DAILY BIBLE VERSES AND PRAYER THOUGHTS:

MONDAY - VERSES: Did you know joy is mentioned in 155 verses? 1 Chronicles 29:9-13; 2 Chronicles 20:27-29; 30:23-26 PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank God for all the things that should bring joy to your life.

TUESDAY - VERSES: Nehemiah 8:8-12; 12:43-46; Esther 8:15-17; 9:22 PRAYER THOUGHT: Ask God to help you have a cheerful outlook no matter what the external circumstances are.

WEDNESDAY - VERSES: Psalm 5:11; 30:5; 42:1-11 PRAYER THOUGHT: Ask God to forgive you of times when you have grumbled and complained instead of counting your many blessings.

THURSDAY - VERSES: Laughter is mentioned in 38 verses. Genesis 17:17; 18:12; 21:6 (Isaac's name means laughter); Psalm 126:1-6; Luke 6:21,25 PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank God for creating humans with the ability to smile and laugh and ask Him to help you use these gifts in the best ways.

FRIDAY - VERSES: Isaiah 51:11; Jeremiah 31:11-14; John 16:20-22 PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank God for those who help you to be more cheerful.

SATURDAY - VERSES: A form of the word rejoice is found in 219 verses. Proverbs 25:20; Philippians 4:2-4; 2 Corinthians 1:11,12,24; Romans 16:3,9 PRAYER THOUGHT: Ask God to help you find a way to help someone else who needs to be more cheerful.

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I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition. - Martha Washington

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ASSIGNMENTS

1. Daily read over this material and read or sing the song.

2. Place the scripture where you will see it each day.

3. Think of times when cheerfulness has helped you feel better.

4. Write down the ways you have practiced cheerfulness.

5. Plan to tell the class how you have improved your health by practicing cheerfulness, or tell how you have had poor health because of unhappiness or the lack of cheerfulness.

SPIRITUAL HEALTH REGIMEN - WEEK 32

CHEERFULNESS - 2-24-13 TO 3-2-13

SCRIPTURE - Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

COMMENT - Cheerfulness is of great value to us physically, emotionally, mentally, socially, and even financially. It is like aspirin to a headache. Conversely, unhappiness can do great damage to us physically, emotionally, mentally, socially, and even financially.

SONG – IN SORROW I WANDERED

1. In sorrow I wandered, my spirit oppressed, But now I am happy securely I rest; From morning till evening glad carols I sing, And this is the reason: I walk with the King.

2. For years in the fetters of sin I was bound; The world could not help me no comfort I found. But now, like the birds and the sunbeams of spring, I'm free and rejoicing; I walk with the King.

3. O soul near despair in the lowlands of strife, Look up and let Jesus come into your life; The joy of salvation to you He would bring; Come into the sunlight and walk with the King.

REFRAIN: I walk with the King, hallelujah! I walk with the King, praise His name! No longer I roam, my soul faces home, I walk and I talk with the King.

THOUGHTS

Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.

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A bad marriage can depress the body's immune system. Unhappily married women have subnormal levels of white blood cells (which destroy infections) and increased herpes virus activity. Other immune system depressants: Stress and loneliness. - Janet Kiecolt-Glaser

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THE VALUE OF A SMILE

It costs nothing, but creates much. It enriches those who receive without impoverishing those who give. It happens in a flash, and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None are so rich they can get along without it, and none so poor but are richer for its benefits. It creates happiness in the home, fosters goodwill in a business, and is the countersign of friends. It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and nature's best antidote for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is no earthly good to anyone until it is given away. And if in the course of the day some of your friends should be too tired to give you a smile, why don't you give them one of yours? For nobody needs a smile so much as those who have none left to give!

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HAVING A BAD DAY? Just remember, it could be worse...

1. The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was $80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers. A minute later, in full view, a killer whale ate them both.

2. A psychology student in New York rented out her spare room to a carpenter in order to nag him constantly and study his reactions. After weeks of needling, he snapped and beat her with an ax.

3. A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen, shaking frantically with what looked like a wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle. Intending to jolt him away from the deadly current she whacked him with a handy plank of wood by the back door, breaking his arm in two places. Until that moment he had been happily listening to his mp3 player.

4. Two animal rights protesters were protesting at the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn Germany. Suddenly the pigs, all two thousand of them, escaped through a broken fence and stampeded, trampling the two protesters.

5. A terrorist, Khay Rahnajet, didn't pay enough postage on a letter bomb. It came back with "return to sender"stamped on it. Forgetting it was the bomb, he opened it and was blown to bits.

Your day's not so bad after all, is it?

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Across all ages and races, Americans who live alone die at a much higher rate. For example, divorced men in the under 65 ages group have considerably higher mortality rates for a number of diseases than their married counterparts. Their death rate is twice as high for lung cancer and strokes, three times as high for diseases related to hypertension, and seven times higher for cirrhosis of the liver.

How do you know when you're getting old?

* Everything hurts, and what doesn't hurt, doesn't work.

* You sit in a rocking chair but can't get it going.

* You look forward to a dull evening.

* You join a health club and don't go.

* Your little black book contains names ending only in "M.D."

* Your children begin to look middle-aged.

* You dim the lights for economic reasons, rather than romantic ones.

* You sink your teeth into a steak, and they stay there.

* Your favorite part of the newspaper is "25 years ago today."

* Your back goes out more than you do.

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"Happiness," intoned the philosopher, "is the pursuit of something, not the catching of it."

"Have you ever, " a listener wanted to know, "chased the last bus on a rainy night?"

