How To Be Happy In A World Full Of Unhappy People

Have you ever met somebody who is happy all the time? I mean, they happy when it's raining, they happy when the sun's shining. They happy at holidays, they're happy on work days, they're happy when they're playing, they're happy when they're working. But you've seen other people. It don't matter how good it's going. They are miserable as the day is long. Something's always wrong. They're like glum from Gulliver's Travels. Gulliver will never make it right. And that's their who theme of life. Today I'm going to talk to you about this subject. The simple secret to happiness or how to be happy all the time. Is that even possible? Well, biblically speaking, yes. Like in the natural realm, like naturally speaking, I would say that's probably an impossibility. But biblically speaking. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm going to read something. And I saw this word this morning. I'm like, I've been reading the Bible for decades. I've never seen this word before. I mean, I've seen it. I've read it, but.

So I'm. I'm. I'll be transparent. I've got a little dyslexia going on. Sometimes words move and letters switch places and like, I read stuff that ain't there. So if that makes you feel like you need to judge me, do your thing, baby. Okay, but I'm gonna read a passage to you, and I'm gonna share a word that I'd never seen before. It blew my mind. It's in second Corinthians, chapter four, verses 15 through 18.

This is the first. Like.

Six words are mind blowing or seven words are mind blowing. Verse 15. For all things are for your sakes. I mean, we could just stop right there.

For all things are for your sakes.

What? Okay, I'm not gonna get sidetrackers. Because that's so good that the abundance of grace through the thanksgiving of many.

Redound. That's a word I've never seen before. To the glory of God. Like redound. Like renown, rebound. What's redound? It means superfluous. It means overly abundantly. That the thanksgiving of many over abundantly. To the glory of God. Huh? Glory of God from the thankfulness of many. That's fascinating.

What am I thankful for? The fact that all things are for your sakes. This is so good. It's mind blowing. Simple and yet so good. For which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perished. Okay. Though our Outward man perish. What does that mean? This physical body is deteriorating and getting weaker and dying for.

But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction. What affliction is that? Whatever affliction you in.

Which is but for a moment, for what is your life, it is even as a vapor that appeareth for a little time and vanisheth away.

Worketh for us a far more exceeding eternal weight of glory. Wait. What do you. What our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us? My affliction. When the doctor gives me the terrible news that's working for me. When I get the phone call that I lost a loved one, that's working for me, I'm so confused. When the boss calls me in the office and tells me that security is going to escort me out of the building with my stuff in a box, that's working for me. When my spouse tells me they want a divorce after a decade or two of marriage, you're telling me that's working for me? I'm so confused right now. How could what you're saying possibly be true? All the difficulties that I've gone through in my life. I've been in a wheelchair for the last decade. Two decades, Three decades. I was born blind.

I have a child that has a learning disability. You're telling me that happened for. I ain't telling you. I'm reading.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment. Now, I am not minimizing that. We all go through difficult things. That's clear. That's clear. That's clear in the scripture. In this life, you have tribulation, right? But be a good year. I've overcome the world. Hey, guess what? God said the affliction that you are going through is light. It's not light compared to not going through any affliction.

It's light compared to the reward that you're going to get when you're done going through the affliction.

Are y' all tracking.

By the way? It's easy to be thankful and grateful, by the way. How? How could you possibly be happy all the time? How's that possible? It's easy. Be thankful all the time.

You can't be thankful and unhappy at the same time. When you're unthankful, you're unhappy.

And when you're thankful, you're happy. You can't be thankful and unhappy at the same time. You got to pick one, baby. How many of y' all tracking and so. And then it says, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. But the only way to do that is to do what it says in verse 18. Here's what it says. While we look not at the things which are seen. What? We look not at the things which are seen.

But at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. I am so glad that God revealed this truth to me before I went through the most difficult trial I've ever gone through in my life. I'm so glad I got this awareness, this rhema word, this revelation before I went through it, because otherwise I might have lost my mind.

And what revelation is that? That.

Physicality is not reality.

Oh, if I could help y' all understand. Like, you're going through life reacting to everything that you feel and see and hear in the natural world, and you're wondering why your life isn't working because you're responding.

To temporal things.

That have been ordained by God.

To strengthen you.

And that the enemy sent to deceive you.

