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God's Word says that we can get past four Killjoys to Happiness (Pain, People, Pressure, and Problems) by developing habits of happiness.

The first habit of happiness is that I can be happy no matter what if I see life from God's viewpoint.

“Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.” (Philippians 1:12)

The second habit: I can be happy no matter what happens if I never let others control my attitude.

While Paul is in prison he says there are some people who are attacking my ministry. They slandered Paul, they judged Paul, they criticized Paul. They were gossip mongers.

There were some people who supported his ministry, who were friends.

There were some who competed with his ministry. They’re trying to kick him while he was down.

And there were some who were undermining his ministry. They were trying to destroy him. They were trying to rub it in. He was in prison, they tried to make it more painful.

In Philippians 1:15-17 Paul describes four kinds of people - three of them are killjoys. One is a good kind.

There are critics who are slandering me and who are creating all kinds of controversy. There are comrades - that’s my friends. There are competitors who are preaching Christ out of rivalry. And there are conspirators who just want to make my problem worse. They want to rub it in. They want to kick me while I’m down, while I’m in prison. They are my enemies.

Notice these verses. First verse, verse 15, talking about critics, he says,

“It is true that some preach Christ because they are jealous and quarrelsome.”

That word "quarrelsome" in Greek is the word eris, and it means they love to argue.
Have you ever met anybody like that?
They love to argue. They love conflict. They enjoy creating controversy. They enjoy getting into a cat-fight. These people are contentious. They are divisive. They are critical.

Do you work with someone like that?
Always looking to argue about something or to someone?

Notice God says the critic’s motive is usually jealousy. When people criticize something they’re usually jealous of it.

Would you agree that few things can rob your happiness faster than being criticized?
When you’re criticized at work or you’re criticized by friends or you’re criticized by neighbors, your stomach starts churning.
Why?
Because we all want to be loved. We all want to be approved. We want everybody to like us.

Here's another of God's Happiness Hints - We don’t need other people’s approval to be happy.

• Are you looking to anyone else but the Lord for approval?
  Why?

Rejoicing, On the Victory Side!

Beau

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