September 19. 2022
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right!
What are some examples of positive thinking?
Positive thinking is such a powerful thing! When you have the ability to keep a positive mindset through the challenging and difficult times in life, it will prevent you from developing unnecessary stress, anxiety, depression, worry, doubt, and so many other debilitating emotions. That is why it is critical to establish ways to keep an optimistic attitude even through adversity. Some examples of positive thinking are:
Seeing the bright side of all things-
No matter how bad your situation is, it could always be so much worse. There is someone out there that wishes they could take your place and have the blessings that you have. What happens is that we forget about the roof over our heads, the food on the table, and the fact that we are in good health when tribulation hits. Try to see all things in a brighter light, that way when the storms of life occur, they may wound you but they are not going to take you out! One of the main ways that you can remain in the positive place is by saturating your heart and mind in the Lord’s Word. That is where you will get your joy and strength in the midst of your trial. We have to learn how to count our blessings and approach life thanking the Lord for every bit of what we have because it can be snatched away in an instant.
Congratulating those that are being blessed around you-
It can be a challenging thing to be happy for the people around you that are getting blessed left and right while you are still waiting for your prayer to be answered. It seems like you’ve been praying for the same thing forever and nothing has changed! Be excited for those that are getting blessed because what that means is that the Lord is still in the business of rewarding His children and you could very well be next. These moments are perfect opportunities that you can use to develop your faith. What does the Word of God say about your situation and what you are believing the Lord for? Stand firm on the His promises as you begin to speak and proclaim them over your life!
Remain optimistic-
Maintaining an optimistic attitude will get you so far when it comes to keeping a positive mindset. When you can remain encouraged no matter what is going on; you will be a happier, more joyful, and an overall pleasant person to be around. On the other hand; when you speak negatively, nothing in life makes you happy, you have nothing positive to say about anyone or anything, it can cause an adverse effect on your overall well-being. The enemy loves to attach himself to negativity. Your unfavorable way of thinking will attract emotions like depression, doubt, and hopelessness. Nobody has time for that, stay optimistic in every circumstance knowing that the Lord has the ability to make a way when there seems to be no way, Isaiah 43:16!
This Week's Message: Don’t Let Anything Steal your Joy
Keeping a peaceful mindset can be a struggle; especially if you’re facing trials and tribulations that seem to have no end. Once you come out of this, here comes that and it becomes your normal. You are completely surrounded by chaos, the people in your life are messy, and you can’t seem to silence the negative voices.
It can appear like there is no way that you can find joy in the middle of the storm, but that is a lie from the devil! He likes to take advantage of our vulnerable frame of mind because it is the perfect time for him to plant seeds in your head. Some of the feelings that he will project on you are doubt, fear, hopelessness, and depression. We are to bring those thoughts into captivity into the obedience of Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. Counteract them with the Word of God!
The Lord provides us with so many powerful scriptures that gives us the strength, courage, peace, and serenity to keep pressing forward.
Some examples are:
- Romans 15:13-“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
- Philippians 4:6-7-”Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
- John 16:33-“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
- Psalm 27:6-“And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.”
- Psalm 30:5-“For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”
- Romans 14:17-“for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
These are just a handful of the many Scriptures throughout the Bible that will give you the confidence that you need to overcome the storms of life. Make it a point to proclaim them over your situation, meditate on them, and study them. That way, you have the Word of God in your heart and the Lord will bring these Scriptures to your remembrance when you need them!
Find Peace in the Midst of Chaos:
When our lives are completely upside down it can be very hard to find a moment to just be still. Your job is stressing you out, the kids aren’t acting right, you and your spouse are constantly arguing, and you just cannot seem to catch a break! It will make you want to screeeeeaaaammmm!! I know the feeling and I have been in those type of depleting and stressed out scenarios on more than one occasion. You feel like you literally want to pull every hair out strand by strand, no joke!
When there is no peace in the midst of chaos; it can cause unnecessary pressure, anger, anxiety, fear, and worry. Guess what those feelings and emotions create? They are a breeding ground for the enemy to come into your life, take those emotions and multiply them. It’s what he does best; look for helpless situations that we are experiencing and see how he can slither his way into them.
In order to avoid these moments of stress turning into emotions that we don’t want, we have to learn how to remain calm and serene in the middle of our chaos. You might be thinking, “I’m calm and cool and things don’t really bother me like that.” We don’t realize how circumstances outside of our control can cause us to react negatively until they happen.
We are to remain vigilant, 1 Peter 5:8. We are to be fully aware of the devil’s devices, 2 Corinthians 2:11. One of the ways that he steals our joy is he messes with our peace. That is why we need to be proactive and not reactive because you best believe that your adversary is roaming around like a lion sniffing areas that he can devour, 1 Peter 5:8. Your chaotic situation is exactly what he needs to move himself in rent free and eliminate any peace that you have in your life. Not today Satan!
So, what does the Word of God tell us to do regarding our peace?
Philippians 4:6-7 states, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
The Apostle Paul is telling us through the Holy Spirit that we are not to be anxious, nervous, worried, or apprehensive about anything. So as soon as those emotions begin to rise up in you, remember what these verses of scripture are telling you. Take those feelings and counteract them with the Word of God.