What just happened and what happens? We get so caught up in how things look and how things feel and how things sound and what it feels. How hard it is for me to go through this thing right now. Really. So as you're going through this hard thing, are you becoming stronger?

Because.

If you are so focused on the pain of the experience that you ignore the growth opportunity in that experience.

You'Re not becoming better, you're becoming bitter.

And you're becoming bitter.

Because you're not trusting in the sovereignty of God.

I'm going to tell you something. Life don't always give you what you desire.

In fact, it gives you a whole bunch of stuff that you don't desire. And if you don't believe me, just keep on living.

Happiness is the result of thankfulness. And if you can think of an area, Myron, that's an oversimplification. Okay?

Just because it's simple doesn't mean it's not true. And generally speaking, the truth is always simple. It's lies that are complicated.

Happiness is the result of thankfulness. And the Bible tells us where to be thankful.

Because sometimes I'm in a place where it's kind of hard to be thankful. Maybe I'm in a workspace where my boss and my co workers don't appreciate me. Maybe I'm in a marriage where my spouse doesn't appreciate me. Maybe I have children, and they don't appreciate me. Maybe the people that I've given the most to, they don't appreciate me. I've got friends, like, whatever the situation, the Bible tells us where to be thankful. Let's go look at first. Thessalonians 5, 16, 20. This is. This is a parallel passage to Philippians, chapter four. It says, rejoice evermore. Re means to do again, Joyce. Have joy. Again. Again. Have joy when evermore.

Hmm, that's pretty clear. Pray without ceasing. How am I going to do that, though? Here's how. In everything, where do I give thanks? In everything. Give thanks. That's where. In everything. In the hospital room, Give thanks in. This is painful. It's difficult, but it's real. In the funeral home, give thanks. In the unemployment line, give thanks. In the rehab center, visiting a loved one, give thanks.

In an abusive relationship, give thanks. I'm not saying give thanks for the abusive relationship yet.

I'm saying give thanks in it because the scripture tells us where to give thanks. And so if it's telling us to give thanks in everything, guess what that means? I can give thanks and everything. God doesn't. God is not in the habit of frustrating his people. He's not in the habit of giving us commands before he gives us the capacity. If he gives us a command, that's a sign that he gave us the capacity. If he gives us the assignment, that's a sign that he gave us the ability. The ability is there. How do I know the ability there is there? Because the assignment's there.

In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God. How do I know the will of God for my life? I can tell you what the will of God is for your life. Be thankful. Where? In everything. Yeah, but I mean. I mean. I mean, like God's sovereign will. Okay, here's a sovereign will. Be thankful. You know why it's called sovereign? Because he knows everything.

And when you're not thankful, you like. This is not a judgment call. I'm not judging you. I'm just making you aware of something maybe you never thought of before. When you are not living in a space of thankfulness, you are judging God's sovereignty and attempting to replace it with your own. That's real talk. What does that mean? You think you know better what should be happening than God?

Well, this. This is. This sitting is so you don't understand this bad thing I'm going through. I would say you don't understand if that thing you're going through is Bad.

It's painful, but just because it's painful doesn't mean it's bad. It's difficult, but just because. Call it what it is. We haven't lived long enough to know if it's bad.

Are y' all tracking? We haven't lived long enough and died in Christ and seen the Savior face to face. Enough to know if it's good, if it's bad. And.

Second Corinthians 4:15 says, for all things are. For your sakes.

Like I didn't put that in there.

What? What if God is also telling the truth about that? As I like to say, God ain't gonna be right about heaven and wrong about everything else. He certainly ain't gonna be right about heaven and wrong about everything on earth.

I wish I had some heavens here. Hold on. Be thankful. Where in everything are you in something that's causing you pain? Now here's the question. Are you allowing the pain that you're in to cause you to not focus on the grace that God has already given you? And by the way, the word grace means gift. Are you ignoring all the good things that you have in your life that you don't deserve? Let's don't get that part twisted. I don't deserve it either. I don't deserve good things. I'm a sinner. Where my sin is at.

I'm a sinner. I don't deserve the grace of God. God has grace on me because he is good, not because I am good.

And anything good if I have. If everything that happens to me for the rest of my life is painful and difficult and devastating, God is still good to me.

Why? Because I'm not looking at the things which are seen because they are temporal, but I'm looking at the things which are not seen.

It says, in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Okay, that's cool. Guess what it says next. Quench not the spirit. What does that mean?

