
okay God, I'm really striving to do what your
word calls me to do. I want to follow your instructions.
There you go. Happy is the person. Excuse me,
happy are those who keep the decrees and seek
him with all their heart. Are you seeking God
with all your heart? Maybe you're seeking God
with part of your heart. Well, that's a good
place to start. But what God really wants is
for us to seek him with everything in us. Say,
okay, God, I'm not seeking others for help. I'm
not seeking my own strength or ability. I'm not
trusting in my own wealth or any of those things.
God, I'm really seeking you. With all my heart.
And what's the scripture say? Hey. You're happy
if you follow the instructions of God. And you
seek God with all your heart. The result of that
in our life. Is happiness. Here's another good
scripture. Psalm chapter 1 verses 1 and 2. How
happy is the man who does not follow the advice
of the wicked. Or take the path of sinners. Or
join a group of mockers. Instead, his delight
is in the Lord's instruction and he meditates
on it day and night. Okay, this is a real simple
instruction. Happy is the man who does not follow
the advice of the wicked. Easy enough. Now, if
you're unhappy today, you need to answer this
question. Are you following the path of the wicked?
Are you listening to the advice of the wicked?
And if the answer to that is yes, Well, there's
a good chance that your unhappiness is coming
from that. It's hard for us to be happy when
we are in the midst of wickedness, when we do
sinful things that God tells us not to do. It's
hard for us to be happy doing that. We can have
a semblance of happiness for a moment. There
are things that are evil, that are sinful, that
are wicked, that they are so enticing and they
seem good and they feel really good in the moment.
But you know as well as I do, that does not last
very long. You think you're happy, but it's a
lie. It's a false happiness. There's no joy in
doing what's wicked. There's no joy in getting
back at your enemy and getting vengeance on them
in the moment it feels good. There's no joy in
stealing from someone else in the moment. Man,
it may feel good. I stole that money and I used
it to buy or get something that I wanted. And
in a moment, you think that's going to make you
happy, but it doesn't. And you don't even realize
that that's the source of your unhappiness. But
it is because we can never be happy when we are
living in the midst of wickedness and doing wickedness
and following those who do wickedness. And so
happy is the man who doesn't do that. The one
who doesn't follow those evil ways of the wicked,
but the one who follows the Lord's instructions
like we just talked about. And it says, and he
meditates on it day and night. Now, how often
do we meditate on God's instruction? I mean,
there's probably a lot of things that we meditate
on. We may meditate on our job. meditate on our
hobby, how many fish we're going to catch or
how good we're going to play at the golf course
tomorrow or whatever it may be. There's a lot
of things that we meditate on. I've been doing
that a lot, too much lately because I've been
kind of getting back into golf and I'm so horrible.
It is so bad. I'm so horrible. And so I've been
practicing a lot and I'm thinking about it a
lot and I'm listening to YouTube videos. FYI,
you can listen and watch a lot of YouTube videos
for a week. and they don't make your golf game
any better. But that's what I've been meditating
on, right? We meditate on what's important to
us. Now, I'm not saying it's wrong to have a
hobby and to be invested in that to some degree,
but maybe you've got something that you meditate
on that's just on your mind every week. You just
think about it all the time, all the time, all
the time. Well, we need to replace those worldly
things. And we need to start to meditate on the
word of God. One of you just sit down with the
scripture, maybe looking at scriptures similar
to these we look at today, and not just read
through and say, okay, there's a scripture. Thank
you, God. Close the Bible. But really just take
a passage and just meditate on it. Like you might
open your Bible and read like one verse, and
you're like, whoa, what does that even mean?
Like I got to think about that for a second.
Well, that's good. Don't just sit there in the
silence with the Word of God and just think about
it. Kind of think about it when you go to work.
Turn the radio off for a minute and let it kind
of simmer. Just think about it. Meditate on it.
When's the last time that you've meditated on
the Word of God? Well, maybe you should. If you're
unhappy in life and you're spending a lot of
time meditating on the wicked but not on the
ways of God, There's a source of your unhappiness.
These things that the scripture calls us to are
very easy for us to understand. That happiness
comes from wisdom. It comes from understanding.
It comes from following God. It comes from avoiding
sin. This is where our happiness comes from.
