My Month Of Open Heavens: Attitude - Gateway To Our Open Heavens

Welcome to the month of our open heavens. This month Thy Lord will open your heavens. Open Heavens means a lot to many people. Generally it is about a gradual or sudden change of spiritual, material or financial status, from the position of hardship, struggles, frustrations and tightness, to times of ease and prosperity, whether for the individual, family, corporate body, business concern, church or even nations.

The life-style of praying for open heavens has been popularized in our time. Books and devotionals have been written and many more are yet to come to the book stores. Long night meetings are held in our churches with people bombarding heaven with intense prayer for God to rend the heavens. Most times open heaven has been defined as what God does when we fulfill some conditions. For instance when we pay our tithe as mentioned in Malachi chapter three and when we pray as described by what Jesus did when he was being baptized in the synoptic gospels. Whereas there are no quadratic equations (formulae) for God in solving human problems or opening the heavens, a quick search of the scriptures will reveal there are some attitudes that when positively disposed to, God generously seems to suddenly open the heavens. What we all desire is that our Heavens are opened and so my focus this month is what will facilitate or enhance the process of opening of your heavens. That is why I will like to consider what I called: Attitude the gateway to open heavens.

The first question then is what an attitude is:

A predisposition or a tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain idea, object, person, or situation. Attitude influences an individual's choice of action, and responses to challenges, incentives, and rewards (together called stimuli). Attitude is one character that makes a big difference among people, whether in church, the work place or in the community.

It is a very powerful force that many people do not pay attention to and it destroys very quickly. It has to do primarily with the way people react to situations. Attitude goes a long way to show the quality of a person. If your attitude is positive, you will always come to the top. If it is negative, you will come down even if you are on top. There are some people who are always happy no matter their condition. It is attitude. Our happiness and success depend not so much on the problems we face, but how we respond to those problems. A positive attitude can turn situations around for a person. A negative attitude will not solve any problem; in fact it will compound it. Imagine people with attitude of hot temper? A positive attitude towards life and towards whatsoever you are facing will remove the dust from your mind and motivate you to accept the challenge ahead and open your heavens.

Facts about attitude

1. Whereas it could be said that some attitudes are genetically oriented, the fact remains you can choose your attitude, change your attitude, or ignore your attitude

2. Attitudes are the views of a person whether positive or negative.

3. Attitudes could be learned. You can learn to behave in a particular way. That is what human beings call training and discipline.

4. You must have read about the quotation. "Your beliefs become your thoughts,

Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny." What that is saying in essence is that attitudes are habits.

5. Attitudes are perceptions. Perceptions are views or opinions or thoughts on any given matter. In other words Attitude is subjective.

6. Attitudes are judgments. The way you perceive an issue determines the judgment you make on such an issue.

7. Your attitude determines your life style which correspondingly determines your conclusions. Your conclusion decides your conditions. Which eventually determine whether your heaven will open or not. For instance Proverbs 15: 1 says a soft answer turns away wrath. This was demonstrated by the way the Syrophonecian woman handled her case with Jesus and his disciples. Her daughter was sick. She was not of the tribe of Israel. She heard that Jesus was a miracle worker. She needed that miracle badly for her daughter. She approached Jesus with what you will think was a simple demand .But everybody turned against her to the point that she was literarily called a dog. The normal attitude expected at that point was for her to revolt or exhibit a negative attitude, turn back or cause a scene. But No, she said 'comparing me to a dog is not a problem,' she came with superior argument (soft answer) ' that dogs also have entitlement'. Even though Jesus did not commend her attitude but her faith, but a close look will show that it was the combination of her positive attitude and her faith that opened her heavens! Matthew 15:21-28.