Does anybody remember what the Bible says the Spirit of God does? It calls all things to what, our.

Remembrance. It's the Spirit of God. One of the Holy Spirit's jobs is, is to remind us of God's truth.

So when I'm tempted to be depressed.

Because that's part of the human condition, and when I'm tempted to be angry and I'm tempted to be sad and downtrodden and disappointed and distraught and feeling hopeless, when I'm tempted to do that, and the Spirit of God says, but what about this goodness that God's given to you? And what about this goodness that God's given you? And what about this grace that God's given you? And you got. You got like, health in your body. You've got soundness in your mind. And you're surrounded by people that love you. What about that? Are you counting your blessings or are you only counting your burdens? And you say, I can't deal with that right now. I'm busy being depressed. What am I doing? I'm quenching the spirit. I'm silencing. That's what the word quench means. It means to squelch. I'm squelching the spirit that's reminding me to be thankful so that I can wallow in this feeling. Because, well, that's what we do. We're human. We're only human, right? No, we're human, but we're not only human.

Can I get a witness? Because the Bible, God's not going to tell us to do this. And we can't do it. If God said do it, we can do it.

And I know, I get it because.

This is like somebody. Like, if it weren't me saying this, it was somebody else, but it is me. So some people say, well, yeah, that's easy for you to say, Myron. You have all this money. Money. You think money can make you happy all the time? Money can multiply your sorrows. Hey, hey, if you can't be happy when you broke, you're gonna be real miserable when you got money. Cause you can multiply the things to be miserable about.

Hey, I was. Hey, I was happy when I was broke. I wasn't happy that I was broke, but I was happy when I was broke. How many are tracking? Why? Because I had gifts.

Like, we. Okay, the scripture says we have two basic human needs. I mean, physical needs. Two physical needs. Do you know what they are? Food and raiment. Something to eat and something to wear. Having, therefore, food and raiment therewith to be content. A house is a bonus. A car is a double bonus. Air conditioning in Florida, that's a kentuple bonus.

And we're going through life so zoned in on what's missing that we're missing everything that's there. And we're not being thankful for it. And we're not being thankful for it. We want God to give us more so we can be thankful for even less of more.

When all we gotta do is like, if you just sat down with a pen and a piece of paper, a pen and a piece of paper, I'm challenge all of you on YouTube, grab a pen and a piece of paper and just start writing down the blessings. Like, when you look at that pad, you can say, thank you, God, that I have sight. And when you start writing, thank you, God, that I have a brain that can comprehend these words. And then when you start writing, thank you, God, that I have hands that are not paralyzed and down by my side, I can write. There are people who've been paralyzed from their neck down, and many of those people are waiting for decades, and they're more grateful than you are.

Why? Because somebody somewhere taught them to focus on what's there and not what's missing.

You can always be thankful. We can always be thankful.

We're not often thankful. Like, here's reality. In the human condition, we're not often thankful, and we're certainly not often enough thankful. It's so interesting.

Like, I am fully aware all day, every day, it don't have to be this good. When I was broke as a joke and ready to choke, I was fully aware all day long that it didn't have to be that good.

See, here's what we know for a fact. We can always find somebody who has less than we have and can do less than we can do. And it's surrounded by less love than we're surrounded by. But we're so zoned in on what's missing in our lives, it's making us miserable from the time the sun comes up till the time it goes back down again. And it. It's. It's. It's literally an affront to the God who daily loads us with benefits.

It doesn't. Like, how's it serving you to constantly be scraping off the scabs of what's missing in your life? How's that serving you?

I get accused of being positive sometimes.

But I'm not. But I'm not positive. In fact, I'm by nature a very negative person.

I am. Like.

It'S my nature. I'm just being honest, to be suspicious.

And to, like.

Keep one eye on somebody.

It's my nature. Like, my first thought is, but what if it doesn't work? What if it goes wrong? Like, what if, like, I am fully aware of the fact that, you know, the great tribulation could start any day. I mean, I'm just keeping it real. Like, I'm biblically aware of that.

