John 1:14
Jesus is Full of Grace and Truth
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 15:1-17
The Vine and Branches
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
John 4:23-24
God is Spirit and Truth
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.
1 John 4:7-21
God is LOVE and it is Different from our Love
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Having anxiety most of my life I have often looked for times and places of happiness for relief...What I have come to realize is that happiness cannot be traveled to and found in a location...I do not seem to be any happier in one place more than another...If I was happier in one place, I noticed that it waned over time...I have also learned that what I own does not give me any permanent sense of happiness, nor does any food that I eat, or drink that I might drink...I enjoyed working and having a career, but that also was transient, and is now over...And the old job has changed so much, I do not see happiness in how the old career has changed and how people and technology now do what I used to do...
I have searched the Bible for the ways and words of happiness, in its many verses...And this is what I have found...What I have learned from the Bible is that joy is a little different than happiness...Joy is a more of a Spiritual Experience that comes from God, who is Spirit...Jesus talks about joy and being made complete in joy...Jesus said, if we keep His commands, we will remain in His LOVE, just as He had kept His Father’s commands while on earth and still to this day remains in His LOVE...Jesus told this to His Disciples, so that His Joy might continue to be in them and that their joy may become complete...
So I must believe that joy in life is from Jesus and His Father...They somehow give off this Certain Joy...And, I believe that this Joy comes from the traits Jesus most exudes and practiced in the gospels and practices to this very day...So I believe that His Joy is the relationship with Him and His Father and the Holy Spirit...I believe that His Joy comes from love, living humbly, forgiveness, truth, mercy, and grace and what He most practiced...Or put another way, joy comes from loving others, being humble, being able to forgive others quickly, helping those in need, and finding the One who is full of Truth and Grace...
Jesus' Joy is static and eternal, while happiness is more transient and changing...