If you want to be happy today, God lays it out
for us. Right there in black and white in the
scripture, here's the source of happiness. Let's
read another verse. Psalm 128. Psalm 128, verses
1 through 4. It says, How happy is everyone who
fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. You will
surely eat what your hands have worked for. You
will be happy, and it will go well for you. Your
wife will be like a fruitful vine within your
house. Your sons like young olive trees around
your table. In this very way, the man who fears
the Lord will be blessed. Okay, that's pretty
simple instruction right there. Who is the happy
man? The happy man is the one who fears the Lord.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Happy is the man who finds wisdom. Isn't it beautiful
how God's word just kind of, it just kind of
all ties together? Okay. Happy is the man who
fears the Lord. Simple question. Do you fear
the Lord? You may say, I don't know. Well, you
can measure how much you fear the Lord by how
long it takes you to quit doing the sin that
you're doing. If you're just keeping on in sin,
keeping on in sin, keeping on in sin, knowing
that God's word says it's sin, then bad news
for us is that we don't fear the Lord that much.
If we see that there are things in our life that
shouldn't be there that God does not desire that
are wrong and that are sinful, And we don't like
that and we repent and say, God, forgive me.
And we turn from that sinfulness and we do that
pretty quickly. Well, that's a good indicator
that we probably fear the Lord. Now, that's not
to say that we won't sin again. We may. But are
we content just to live in sin? I hope not. Maybe
we are, though. That's not a good place for us
to be when we are just content to live in sin.
That's not good. There's no joy in that. If you're
in that position now, you're unhappy. So happy
is the man who fears the Lord. You will surely
eat what your hands have worked for. You'll be
happy. Okay, work hard. You want to be happy,
work hard. You feel a lot better when you work
hard and you've really put in a good day's work.
You feel a lot happier when you've contributed
something to society, when you've done your part.
You feel a lot better when you planted the garden
and you worked the garden and you ate from the
garden. You're a lot happier when you've done
the work. You can go steal from somebody else's
garden without them knowing and eating, but it
won't taste as good as when you do the work.
Happy is the man who works hard. You fear the
Lord, you work hard. Happy is the man who has
a good wife. What does it talk about here? It
talks about having a wife that's a fruitful vine
and children who are like an olive tree. That
is children who are going to continue to grow
and thrive. That's happiness, the scripture says.
In this very way, the man who fears the Lord
will be blessed. Now notice that all of these
things that we've looked at so far, they don't
really talk about most of the stuff that the
world says will make you happy. I mean, it's
not talking about wealth and riches and fame.
It's not talking about any of that stuff. And
we think, man, if I just had this, if I could
just be this way, if I could just do that, I'd
be happy. But those are not the things that the
Bible says make us happy. The Bible says fear
God, work hard, raise your family, be a good
husband, have a lot of kids. You'll be happy.
Man, that's good advice. The Bible is full of
these passages. We're not going to look at every
happy passage today. Some of you are saying,
praise the Lord. There's a lot of passages in
here. But we're hitting the high notes. We're
kind of starting to see a pattern of what makes
us happy. Listen to the next verse, Psalm 41,
verse 1. Happy is the one who cares for the poor.
The Lord will save him in a day of adversity.
Man, that's pretty good. Happy is the one who
cares for the poor. Have you done that lately?
When's the last time you've helped somebody?
Like just helped somebody in need. Maybe you
bought somebody a meal. Maybe you did something
for them when they were struggling. Maybe it's
somebody you know. Maybe it's somebody you met
on the street. When is the last time that you
have really been broken? and just saw somebody
in need and said, I just want to help that person.
No matter how little or how much, whatever way
it may be, when is the last time that you took
from what God has given you and you've used it
to help others? Maybe you do it every day, praise
the Lord. Maybe you don't ever do it. Well, if
you're unhappy today, maybe that's why. Maybe
that's the reason why. Maybe it's because you're
not helping people. Because when we don't help
people, it probably stems at least a little bit
from maybe some greediness in our own life. That
we want to keep what we have. Maybe even we become
a little judgmental. And we begin to say, well,
they should have worked for theirs. I'll work
for mine. And I ain't giving a mind, and there
becomes a heart of judgment, and there becomes
a heart of greed. And guess what those things
do for you? They make you unhappy. You may not
even realize that. See, that's the thing with
the things we do. The things that make us unhappy,
we don't realize they make us unhappy. We know
we're unhappy, and we just don't have a clue
why. Because we're denying the word of God. We're
not living for him. We're living foolishly every
day. We're living in sin every day. We're not
caring for our families. We're not helping people
in need. And we're just miserable. And we say,
I just don't know why I'm miserable. And we go
and we pay counselors hundreds of dollars an
hour to listen to us talk about our life and
say, I just don't know why I can't be happy.