You say, no, the rapture happened first. Okay, I'm gonna let you keep believing that. I'm not. I'm. I don't have time to I don't have time to mess with your theology right now. I'm gonna let you do. I'm gonna let you do. I'm gonna let you believe that. But let me ask you a question. If you're believing that and it doesn't happen, then what? Then what you gonna do? Okay, so it's my nature to be negative. Okay. Why? Cuz I am a person with personhood. And if you're a person with personhood, it's your nature to be negative, too. But guess what? I cannot not acknowledge the grace of God in my life when I wake up in the morning fully aware that there are people who went to bed last night who did not wake up this morning.

There are people who went to bed last night who all of their children didn't wake up this morning, or their parents or their spouse didn't wake up this morning. And like, if I don't get another gift all day.

If I don't get another gift all week, that's enough for me to dance hallelujah all around the city of Tampa, hands in the air, shouting and praising God because God has been good to me.

Happy child. I'm happy as a lark in the park.

That is assuming that larks are happy in the park.

Why? I open my eyes and they can see. Think about this. You know how to make yourself look. You have no idea how to make yourself see.

And you can have something other than gratitude and thankfulness for the gift of sight. But, Myron, I don't have sight. Okay? You have the gift of hearing. And you know how to make yourself listen, but you don't know how to make yourself hear. Do you understand? Like.

Maybe this is what it means when the scripture says that when Jesus said, without me, you can do nothing. The gift to perceive that you've received a gift is a gift.

How can I be anything but grateful? Hey, I live in America. Oh, America ain't perfect.

But have you been anywhere else?

I showed.

I've been to other places. Man, I got back here so fast.

I was over in Europe. I took some clients to Europe. One time in Europe, we're at a restaurant and they're from Texas, and they weren't in a hurry and they didn't really talk really fast anyway because they're in their probably late 70s. And we're at a restaurant in Holland, and the guy comes up and wants to take our order. And he says to the lady, that's the older lady that's with us, sir, are you gonna order or not? I can't stand here all day. Oh, yeah, yeah. That's what he said. He wasn't just thinking. It came out his mouth.

Like, well, that was rude.

Right? But they don't do tips over there, so they don't care. Like, would you. I mean, I'm gonna serve you the food, and anything else is a bonus. So what you gonna order? Right? Like, I go to London. I'm just, no offense to London. Like, I go to England, I'm back here fast as I can.

You say, Myron, what are you saying? I live in America. Like, it's not perfect, but I don't know that I could have done this. Well, somewhere else, at least I had a chance. It wasn't a good. Hey, there were some people that might have had a better chance than me, but I had a chance.

Are y' all tracking? We're so zoned in on what's wrong with everything around us that we're missing with what's wrong within us. And what's wrong within us is the fact that we're not counting our blessings.

I can see. I can stand up. I can walk. I may not walk as good as you and so can't run fast as you.

But I can walk. There are people who've never walked a step in their life. Like, do you.

All I'm saying is, I'm saying, like, it's our lack of awareness that creates this lack of appreciation.

And my desire. Here's the reality. Thankful people attract more blessings than unthankful people, period. Because people like giving stuff to people who are grateful for it. I give you something, you look at me and you're like, that's all.

It's going to be a long time before you get another.

And y' all know people like that, right? Oh, you okay? That's okay. Well, thank you. Thank you. Good for you. That was sweet.

To kind of punch you in the face with a compliment. Y' all know what I'm talking about. That's why you laughing.

Be thankful all the time. Tells us when to be. I mean, where to be thankful. Tells us when to be thankful. What did it say? At all times, Rejoice evermore. What does it. In everything. Rejoice in the lord always. Philippians 4. 4, 4. Rejoice in the Lord alway. And again, I say rejoice. When is that alway? Do you understand? It is a biblical command. It is not a suggestion. It is a biblical command. It is a pattern. It is a way of life.

It's a prerequisite to live in a State of perpetual joyfulness. Myron, you don't understand what's going on in me.

Okay, that sounds good, but I don't think you don't. I think the real problem is you don't understand what's going on in your life.

There are people in Tampa right now, in Tampa, who've been in the hospital, visiting the hospital every day with their dying, evaporating, expiring loved ones.

You don't think you have anything to be thankful for?

I'm telling you, it'll change your life. Because you will start to attract people to you when you are grateful that you cannot attract when you are ungrateful.

When the Bible tells where to be thankful. Everywhere, in all things. When to be thankful all the time. So in all things, talks about our position at all times, talks about our priority. Thankfulness becomes a priority. What would happen in your life, what would happen in our lives if thankfulness became the priority?