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Have you had a good laugh lately? Dr. Fry calls laughter, "a stationary jogging -- there is hardly a system in the body a hearty laugh doesn't stimulate." A few years ago, Norman Cousins, famous editor of Saturday Review, actually cured himself of a deadly form of spinal arthritis using massive doses of vitamin C -- and a tremendous amount of laughter every day. More than 60 years ago, the world famous physical culturist, Bernard MacFadden, wrote about laughter as a form of exercise. He and his followers derived so much benefit from laughter as an exercise that he called it his "Laugh Cure."

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A MERRY HEART DOES GOOD

INTRODUCTION - Prov 17:22

I. A MERRY HEART IS LIKE MEDICINE TO YOURSELF - Proverbs 12:25; 15:13,15; 17:22; 18:14; 2 Corinthians 2:6-7 & 7:10

II. A MERRY HEART IS LIKE MEDICINE TO OTHERS - 2 Corinthians 2:3; Philippians 2:1-4; 4:1

III. WHAT PRODUCES A MERRY HEART - Psalm 144:15; Job 5:17; Proverbs 3:13; 16:20; Romans 14:22; John 13:17

CONCLUSION: DO YOU HAVE A MERRY HEART? IN CHRIST YOU CAN!

A MERRY HEART DOES GOOD

INTRODUCTION

A. Prov 17:22 A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

B. Have you had a good laugh lately? Dr. Fry calls laughter, "a stationary jogging -- there is hardly a system in the body a hearty laugh doesn't stimulate." A few years ago, Norman Cousins, famous editor of Saturday Review, actually cured himself of a deadly form of spinal arthritis using massive doses of vitamin C -- and a tremendous amount of laughter every day. More than 60 years ago, the world famous physical culturist, Bernard MacFadden, wrote about laughter as a form of exercise. He and his followers derived so much benefit from laughter as an exercise that he called it his "Laugh Cure."

C. The doctor finished the exam and talked with his patient who suffered from an ulcer. The patient was quite concerned about what the doctor had said: "Doctor, I'm worried about the fact that worrying about my ulcer might make it worse!"

I. A MERRY HEART IS LIKE MEDICINE TO YOURSELF

A. A MERRY HEART COMES FROM POSITIVE ENCOURAGEMENT - (Prov 12:25) Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad.

B. A MERRY HEART SHOWS IN THE FACE - (Prov 15:13) A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

C. A MERRY HEART IS LIKE A CONTINUAL FEAST - (Prov 15:15) All the days of the afflicted are evil, But he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.

D. A MERRY HEART WILL OVERCOME AND GUARD FROM SICKNESS

1. (Prov 17:22) A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

2. (Prov 18:14) The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit?

E. SORROW CAN CONSUME - (2 Cor 2:6-7) This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, {7} so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.

F. SORROW LEADS TO DEATH - (2 Cor 7:10) For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

II. A MERRY HEART IS LIKE MEDICINE TO OTHERS

A. THE VALUE OF A SMILE

It costs nothing, but creates much.

It enriches those who receive without impoverishing those who give.

It happens in a flash, and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.

None are so rich they can get along without it, and none so poor but are richer for its benefits.

It creates happiness in the home, fosters goodwill in a business, and is the countersign of friends.

It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and nature's best antidote for trouble.

Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is no earthly good to anyone until it is given away.

And if in the course of the day some of your friends should be too tired to give you a smile, why don't you give them one of yours?

For nobody needs a smile so much as those who have none left to give!

B. (2 Cor 2:3) And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all.

C. (Phil 2:1-4) Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, {2} fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. {3} Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. {4} Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

D. (Phil 4:1) Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.

E. "Let no one come to you without feeling better and happier when they leave."

III. WHAT PRODUCES A MERRY HEART

A. HAVING GOD AS YOUR LORD - (Psa 144:15) Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!

B. HAVING THE DISCIPLINE OF GOD - (Job 5:17) "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.

C. HAVING TRUST IN GOD - (Prov 16:20) He who heeds the word wisely will find good, And whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he.

D. FINDING WISDOM - (Prov 3:13) Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding;

E. HAVING A PURE CONSCIENCE - (Rom 14:22) Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.

F. DOING WHAT JESUS SAYS - (John 13:17) "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

CONCLUSION

A. WE TEND TO LOOK FOR HAPPINESS IN THE WRONG PLACES

B. WE THINK, "IF MY CIRCUMSTANCES WERE DIFFERENT, I WOULD BE HAPPY" IF I COULD JUST GET AWAY FROM IT ALL"

1. TRUE HAPPINESS DOESN'T COME FROM WHAT IS AROUND US BUT FROM WHAT IS ABOVE US = GOD.

2. TRUE HAPPINESS DOESN'T COME FROM OUR VIEW BUT FROM OUR VIEWPOINT.

3. TRUE HAPPINESS DOESN'T COME FROM OUR ALTITUDE BUT FROM OUR ATTITUDE.

C. IT SEEMS THAT NO MATTER HOW MUCH OUR CIRCUMSTANCES CHANGE WE STILL AREN'T HAPPY

D. WHAT WE REALLY NEED IS TO ASK GOD TO CHANGE US

1. IN CHRIST WE ARE NEW PEOPLE - (2 Cor 5:17) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

2. IN CHRIST WE CAN BE CONTENT (HAPPY) IN WHATEVER SITUATION WE FIND OURSELVES IN - (Phil 4:11) Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:

E. DO YOU HAVE A MERRY HEART? IN CHRIST YOU CAN!

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.