THE QUOKKA!!!

‘The Happiest Animal on Earth!’

  ‘Quokka’ photo by Albert F. Vontz on Unsplash. 

Did you know that according to the WWF Australia (World Wildlife Fund) there are 20,000 selfies with Quokka on Instagram?  (#quokkaspiration.)  Celebrities like Matt Damon travel all the way to Australia, just to get a selfie!  Why?  Because they wear a permanent smile and are just sooo cute! (See photo above).  

They are found in only one place, Rottnest Island off the Coast of Australia.  They are a marsupial about the size of a cat.  They hop about on their back legs.  These little guys are not territorial and are happy to share space and food!  There is a lot of them on the island.  They wander into shops to say ‘Hi’ to everyone!  No wonder everybody loves them.  But, they are vulnerable and if you touch or feed one you will get a hefty fine….So keep your distance.  

The Quokka reminded me of the book I read called, ‘The Happiest People on Earth’!   (A must read!).  The story of Demos Shakarian and the birth of ‘The Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International. 

In the book, Demos reveals the secret to happiness.  ‘God tells each of us to go.  Go with whatever gift He has given – knowing that when we find that gift and use it, no matter what the condition of the world around us, we will be the ‘happiest people on earth.’  
He called his corn field ‘the green cathedral!’  A place where he could pray and praise God with abandon!  He is quoted as saying, ‘God was so real to me.  His love was so profound, you want to be with Him always, He was part of every moment of every day.’  God honored him and his wife and with His leading, established the ‘Full Gospel Men’s Fellowship International’, an organization of Christian laymen.  At the time of the books publication in 1975, it had more than one million laymen meeting every month in chapters worldwide!!! 

The secret to happiness, to get a permanent smile on your face like the quokka is first to know God and His son Jesus Christ!  What everyone wants above all else is to be loved!  The truth is, (to quote my pastor) ‘God loves you and there is nothing you can do about it!’

GOD IS LOVE!  ‘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.’  1 John 4:16. 

If you know Him, He will put a smile on your face because, ‘In His presence is fullness of joy; at His right hand are pleasures forevermore.’.  ‘His love is better than life’.  
Psalm 16:11 and Psalm 63:3.

‘God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us!’  Romans 5:8. When we receive Christ, we are reconciled (reconnected) to God and now we say, ABBA Father!  God is now our Father and the scripture makes it clear that He will never ‘leave us or forsake us!  Reconciliation to God is the meaning of life!
‘The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.’  Deuteronomy 31:8.

AND, ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?’  Romans 8:35.

And I pray for you, ‘that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.’  Ephesians 3:17-19.

HE PUT A SMILE ON THE QUOKKA 
AND HE WILL PUT A SMILE ON YOU!