I'm gonna give thanks to God and I'm gonna give thanks to human. I'm not just gonna feel thankful. Like, feeling is what I like. That's like. I'm aware of it. Yeah, I'm grateful for that. Okay. But then I'm gonna give thanks. I'm actually gonna, like, say the words.

Thank you and mean it.

What if that became our way of life? What if we could actually go through life and appreciate every sacrifice anyone who has ever made, anyone has ever made to do something for us, even if we could have done it for ourselves and just to show appreciation that they cared enough.

All times. Now, this is the hard one, y'. All. I saved the hard one for next to the last. Almost last, last before the next to the last.

Where should we be thankful in all things? When? At all times. Where? I mean, for what should we be thankful for? This is the hard one. For all things.

Lord. How can I be thankful for that, though? Well, here's what it says. Ephesians 5:17. Wherefore be ye not unwise.

But understanding what the will of the Lord is. Oh, there's that will of the Lord again. And that ye be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What?

But, Myron, you don't understand. I just got bad news from the doctor. Giving thanks for always for all things. That's pretty inclusive.

Ain't much. It leaves Out. How can I be thankful for all things always? Because God said so. But.

Like, how, though it seems so hard? Well, he says, wherefore be ye not unwise and understand what the will of the Lord is. First of all, understand that it's the will of the Lord for you. Be thankful always for all things. If it's God's will for you to do it, maybe there's something to it. Wow, that rhyme. That wasn't even intentional. That was one of those accidental rhymes. Okay, okay. And then it says, be not drunk with wine, wherein it's excess, but be filled with the spirit. I don't know if that confused you, but when I first read that, that kind of confused me. Be not drunk with wine, wherein as excess, but be filled with the spirit. What does that even mean? Like, that seems like two opposite ends of the spectrum. Drunk joke over here. Filled with the spirit over here. Why? Because.

When somebody is drunk with wine, the wine controls them.

When someone is filled with the spirit, the spirit controls them.

But there are some. Even though there are some differences, there are some parallels to drunk folk and folks who are filled with spirit that when they first get drunk.

They happy.

The Bible's talking about being happy. Be so full of the spirit that the spirit controls your happiness. How's the spirit going to do that? By reminding you that everything's a gift. Wow. So good.

Then.

Drunk people are generous. Oh, I'm buying drinks for everybody.

Right? Go to the family reunion. One of the uncles gets a little sauce, man. He's giving out money to all the nieces and nephews. Y' all know what I'm talking. That's why you laugh, because you know what I'm talking about, right? And drunk people are generous. But people who are filled with the spirit are generous.

Drunk people. You get a little bit more drunk than you get them past happy drunk, and they get invincible drunk. Get them beer muscles.

What? People are filled with the spirit, are courageous. See the parallels? When you let the spirit control you, it gives you some characteristics that maybe don't come natural to you.

Like speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and making melody in your heart to the Lord puts a song in your heart when you're filled with the spirit and you're giving thanks always for all things unto God the Father, name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So how can I be happy all the time? By being thankful all the time? By reminding myself that when I'm not happy, it's because I'm not thankful. Did you hear what I just Said, see, people think that thankfulness is the result of happiness. You got it backwards. Happiness is the result of thankfulness. It's not the other. Well, as soon as I have something to be thankful for, I'll be happy.

You ain't never gonna be happy because you can't even see what's right in front of you.

Thankfulness is the result of awareness. What awareness is that, Myron number one? It's an awareness of my sinful nature, which means every bad thing that ever happens to me, I deserve it.

And worse.

Oh, is that too. That was too strong.

You too.

But watch this.

None of the good things that happened to me, I don't deserve any of them. I didn't earn any of them. How do I know every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights with whom there's no variableness, neither Shadow of turning. God don't even, like, cast a shadow like he's about to change his ways.

I have good things in my life because God is good, not because I am good.

Whew. Get that one. Let that one marinate.

Any good thing I have in my life, I have because God is good, not because Mary ain't good. My ain't good. If you think Mary's good.

Just don't even be confused about it. I was going to say ask some people around me, but I was like, maybe I don't want them to do that.

Thankfulness is the result of awareness of my sinful nature. Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits. What does it say? Praise the Lord who took me out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay and established my goings and set my feet upon the rock. I didn't do that. No religion did that for me. Only God could do that for me.

