By Chris WittsWednesday 18 Mar 2015Morning Devotions with Chris WittsCultureReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
A positive person (and that’s the kind of person I want to be) is not one who refuses to recognize the negative (he knows there are plenty of negatives out there),but he refuses to dwell on them …. Remember there is always the negative and the positive in every person or situation.
And what a positive person does is develop the habit of looking for the best results even from the worst conditions… It’s always possible to look for something good,even when things look bad. And the remarkable fact is that when you look after and seek good you will find it. PEOPLE TEND TO FIND WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR …. NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE ?
For example,let’s apply this principle to a marriage. In your marriage if you’re always looking for the faults,what’s wrong? .. centering just on the negative you are going to be dissatisfied with your marriage. In addition you’ll not bring out the best but rather the worst in your mate. Consequently your whole marriage is going to fall into a nit-picking; negative,destructive cycle. How do you break this kind of cycle in your marriage? Start looking for what is good and focus on that.
If you want things to work out in life – if you want a good attitude – you need to focus on the positive – look for the good in every situation and every person,and you will find it
I do suggest also … TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR THOUGHT LIFE. Proverbs 4:23 says “Carefully guard your thoughts,because they are the source of true life”. What does that actually mean? The Bible has a tremendous way of getting right to the problem,because God knows our thought life needs working on.
Let me share with YOU the 3 F’s of taking charge if your thought life:
#1 FIX; “Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely,and dwell on the fine,good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about it.” (Phil 4:6,7 LB)
We are not to let our mind wander all over the place,but rather we are to take command of it and choose positive thoughts over negative ones.
Would you eat out of a garbage can that not only had garbage in it,but had maggots,poisons etc. To do so would be suicide. Well,the same principle applies if you want to really take control of your thought life … you need to filter the garbage out there.
What are you feeding your mind today ? It matters what we feed our physical body,doesn’t it? Many diseases we have today,from cancer,heart disease to no energy result from an improper diet. It is a fact that eating the wrong things can hurt you. But it is not enough to just stop eating the bad is it. Because if we do not start eating the good we will starve.
In the same way it’s not enough to only filter out the garbage from our minds,we also have to feed on the good.
Garbage in garbage out
Good in – good out
There are many source of good books,music..etc
But the greatest source of good thoughts is God’s word. .. The Bible.
Put God in get God out. Put God’s word into your mind and it will come out in your speech..
Feed your minds on verses such as Ephesians 3:20/Is 41:10/Phil 4:19/Heb 13:6
NEVER SURRENDER LEADERSHIP TO THE NEGATIVE — ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE POSITIVE
When you feel the mighty onslaught of a negative emotion,how do you handle it?
I suggest the best thing is to Admit it. Face it. But don’t give in to it. You see,one way to destroy a negative emotion is to replace it for example:
REPLACE:anger with love
fear with faith
complaining with gratitude
bitterness with forgiveness
judgment with acceptance
feeling sorry for yourself with helping someone else
Learn to pray out your emotions. Learn to cry them out and pray them out until you pray through to victory.
Did you know that Jesus prayed aloud and with emotion? In Hebrews 5:7,we read; “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth,he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him form death and he was heard because of His reverent submission…”
In other words Jesus shows us here by His own example how to pray out negative emotions to our heavenly father.
Hebrews 4:15,teaches us that our high Priest,”is touched by the feelings of our weaknesses…”
I think one of the big issues for us is this .. what is the attitude towards ourselves? How do you feel about yourself? How do you view yourself?
This introduces the topic ..THE AWESOME POWER OF ATTITUDE or put it another way …
“GETTING ALONG WITH THE MOST SIGNIFICANT PERSON IN YOUR LIFE”
Do you know who is the most significant person in your life? The person we are going to talk about today is the key to all of your relationships. If you don’t have a good attitude toward this person,you are not going to get along very well with anyone.
J Martin Kohe in his book,”Your Greatest Power,” tells about an explorer who went to the wilds of Africa. He took a number of trinkets with him for the natives. Among the trinkets were 2 full length mirrors. He placed these mirrors against 2 trees and sat down to talk to some of his men about the exploration.
While talking,the explorer noticed that a savage approached the mirror with a spear in his hand. As he looked into the mirror he saw his refection. He began to jab at his opponent in the mirror as though he was a real person,going through all the motions of killing him. Of course,he broke the mirror into pieces. Seeing this,the explorer walked over to savage and asked why he had smashed the mirror,The native replied,”He go kill me. I kill him first.” All of the trouble however,was with the native himself. It was caused by his own faulty thinking.
Do you know that when it comes to getting along with others; most of our problems are caused because we are our own worst enemy. If we are to master,the art of getting along,we must learn how to feel good about ourselves.