Well, I know why you can't be happy. Because
we're not doing the things that God's Word says.
That's why we can't be happy. You say, well,
that stuff don't work. Well, try it. Try it.
Read God's Word, and you see what God's Word
says makes you happy, and you really give it
an effort to try to do what God's Word says.
Try it for a month. And see if you're happier.
Help somebody in need. Take some of the money
that you've got maybe an abundance of and give
it to somebody. And tell me if you're not happier
giving that money than you are getting it. As
hard as it may be to let it go, I can just about
guarantee you that if you do it with the right
heart, you're going to be happier. You're going
to find joy. In these scriptures that we looked
at, it's just the tip of the iceberg. But it
really shows us what's important to God. These
scriptures show us what is important in the word
of God. You know, I'm ashamed to say that I was
pretty old before I think I figured out and really
understood God's word. I said I think. You could
disagree with what I'm going to say. But at some
point in my life, something clicked. And I said
I think I understand God's word now. And it wasn't
as complex and it wasn't as difficult maybe as
I thought. And I began to read God's Word and
I began to see certain things repeated. And here's
the conclusion that I came to. And I could be
wrong about this, but I think that here's what
matters and is important to God according to
His Word. Is that we fear Him and we keep His
commands. That we love one another. And we take
care of one another. That we're a good husband
to our wife, a good wife to our husband, good
parents to our children. That we provide for
them and raise them up in the way of the Lord.
That we trust in God. That we love our neighbor
as ourself. Help those in need. I think that's
it. I think that's the word of God. I think that's
what we see from the Old Testament to the New
Testament. That's what God wants. There are so
many other things that we get caught up in. But
I think those things are the most important.
And those are the things that we looked at today.
Those are the things that God says makes you
happy. Trust me, fear me, listen to me, follow
me. Work hard, raise your family. Help other
people. That's where happiness comes from. If
you're unhappy today, Are you doing those things?
Maybe you're doing some of them. Maybe you're
doing all of them. Maybe you're not doing any
of them. But if you're not doing any of them
today, and you feel kind of bad about it, and
you feel convicted, then praise the Lord. Because
the Bible says that's going to make you happy.
Listen to what the Scripture says in Job 5 .17.
See how happy the man is God corrects. So do
not reject the discipline of the Almighty. You
say, man, I hadn't been doing any of these things.
That's why I'm so unhappy, God. I feel so bad,
God. I just, I feel convicted. Well, happy is
the man that the Lord corrects. Is the Lord trying
to correct you today? Is the Lord trying to get
your attention today? Does the Lord want you
to repent today? He does. If we're living in
sin, if we're living for ourself, if you're unhappy
today, then listen to the Word of God. God says,
look, I correct you because I love you. I tell
you these things that I want you to do because
they're good for you. I tell you these things
that I don't want you to do because they're not
good for you. So today I tell you, do what makes
you happy. But I also tell you, what makes you
happy is not going to be what the world says
makes you happy. What's going to make you happy
is what the Word of God says will make you happy.
That's the secret to happiness. We just looked
at just these few verses today, and we have unlocked
the secret to happiness. It comes through wisdom.
It comes through understanding. It comes through
the fear of the Lord. It comes through Jesus
Christ. He's our source of wisdom. He's our source
of truth. He is the light for us today. And when
you trust in Him and you seek Him and you live
for Him, I can guarantee you your life is going
to be so much better. If you live for God and
seek Him and follow His commands and love others,
I can just about guarantee you that you're going
to be happier tomorrow than you were today. And
every day that we walk with the Lord will bring
happiness. And every day that we do not walk
with the Lord, Will leave us unhappy. Don't leave
unhappy today. Find joy in Jesus Christ. Let's
pray. God we come to you. We thank you for your
good word. I pray dear Lord that you be with
us today. Maybe for some listening. And some
online. And some here today dear Lord. There's
just some unhappiness in their life. And life
is tough. And it's hard to always be happy dear
Lord. There's going to be tough days and sad
days for us dear Lord. We get that. But what
we really want God is. is a deep, deep happiness,
deep within us, God. And I pray that we would
find that today. And that can only be found through
Jesus Christ. And through your word, dear Lord,
that we would live in obedience to it. That's
where the source of happiness. So God, if there
are some who are unhappy today, maybe there are
some things in these verses that they realize
that they haven't been doing right. I pray that
they would repent, dear Lord. If they feel your
conviction today, that they would repent and
trust in you, dear Lord, to find the source.
of happiness. And I ask these things in Jesus'
name. Amen.