My sinful condition gives me a reason to be grateful because I got good stuff in spite of my sin nature. I got good stuff going on in my life spite of my sin nature. Wow. I've trusted in the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ. And I have right now eternal life. I'm not going to get it when I die. I have it right now.

Huh. And I don't deserve it. Wow. Because of my sinful condition.

This is one we need to marinate in.

I need to have awareness if I'm going to be thankful. I need to have awareness of the sovereignty of God.

Sovereignty means he understands it. He knows it.

He's not worried about it.

Because he produced it. He ordained it.

Use one of those Bible words people don't like. He predestined it.

Say what? What my hearing. That sounds like fatalism. No, it's not fatalism at all. Because I have a choice.

But guess what? God is going to do what God's going to do. And when I'm aware of the fact that he is sovereign and he knows how it's supposed to turn out and when it's supposed to turn out, and if it's supposed to turn up, and if it is when it's supposed to turn up, then I don't have any stress in me. I'm not trying to make anything happen because I already know wherever I am in my life, nothing's missing.

I am where I am supposed to be right now. As long as I've been becoming who I've been called to become. And that means I'm Joseph in the pit. I'm Joseph in the pit if it means I'm Joseph in Potiphar's house. I'm Joseph in Potiphar's house. And I'm gonna do my best while I'm in Potiphar's house. And if I get l on and thrown in prison, I'm Joseph in the prison for a crime I didn't commit, I'm going to be Joseph in the prison. And when you're Joseph in the prison, the prison, the warden puts everything under your control.

And if I'm Joseph who gets forgotten about by the butler, then I'm Joseph who's forgotten about by the butler. And if I'm Joseph the prime minister, I'm Joseph the prime minister. And I'm Joseph who finally has a chance to get my brothers back for all the evil they put me through.

I'm not going to take advantage of that. I understand that they meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

And I wouldn't have chosen. And I don't think, just like Joseph, I wouldn't have chosen any of the difficult things I had to go through to make me who I am so I could fulfill the assignment for which I was created. I wouldn't have chosen any of them.

Would you? I get this brace on my leg which helps me walk. And when I don't have it, on crutches, Help me walk. Man, that's so bad. Is it? I know how to walk on crutches. I can walk on crutches with no legs, just hands. How can you do that?

But guess what? There are people whose legs don't work and they don't have any arms.

There are people I've got friends have no arms, have no legs.

And guess what? They're happy. They're thankful. Why? Because they're thankful for what they have. They're not so zoned in on what's missing that they can't. That they're missing what's there.

So all the stuff you think is missing in your life, you want to trade it for your arms and your legs, be thankful. You want to trade it for your sight. You want to trade it for your. You want to trade it to go live in a country where the government is more corrupt than the government in the United States of America. I had to make sure I said that the right way.

And more totalitarian.

You want to go there, like, stop crying with a loaf of bread under your arm. That's what my dad always said to me, boy, you crying with a loaf of bread under your arm. I don't have any bread. Where's the bread? Okay. Anyway.

It'S a lack of awareness of the sovereignty of God. God knows how it's supposed to be going. You know the word that's ruining in your life? I'm going to write it on the board. It's such a terrible word. And it's the kind of word I don't like to use. I don't like to use ever. Certainly don't like to use it in public, but I'm going to write it on the board. This is the word that's destroying your life. Yep, you guessed it. It's the S word.

Should.

God should do this. My wife should do this. My husband should do this, my children should, my next door neighbor should, my brother should, my employees should, my boss should. You should. They should. Everybody should. And they go around should, should, should, should, should, should, should. And I'm telling you, should is the formula for misery.

If you are miserable, it's because you have too many shoulds in your life. The more shoulds you get rid of, the more happy you'll become because you think you know how things.

It's amazing, isn't it? It's a terrible word. It's like, it's terrible to have shoulds for God. It's terrible to have shoulds for other people. It's terrible to have shoulds for you. Well, I should be farther ahead by now. Should you now?

But we do it all the time. And the reason you're laughing, because you know you do.

Awareness of the sovereignty of God. Only God knows what should be.

And if there's no pit and there's no Potiphar's house. And there's no prison. There's no Joseph, the prime minister.

Why? Because the disruption that follows our intention is the thing that makes us strong enough to stay there when we get there.

