Anointed but Not Happy

I’m treading the line with this one, but I know in my heart this is where a lot of people are. I’ve been there. Truth is, this place is real, and many people are experiencing it. You are called but depressed. You are anointed but you struggle with rejection and loneliness. You enjoy your ministry, but you don’t like your life. And because ministry can be a place of solace, it can also be used as an escape, which can make ministry addictive. In other words, people can add more ministry engagements to their calendar because that’s where they find themselves the happiest and after the service is over, they fall into this slump. But let me warn you; more ministry doesn’t equal happiness. It equals a busier schedule and eventually resentment to God because you served Him, doing His work, but you’re not where you want to be in the life He has given you to enjoy.

Happiness is really not the pursuit here; it’s joy. Happiness can usually be based on what’s happening. Even though there’s nothing wrong with being happy, we must come into agreement that happiness should not be placed in the hands of another person, a thing that can be taken away, or an achievement that hasn’t come yet. Of course, no one wants to feel stuck and stagnant, but to mature in this season, we should not blame others for our unhappiness. We should ask Holy Spirit what happened for us to start feeling unhappy and receive His courage to confront it. God is not just concerned about what you do for Him; He’s concerned about how you live, your state of mind, your heart attitude, the motives and intentions of your heart, and your perspective of life.
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Let’s take a moment to let the church face go. The “blessed and highly favored” responses to greetings and salutations…let them all go. Where did we lose our joy? What happened to us to not like our lives? I know this can be a painful place but take a moment to think about it. Let it bubble up in your heart. Feel it. Let Holy Spirit, the Wise Counselor, reveal this to you. Once Holy Spirit gives you revelation on this, ask Him for the strategy in which to heal. Commit to it. Ministry, people, achievements, money, and anything else in life are all extra-curricular. If you don’t have a solid stability within who you are in Him without all of this, you won’t be consistently happy with any of it.