TESTED POSITIVE
Make no mistake, we live in a negative orientated world, situations or circumstances lead to us being either positive or negative, you are the first person that decides, choices that you make will open up the door of your mind to the devil, and you must make an inner choice, this is where the battle is, in the mind. Everybody wants your mind, trying to plant seeds in the garden of your mind.
This is no surprise to us as Jesus warns us in His word, John 16:33
I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]
First, we only have peace in Jesus, second the world will give you problems. We are affected by the violence, crime, destructive homes, abusive relationships in this negative world.
Over two weeks ago, I tested positive for covid, how, when, I don’t know, but knowing me I just carried on, in the space of two days I was flat on my back, battling to breathe properly, feeling sick like never. I can honestly understand why so many people have died from this virus, it is a constant fight to breathe, it is a nasty little bug attacking your vulnerabilities, everything that is wrong in your body feels completely worse. I started to think that this is it, this is my end, I am not going to get better, I am going to fail.
I started to question God, my life, my negative thinking becoming destructive, trying to be positive and think positive, I was in this spiral of negativity. You are isolated, alone, sick, and just not in a good mood. Everything around you become negative, people become negative, and it becomes a vicious cycle that goes on and on, sometimes even getting worse. One might think…
‘Thinking about doing something is not a problem, it is only a problem if I act on it’
That is not true, the thought can be the sin, we all know this, what you think, is what you do, what you do is what you are, it becomes your life, we are not to be negative people, the bible tells us in Romans 13:14 to clothe ourselves with Jesus Christ, not the sinful nature.
However just because we have clothed ourselves with Christ and are aware of the destruction of negative thoughts does not mean that we do not have negative thoughts, we might be standing firm, but we will our guard down, negativity attacks. Don’t think that you are above temptation or that you are super spiritual, life has a way of knocking you down. Sometimes we might not be aware that our thoughts are negative, it is always good to be like David and ask God to show us if any of our thoughts are negative so we can get them out of our minds and be led in the right direction, we have to chose it, we have to work at it, we have to have a Holy hunger, to renew our minds to the positive. To see the positive that God has for us, we need to focus on things that are true, honest, that are pure, full of love and just.
But sadly, most of us are not positive at all, when we are bombarded with the lies of the devil, when our minds are centered on wrong thoughts, when situations cause use to be negative and shout why ME?
Fear looks while faith jumps
Positive minds lead to positive lives, while negative minds lead to fear, anxiety. Let us look quickly at six basic fears, fear is deadly, it produces a black hole in your life.
Fear of poverty (not having enough or loss) causing us to hold on to things that are not good for us, physical and spiritual.
Fear of criticism (don’t show because of what people may say)
Fear of your health (always imaging the worse of what can happen)
Fear of loss of love (being suspicious of everyone, no trust, finds fault with people, if you love me, you will do this for me)
Fear of old age (negative side of challenges of getting old)
Fear of death (comes from loss of life) indecision and doubt goes to the very heart of your feeling nature, then they hold you hostage in your own mind,
When your inner thoughts and feeling are in harmony then all is right, there must be a balance. Thoughts can infect your whole body. People ask are you ok; you are not looking so good.
How can we adjust our attitude, to change our thinking, refuse to accept any circumstance that can cause you to be negative? Turn with me to Philippians 4:6-7
6 Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God.
7 And the peace of God [that peace which reassures the heart, that peace] which transcends all understanding, [that peace which] stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus [is yours].
The power to overcome negative comes from Jesus, His love He has for us. We can take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. You are born again are you not then you have the power of the Holy Spirit who abides in you.
How many of you have been around negative people?
How do you feel after a while?
You see we cannot control what comes into our mind, it could be regret, sadness, an angry thought towards a person, these negative thoughts come out of nowhere and they come to take our focus off, remember you are the first person that decides. We must make a decision, not to allow it to run wild, (how many of you get a though of something bad, then you think more about it, what if…)
Let me tell you, a thought has no power on its own, if we dwell on it then we are giving it power to magnify and grow
Hebrews 3:1 tells us to fix our thoughts on Jesus, when we do that, we are focusing on something positive.
Do you ever feel like you are wrestling with your thoughts, like you are on an emotional roller coaster ride?
We have been given weapons to use in this battle of a negative mind, the first one is praise and worship, it is a well-known fact that music uplifts the soul, spirit and your general wellbeing, so why not exalt the Lord, the next weapon we have been given is the word of God, the most powerful book ever written, and still works today.
If we look throughout the Psalms, most written by David, we find that most of the time he was wrestling with negative thoughts, yet as we read, David does a 180 turn and switches his thoughts to positive.
Just by saying I trust (positive thought) in your unfailing love (positive thought). My heart rejoices in the saving grace of Jesus ([positive thought) in an instant we turn things around and we start to thank Him for all He has done, this is positive power.
Yet sometimes we need to remind, to be motivated, to be inspired like an inspirational message, or a motivating story, sometimes we need a happy-go-lucky person in our lives to challenge us, to wake up and shout ‘good morning Lord’
We all need to understand that we are all imperfect and some of us are more negative than others but there is always something positive about them, always think positive, remember the positive.
Maybe in our own negative though we could reach out to someone else who is lost or hurt, win them to Christ, that will always bring positive joy to you, in the end it is our faith in Christ that enables us to be positive, in this negative world,
Let us pray…