And see, you want to thank God for a pleasant journey to a place that doesn't matter, instead of thanking God for a difficult journey on the path to your destiny.

But you have to become aware first, not after. Oh, yeah, now I can see clearly. I should have been happy all along. Well, do something about it while you can, baby.

Thankfulness is the result of awareness of my sinful nature, of God's sovereign nature, and of life's short nature. Life is way too short to go through it. Miserable. Way too short. Like, way, way, way too short to go through life. Miserable. Like, you ain't gonna be. You gonna be here for a minute, like, literally for like a blink in the realm in. In light of eternity, and you gonna spend it frowning and pouting and whining and bellyaching.

Okay, that's one way to do it. Life is too short.

But thankfulness is also the result of truthfulness. What did it say in 2nd Corinthians 2:14? Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. Now thanks be to God, which always causes us to triumph. That means the difficulty you are in right now is part of your victory.

The difficulty that I'm in right now is part of my victory. And we're hating it, and we're loathing it, and we're lamenting it, and we're cursing our curses instead of letting them turn us into the person who can stay there when we get there, the person who's strong enough to do the thing.

Scripture makes it very, very clear what the assignment is.

Thankfulness is the result of the awareness of the result of truthfulness. What do you mean, awareness of the result? Awareness is the result of truthfulness. So thankfulness is the result of awareness.

Happiness is a result of thankfulness, and the truth is the result of awareness. The first truth that we need to become aware of is the truth about truth.

Truth is more foundational to life than feelings.

Truth is more foundational to life than traditions.

Be careful not to sacrifice the truth of God's word on the altar of your traditions or on the altar of your feelings or on the altar of your relationships. Be careful not to make that mistake, because the truth about truth is that it's always truth. And there are people out there talking about your truth, my truth, his truth, her truth. None of those animals exist. They're figments of someone's imagination who attempted to get rid of God. The truth is there is no his truth, her truth, your truth, my truth. There's only the truth. And anything that's not the truth is a lie.

For people who want to have their own truth, well, that's your truth. Ain't my truth. I don't own no truth around here. I'm just. I'm more adapted, I'm more adopted. But it ain't mine.

The truth about the truth is this, that it is based on the character and the nature and the intention of God. That's the truth about the truth.

When we understand that the word, the Hebrew word for truth. The Hebrew word for truth is the word I meant.

That was terrible. Marin. Okay.

That'S Aleph and then mem and then Tav. So that's how you spell it. Hebrews from right to right, Hebrew from right to left. Okay. The letter. Every letter in the Hebrew Aleph beit has meaning. It also has a number. This is the first letter in the Hebrew Aleph beit. This is the middle letter, but it also represents the number 40. This is the last letter. It also represents the. The number 400. So Hebrew words are built. They're not just spelled. So part of the nature of truth is we have the beginning, the middle, and the end. What is that showing us? What is that showing us about the nature of truth? It's showing us that you can't know the truth about anything unless you're looking at the beginning, the middle, and the end of it. So if you've seen. If you were there for the beginning and you're currently there for the middle, but you don't know the end. You can't know if it's good or not. Why? You don't have enough context. Only God has that context. And so I have to trust the one who is truth, that if he says it's good, then it's good, even when it feels bad. How many y' all tracking? And so the.

First letter, the middle letter, and the last letter. It's interesting that the word for falsehood is the word.

Sheker. Now, Sheker, these are three letters that are right next to each other in the Hebrew Aleph beit. This is a word for falsehood. And. But in the Aleph beit, they're in a different order. Khafresh, Shin. Okay, let me see.

I think it's. I think this one's first, that one's second. This one's last, I think. Anyway, the important part I'm saying is this. They are three letters that are close to each other, but they're out of order. What does that tell us about falsehood? It only shows us lies. Only show us a small sliver of a thing. And it's always in an improper order. That's the nature of a lie.

This is the letter 300. This is the letter 100. This letter represents 200. Okay, so you say, Myron, what does this have to do with anything? It has something to do with understanding the nature of truth. Separate that a little bit. Okay, so we see. We can see clearly that this. If we add all of this together.

400 plus 40 is what? 440 plus 1. So 4, 4, 1. What's 4 plus 4 plus 1 is 9. Okay. 9 is the number for truth. 100 plus 200 is plus 300 is 600. 6 plus 0 is 6 plus 0 is 6. Okay, so this is the number for falsehood, is 6.

