7 things you can do to ensure happiness in 2024

So many of us can’t wait to see the end of 2023 and are looking to what we can do to ensure greater happiness in 2024.

The past year has brought much volatility and instability including ongoing fighting in the Ukraine and tremendous turmoil in the Middle East. Ongoing wars have led to increased costs, energy price hikes and many people struggling to make a living.

All of these things require us to put our renewed trust in God and a greater dependence on His Word. Despite any challenges we face, there’s much we can do to ensure our ongoing happiness in 2024. Especially if you believe God holds your future in His hands. Be encouraged to go deeper with God as you do these seven things.

Here’s how you can have happiness in 2024

1. Live a Prayer-filled Life

Prayer is simply communication with God. Don’t get caught up on a new year’s resolution to pray for a specific time each day. We know such resolutions don’t last. Rather decide to commune with the Father all day long, whispering prayers to Him as your day unfolds. As your relationship with God grows you will find yourself praying in the Spirit whenever you find time. If you are married, pray with your spouse regularly because prayer brings intimacy into your relationship. It also brings God’s wisdom into your life as you trust Him for the direction you need, every step of the way.

2. Be full of God’s Presence

Our Prayer for you is that you will be filled with God’s presence. We know that God inhabits the praises of His people so be sure to praise and worship Him no matter what situation you find yourself in. It is the presence of the Lord that brings ‘fullness of joy”. This is what brings the greatest happiness into our lives so take the time to bask in His presence.

Be Still (For the Presence of the Lord is Here) is a great worship song. Meditate on these words from the lyrics.

3. Discover your God-given Purpose

God has a plan and purpose for each person on earth. Through prayer, praise and worship find out what God has called you to do. We are told in Scripture to write the vision, make it plain so we can run with it. Having a vision from God makes you bold. Even in the face of attack, you have the confidence that the Lord is with you. You may have heard the expression, ‘When others see a shepherd boy, God sees a King’. Find out how God sees you and what He calls you. Remember he described Gideon as a ‘Mighty Man of Valour’ while he was hiding away in a wine press. Know God’s purpose for your life, and boldly walk out His vision for your life to ensure happiness in 2024.

4. Develop your gift of Perserverance

Patience and long-suffering are gifts of the Holy Spirit. Our prayer for 2024 for you is that God would give you a resilience that you have never experienced before. Some may call this fortitude or acumen, but it is basically the capacity to perservere no matter what life throws at you. We have the promise of God that if we don’t grow weary we will finally reap a harvest if we don’t give up. We pray that God would strengthen you in your inner person and give you the boldness to accomplish all He has called you to do.

5. Trust in God’s Protection

God has given us many great and precious promises in His Word. One of these is that we can trust in Him for His protection. Now sometimes we may have to endure stormy seas, but if Jesus is in your boat, He will calm the raging waters. We also have the promise that even if we go through fire, it shall not burn us. We know that even if we pass through the valley of the shadow of death it shall not affect us. Seek God in the storm, find Him in the valley and believe that goodness and mercy will always follow you wherever you go!

6. Walk in divine Prosperity

Remember Jesus came to bring us abundant blessing. It is the enemy, Satan who comes to kill, steal and destroy. God wants us to prosper and be in health even as our souls prosper. As we walk in His presence He gives us the creative ideas to do well. The Bible tells us that God delights in the prosperity of His servants. This is not some ‘get rich quick’ scheme, but rather a long-term dedication to sowing and reaping where God blesses your harvest so you can be a blessing to others.

We are born to be a blessing and God blesses us because He has someone else in mind. He doesn’t want us to be a stagnant pool, like the Dead Sea which has no outlet. He wants us to be a river of blessing that never stops flowing. Let God make you into a conduit of His blessing in the year ahead, receive from Him and pass it on.

7. Rest in the Peace of God

Jesus is the Prince of Peace and when He comes into our hearts He brings His peace that passes all understanding. The Bible says we should let this peace rule in our hearts like an umpire. That way we won’t be tossed around by fear and anxiety. Rather, we will have the inner assurance that only comes from knowing God, that sweet shalom that sustains us every day. May you have A Greater Measure of Shalom in your life.

If you follow these seven steps you can be assured of happiness in 2024. Our Prayer for 2024 for you and yours is that God would use the new year ahead to restore all that was lost in your life during the past years and pour out His abundant blessing upon your family.

Also read: Sometimes our life’s biggest battle lies within our own thinking

Al Gibson

Wordsmith, overcomer and exhorter. Al has a degree in Journalism and Media Studies and years of communications experience in Africa, the UK, Israel and USA. He left South Africa in 2001 and worked for GOD TV in England for 18 years. He now heads up Countdown Creative, a content creation business in Exeter. Al is the author of three biographies. Blogs he writes for include GODTV.com; International Christian and UK and US Christian.