• Psalm 16: 5-9; 68:1-3 • Psalm 97:12 (one translation states “May all who are Godly be happy”) • Ecclesiastes 3:12-13; 5:19-20; • Jeremiah 29:11 • Acts 14:17 • Is the bottom line for God that we are happy? • Ephesians 6:10-12 • Philippians 1:29 • 2 Timothy 1:7-9; 2:3; 3:12 • James 1:2-4 • 1 Peter 1:3, 6-7 • 1 John 3:13 • The path isn’t always smooth. The path isn’t always predictable. The path

isn’t always secure and known. Sometimes your path to blessing will be bumpy.

• If you have the mindset where you believe that if you’re doing everything right then nothing bad will happen to you, then you’re believing a myth. James 5:10-11

• When the bottom line is my happiness, happiness becomes the standard by which I judge my actions. – This becomes dangerous!

• If “God wants me happy is the bottom line” then whatever makes me “happy” must be right, and anything that doesn’t make me “happy” must be bad. Which leads me to believe that any kind of discomfort, any kind of delay, any kind of risk, any kind of suffering, any kind of inconveniences and obstacles can’t possibly be God’s will. – WRONG!

• When we believe the statement that the bottom line is that God wants us happy, it reverses our role with God and instead of us serving God, it makes God our servant.

• God wants you blessed! Happiness is based on happenings and happenings are not always good. Blessings are based on more than happenings. Psalm 112:1. Do you fear God and delight in His word? Then you’re blessed!

• The issue is not what happening in your life or why. The issue is who. Who are you focusing on and who are you becoming?

• John 16:33; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 • You are not the servant of your hardship, your hardship is the tool to

proclaim who you are the servant of. • God is your refuge – Run to Him! - Psalm 9:9-10; 46:1-7; 91:1-6; 142:5-7 • O.T. cities of refuge point prophetically to God and Jesus:

o Kedesh – meant Holy Place. Psalm 46:4; Psalm 24:3-4; Hebrews 10:19-22

o Shechem – meant back or shoulder. Isaiah 9:6-7; 50:6 o Hebron – meant association. To come into relationship. Romans

8:15-17 o Beh-tser – fortress. Psalm 18:2; 31:1-3; 71:1-3; 91:1-2 o Rawmoth in Ghilawd – Heights in the Rocky Region. Psalm 18:30-

33 o Golawn – their captivity: their rejoicing. Psalm 126; 137:4-6;

Philippians 4:4-7; 1 Peter 4:12-13 • He has taken everything upon his shoulders and put the weight of our sins

on his back to allow us to come into a relationship with Him giving us the ability to enter the Holy Place of His presence and to serve as our fortress enabling us to walk in High places even in the midst of suffering and to rejoice in the times of our hardship.

• If He can trust you through the trial, he’ll trust you with the blessing He’s going to bring your way.