It's also the number for man. Probably because man believes Satan's falsehood. Okay, you say, Myron, what's your point? Well, what is a lie? What's a falsehood? Well, six is an upside down. Not nine. What is a falsehood? An upside down truth.

Mind blowing. I mean, we have to understand the nature of truth itself as a thing. When we understand the nature of truth, we understand life better. Are y' all tracking?

Interestingly enough.

Yeah. Interestingly enough. I'm gonna do this. So nine is the number for truth. Why? Because all of the other numbers from 0.

To 9 have to answer to the number 9. It's the only number that all the other numbers answer to. What does that mean? Well, if you take zero times. I'm sorry, not time, not zero, one. One times nine equals nine. Y' all are good. Okay, two times nine. I don't want you to help me with the rest of these. I got them. 3 times 9 and then 4 times 9 and then 5 times 9, and then 6 times 9, and then 7 times 9, and then.

8 times 9, and then 9 times 9. There we go. 9 times 9. Okay, so let me see. This is equals 1, this equals 2. This equals 3. This equals 4, this equals 5. This equals 6, this equals 7. Oops.

7, this equals 8. How'd I do? Pretty terrible. Oh, unless I go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Oh, that's interesting. Why is that interesting? Because 2 times 9 equals 18. And 1 plus 8 equals 9. And 2 plus 7 equals 9. And then 3 plus 6 equals. Equals 9. And then 4 plus 5 equals 9. And 5 plus 4 equals 9. 6 plus 3 equals 9. 7 plus 2 equals 9. And 8 plus 1 equals 9.

All you say, Myron. What's your point, bro? Here's my point.

At the end of the day, you're stuck with the truth. So you might as well start with the truth and you might as well stay with the truth.

It doesn't matter.

Edward, we're friends for a long time, okay? But I don't think I've ever asked you this question right in front of dad and everybody. And you too, what is your age? 59. 59. Give it up for Eduardo. 59. Okay. What's 5 plus 9? 14. What's 59 minus 14? 45. What's 4 plus 5? 9. 9. It doesn't matter whose age you do that with. It doesn't matter if you do it with a speed limit. It doesn't matter if you do it with a license plate. It doesn't matter if you do it with a birth date. If you will add the digits and the number together until they become a two digit number. If you do that formula I just did, it's always going to come to mind. Why? Because the truth is always the truth. And truth is what brings awareness.

We gotta have the awareness of the truth about truth.

We have to have awareness. I gotta do this quickly. We gotta have awareness about the truth about timing.

What's the truth about timing? Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us the truth about timing. You ready? He hath made everything beautiful in his time. Whose time? Whose time? His time also. He hath set the world in their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God maketh. From the beginning to the end. From the beginning to the end. The nature of truth is. The nature of timing is only God knows when it's beautiful, and it's beautiful in his time. And when it doesn't feel beautiful, it still is beautiful. Ha ha.

So let us trust that we're in the middle of some pain, that that doesn't mean it's bad. Let us trust that when we are in the middle of difficulty, that does not mean it's bad. It just means it's painful. Okay?

And it lets us in on the truth about trouble. Here's the truth about trouble.

The trouble that you've gone through is the thing that prepared you for the triumph that you have no trouble. No triumph, no difficulty, no destiny, no struggle, no strength.

How many are picking up what I'm putting down. If there is no pain, there will be no payoff.

So those of you who think you're going to start thanking God when the payoff shows up, if you're not thankful during the pain, you won't be thankful when the payoff shows up. Because you already have payoffs right now that you're not being thankful for.

How do we, Myron? How can I be happy all the time be thankful all the time?

I know it feels like an oversimplification, but it's not. That's impossible. Not you walk in the spirit.

Because the scripture says if you walk in the spirit, you will not fulfill the loss of the flesh. Let me challenge you every day from now on, for the rest of your life, every time you get tempted, start counting blessings. I mean with a pen and a piece of paper. Sit down and start writing them down. See how long you stay in a stupor. Hope this helps you stay blessed by the best. We'll see you next video.

Have.

If there is no pain, there will be no payoff.

So those of you who think you're going to start thanking God when the payoff shows up, if you're not thankful during the pain, you won't be thankful when the payoff shows up. Because you already have payoffs, right.