He tells us that we are to pray about everything. So, we come to Him with our worry, and our anxiety, and our fear and we allow Him to take the burdens from us, Matthew 11:28-30. When we follow what His instructions are telling us to do in His Word, we will activate the supernatural peace that surpasses all understanding, Philippians 4:7.
Don’t Stress about the Mess:
The fact of the matter is, regardless of how much you try to avoid it; you are going to encounter messy situations in your life. It is inevitable! What really matters though is how you handle those circumstances when they occur. Are you going to let it stress you out to the point where you have trouble sleeping, or are you going to approach them with spiritual maturity understanding that you can’t do anything about situations outside of your control?
The enemy loves to fester in your stress because what that does is keep you distracted from focusing on God and His will for your life. It will hinder your prayer life, the time that you read your Bible, and your intimacy with the Lord. You may even build up some animosity towards God thinking that it’s His fault that you are in the predicament that you’re in. The devil will feed thoughts in your mind during these sensitive moments that will begin to cloud your thinking.
That is why it is so vital that you get into the Word of God and stay in the Word of God in and out of season, 2 Timothy 4:2. That way you remain prepared when things happen in your life that cause you to question your faith. We are all going to go through trials and tribulations. Matthew 5:45 tells us, “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean that we get exempt from adversity.
The difference between a believer and a non-believer is that we have the Lord Jesus Christ right by our side fighting in the battle with us. As we grow in our Christian walk, the Lord is going to test our faith (His Word) to see if we are actually going to apply what He is teaching us. That is why He lets us know that we need to study to show ourselves approved, 2 Timothy 2:15. Really what the Lord is trying to evaluate is if we are just reading our Bibles just to say that we read it, or are we truly trying to understand what the Lord is saying to us. The tests that you go through will reveal if you are actually digesting and obeying the Word of God.
How are you facing those messy situations when they happen to you? What do the Scriptures tell us about handling stress? These are some of the questions that you can ask yourself when evaluating whether or not you are allowing chaotic circumstances to overwhelm you. A powerful verse of scripture that you can reference when your mess tries to give you stress is:
Isaiah 61:3–“To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
The Lord is telling us in this verse that He will take any situation that you will ever face regardless of how traumatizing, depleting, or exhausting that it may be and He will turn it into something beautiful. He is also instructing us to put on the garment of praise when we feel that heaviness or anxiousness trying to take us over. Meaning that we are to praise the Lord through our difficult times remembering everything that He has already brought us through. What that does is activates His peace and joy that will replace your heaviness!
Silence outside voices:
There is always going to be someone that has something to say: voices that want to criticize, gossip, judge, belittle, bash, blame, and disrespect. You have to get to the point in your life where you don’t let irrelevant outside voices put you in a negative place. It is so easy to snap back at someone that is saying something to you so offensive that you feel like you have no choice but to retaliate. You do have a choice; you can silence those outside voices.
As a Christian, you should have some level of knowledge of spiritual things. We are spiritual beings, God is Spirit, and then there are spirits that are run by the enemy. The fact of the matter is that life is spiritual and when you can view every situation from that lens it will prevent you from being so quick to strike back.
Behind every one of those outside voices that is trying to get a rise out of you, there is a spirit at work. The enemy is using that person as a tool to get you worked up enough to react. Why? Once you fall into the trap of being offended, the devil has you right where he wants you. If he can make you angry enough that you begin to build up animosity and unforgiveness towards someone; he now has a legal right to have access to your life to cause chaos.
Let’s go to the Word of God for the strictures to prove this fact. Matthew 6:15 states, “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” So here the Holy Spirit through Matthew is telling us that we will not be forgiven by God for any wrongdoing that we commit if we refuse to forgive others. This is a spiritual law. But what happens to us when we just can’t find it in our hearts to let the offense go?
Matthew 18:34-35 goes into complete detail about what can happen to someone that holds on to unforgiveness. It states, “And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” Here we can see that the Lord is clearly saying that we will be delivered over to the torturers (the devil and his minions) if we don’t let things go. This is how the enemy gains the legal right to wreak havoc in your life.
That is why it is so significant to silence those outside voices. They don’t need to have a place in your mind. If what is being said to you is not beneficial to your life, ignore it, avoid reacting to it, and mute it. I had to learn this lesson the hard way when I became a born again Christian. I was always quick to react instead of taking a step back and analyzing what the repercussion would be if I did. One of the number one doorways that the devil loves to open up and legally walk in is unforgiveness. Unfortunately, that door is easily accessible.
This week, focus on not allowing anything or anyone to steal your peace and your joy. Whether that means that you are finding peace in the middle of your chaos, or you’re making it a point to avoid stressing over mess, or you are silencing those harmful outside voices. The truth is you cannot change situations that are beyond your control. What you can do is monitor how you respond to them. Trust me when I tell you, nothing is worth you losing the peace and the joy that the Lord has given you. It is a complete Blessing because not everyone can say that they have the Joy of the Lord giving them strength day after day, Psalms 118:14!
If you’ve missed some of the previous Positive Weekly Messages, no worries I am linking them below:
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right! September 12, 2022
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right! September 6, 2022
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right! August 28, 2022
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right! August 22.2022
Other blogs pertaining to this topic are:
Proverbs Scriptures Designed for a Queen!
Proverbs Scriptures that you need in your life Right Now!
3 Powerful Reminders that you need in your Life Now!