1 Peter 1:8 ‘Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:’

DAILY READING; Acts 2:14-47; Deuteronomy 15-16; Job 11

Aristotle Socrates Onassis was a Greek shipping magnate who amassed the world’s largest privately-owned shipping fleet. Popularly called ‘Aristo Onassis’ , his life story was the subject of the 1988 movie ‘the richest man in the world.”
After his death in 1975, his only surviving child, Christina Onassis became the heiress of the Onassis shipping fortune. However, despite all her inherited wealth, Christina Onassis lived a short and sad life. All the money never seemed to make her happy. She was often depressed and weighed down by the sad.loss of her immediate family members.
In 1973, her only sibling, Alexander had died in a plane crash . A year later, her mother died in a drug overdose which was speculated to be suicide.
When her father died in 1975, Christina had lamented “I am all alone in the world now.”
After inheriting his wealth, she lived in absolute luxury and indulgence, hoping to find happiness. She occasionally spent $30,000 to send a private jet from Argentina to America to buy her Diet Cokes. She once ordered a helicopter to fly from Austria to Switzerland to retrieve a music cassette she forgot there.
When friends said they were too busy to spend time with her, Onassis would give them cash, as much as $30,000 a month, to clear their schedules so they could come and stay with her.
Yet all the money could not buy her happiness. She remained additionally saddened by her unfortunate experiences in marriage.
She ended up getting married and divorced four times in her life. Also her struggles with her weight and drug use were widely known.
By age 30 she was diagnosed with clinical depression and on November 19, 1988, at 38 years of age she died in Argentina due to a heart attack brought on by years of drug abuse.

It is often said ‘Money can’t buy happiness.’
However, most of people don’t believe this. We live in a world organized around the unspoken belief that money can buy happiness- if only you have enough of it and if you spend it on the right things.
It may be easy to think that more money will make you happy, but the truth is that you can have all the money to spend and indulge in all your heart’s desires, and still not be fulfilled.
You can climb to the top of the corporate ladder, own homes on multiple continents, and have a bank account bursting at the seams, but still be depressed.
True peace and joy comes from walking in communion with God. Whenever we are surrounded by His Presence we will always have joy unspeakable full of glory. This joy enables us to continually praise God no matter the state of our finances or conditions around us. In every situation we keep blessing God esteeming His presence in our lives more valuable than all the gold in the world.

The truth is that no matter how much money you make, save, invest, or keep, eventually one day, your money will leave you or you will leave your money.
But when you invest your life in seeking God and living for His glory, His presence will abide with you forever and continually fill your life with joy and peace.
Without God’s presence in our lives, there will always be a certain void and emptiness. We may attempt to fill this void with possessions and materials pleasures, but without the Lord, we will always feel unfulfilled.

The joy of the Lord is what gives us the strength and power to overcome in life.
Without Christ holding us up, it is difficult to bear the pains and struggles of life alone.
Many people today are trying to shoulder their struggles alone and they are ending up depressed and oppressed.
But through abiding in God’s presence, we operate from the place of fullness of joy, where we are strengthened to overcome the trials and tribulations in the world.
Prioritizing God’s presence in our lives will make us triumphant and victorious in life. Certainly, as we first seek God and His kingdom, every other thing becomes added unto us.

PRAYER
Lord, please help me to praise you despite any situation, let nothing ever stop the continual flow of your praise from my mouth. I trust that You are in control of my life and I know that even right now You are working out everything together for my good in Jesus name.

QUOTE;
Praise always guarantees you power for a raise. Learning to praise God in season and out of season is key to fulfilling destiny. – WORDBITE 222.