February 2, 2011

Negativity

So, this has been a post that has been on my mind for quite a while now. It's a very touchy subject for me, and something that I struggle with way too much in my life. By the grace of God, I have made great strides in this area, but it is a constant battle for me. It's just way too easy to be negative!

Philippians 4:8 tells us - "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

There is no room for negative thoughts, words or actions anywhere in that scripture! The Bible talks often about your thoughts, renewing your mind, the power of your testimony, and how powerful your words are. These things need to be intentional....nobody is "up" all the time. Nobody is completely free from negative thoughts, but the difference comes in what we do when those thoughts and feelings come. Do we dwell on them, and then release them for the whole world to hear? Or do we renew our minds with those things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable? I wish I could say I do the renewing more often than I do!

Have you ever noticed that if you allow one, little seemingly insignificant negative thought to take root, it very quickly blossoms into a huge tree of negativity before you even realize it? It's amazing how quickly that little thought can become a really bad day....or two.....or three.....

Romans 12:2 says "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." but it doesn't stop there....the same verse continues...."Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing, and perfect will." Wow! The Message says it this way...."Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." We live in a negative world. Just look at the news. There are people everywhere doing good, but what makes the headlines? What are all of the top stories? All the negative, the bad, the ugly. To find the stories of the people making a positive change in our world, we have to dig....and sometimes they're still untold! But we can find out any negative statistic in a heartbeat. Gossip is all about what someone has done wrong, or had done wrong to them by someone else, but it's few stories we hear of blessing and favor. To talk of being blessed or blessing someone else has, for most people, become embarrassing! How sad it is for us that this is the world we live in! We need to rise above it!

Will the negative thoughts still come? Of course! WE need to be the difference! I failed this miserably this past weekend. I'm not gonna lie....I was in a seriously fast, downward spiral....and it took a lot to pull myself out of it! It all started with me feeling sick, and not being careful to guard my thoughts! The enemy of our souls will attack the hardest when we are down, and believe me, he knows how to get you down!! We need to know our enemy, and our weaknesses, so that when he tries to come in to rob us of our blessed life, we can STAND, and FIGHT, and TAKE HIM OUT!!! The fight was already fought, and the war was already won for us....we just need to remember that we are the victors! I think we (I know I do this) get so caught up in the fight, that we let it drag us down, and we give in to the negative thoughts that are like a weight around us, and we forget that Jesus already paid the price for us to be free!! This is why it's so important to know the Word, and have it in you, so that you can be prepared when the attacks come. The Word is our sword, and we won't take any ground without our weapons! We need to come against those thoughts with our swords swinging! We need to keep our minds stayed on Christ!

I want to encourage myself, and you as well, to guard against negativity! Stand on the Word of God, and the promises that He has made you! Believe what He says about you! Know who you are and who you belong to - and STAND VICTORIOUS!! This is a fight that comes constantly, and we have to be actively fighting. We lose if we become complacent. That's what happened to me, and I don't want it to happen to you!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Today is a new day for us all! Let's be world changers....one positive thought at a time! Just imagine what this world would be like if we all chose to focus on the positive, and not the negative.....