Was I happy?...

Positive Minds

by Joyce Meyer - posted March 08, 2017

Jesus said, Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed.…
—Matthew 8:13

Sometimes when I stand behind the pulpit, and before I speak, I pause and my gaze sweeps across the audience. I look at the faces of the people. I love to see the bright smiles and expressions of anticipation, but there are always a few who look downtrodden and discouraged. I don't know anything about them and I don't want to judge them, but their faces look sad. They look as if they have lost hope and expect nothing positive to happen—and too often, they get exactly what they expect.

I understand those discouraged people; I was once one of them.

Here's a simple fact I've learned: Positive minds produce positive lives, but negative minds produce negative lives. The New Testament tells the story of a Roman soldier whose servant was sick, and the soldier wanted Jesus to heal him. That wasn't uncommon—many wanted Jesus to heal them or their loved ones in those days. But this soldier, instead of asking Jesus to come to his servant, expressed his belief that if Jesus would just speak the word, his servant would be healed (see Matthew 8:8). Jesus marveled at his faith and sent out His word to heal the servant. The soldier's positive mindset—his faith—brought positive results. He expected healing, and that's exactly what happened.

Too often, we cry to Jesus to heal us, to take care of our finances, or to deliver us from problems, but we don't fully expect the good things to happen. We allow our minds to focus on the negative aspects. Doubt and unbelief war against our minds and steal our faith if we allow it.

As I wrote in my book Battlefield of the Mind, many years ago I was extremely negative. I used to say that if I had two positive thoughts in a row, my mind would get in a cramp. That’s an exaggeration, of course, but that’s how I saw myself. I lived with the same philosophy that other people have: If we don't expect anything good to happen, we won't be disappointed when it doesn't.

I could have excused my negative attitude by telling everyone about my disappointments in life and I had many. It wasn't just my lack of expectation. It was more than that. Because I thought negatively, I spoke negatively. When people told me of their spiritual victories, I'd think, That won’t last. When people spoke of their faith, I'd smile, but inwardly I would think that they were gullible. I could always figure out ways that plans would go wrong or people would disappoint me.

Was I happy? Of course not. Negative thinkers are never happy. It's too long of a story to explain how I came to face that reality, but once I realized what a negative person I was, I cried out to the Lord to help me.

I learned that if I kept studying the Word of God, I could push away negative thoughts. God's Word is positive and uplifting. My responsibility was to become the kind of believer who honors God with her thoughts, as well as with her actions and her deeds.

I understood the remorse David must have felt when he wrote Psalm 51: Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love... is the way he starts. I especially meditated on verse 9: Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my guilt and iniquities. I hadn't sinned the same way David did, of course, but my negative thinking and bad attitude was sin. It wasn't just weakness or a bad habit. When I focused on negative thinking, I was rebelling against God.

The Lord had mercy on me. As I continued in His Word and in prayer, He freed me from Satan's stronghold. 

Freedom is available for all of us.

Gracious God, thank You for every deliverance in my life. Thank You for setting me free from negative and wrong thinking. Thank You for defeating Satan in this area of my life. Amen.

Just Imagine!

By Joe Osteen – Posted March 8, 2017

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:

…and now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them."
Genesis 11:6, AMPC

TODAY'S WORD:

How often do you stop and think about what you are thinking about? So often, people live with their minds on autopilot, taking in whatever thoughts come their way. But if we are going to rise up higher the way God intends, we have to determine to make sure our thoughts line up with God’s thoughts. 

Seven times in scripture God asks, “What do you see?” God is interested in our vision. Before your dream comes to pass, you have to see yourself accomplishing that dream. You’ve got to get a picture of it. Before you lose the weight, before you break the addiction, you have to see it happening in your imagination. 

Today, instead of thinking about your problems, think about God’s promises. Get a vision for what He has in store for your future. Imagine yourself living in victory. Imagine yourself healed. Imagine yourself walking in abundance. Imagine yourself blessing other people. Just imagine what God has in store for you because nothing is impossible with Him!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Father, today I set my heart and mind on You. Give me Your vision for my future. Help me to see myself the way You see me so that I can imagine and live in the blessing You have in store for me in Jesus’ name. Amen.

COME AS YOU ARE AND RECEIVE

By Joseph Prince – Posted March 8, 2017

Matthew 15:27

And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

Come as you are to the Lord with your need, and lean on His unfailing and unconditional love for you. You don’t have to pretend to be more than what you are to receive the blessing you need from God. You don’t have to pretend to be someone else to appear more deserving to receive from God.

A Canaanite woman desperately seeking healing for her demon-possessed daughter came to Jesus. (Matthew 15:22–28) Knowing that He healed and did miracles among the Jews, she pretended to be a Jew, calling out, “O Lord, Son of David!” (Only the Jews addressed Jesus as the “Son of David”.) Jesus did not answer her. His silence made her drop her pretense and cry out, “Lord, help me!”

Only when her pretenses had melted away did she see the grace of God extended to her. Jesus made a way for her to receive her miracle even though it was not yet time for the Gentiles to receive His blessings. He told her, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

Many people might be offended at being called a “dog”. Actually, the Greek word used here by Jesus means “puppy”, and is thus an affectionate rather than offensive term. So this woman was not offended. In fact, she knew then that she could receive healing for her daughter because even puppies get to eat what falls from their masters’ table.

She saw that the crumbs under the Master’s table were enough for a Gentile, a “little dog”, like herself. You must understand that the Jews then considered Gentiles dogs. But what Jesus was trying to say was that He was called to the Jews first, not the Gentiles. Yet, He loved this Gentile woman and her daughter enough to provide a “loophole” for them to receive their miracle.

So when the Canaanite woman took her place by dropping the title “Son of David” and just leaned on Jesus’ compassion for her, her daughter was healed from that very hour.

If God was willing to extend His grace to a Gentile, how much more you, His beloved child! You do not need to depend on pretensions to receive a miracle from Him. Come as you are and lean on His grace. If He has delivered Jesus up for us, “how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things”? (Romans 8:32)

Thought For The Day

Just come as you are to receive all that you need from God.

The Concrete of the Soul

By DR. David Jeremiah – Posted March 8, 2017

…and his spirit was hardened in pride.
Daniel 5:20

Recommended Reading: Ezekiel 36:24-30

The use of concrete goes back thousands of years. The Romans specialized in cement, which created an architectural revolution. The Colosseum was made of concrete, along with the dome of the Pantheon and the aqueducts that channeled water to the cities of the empire. After the fall of Rome, concrete was forgotten until modern times, but now it’s indispensible in architecture. Visitors still gaze in amazement at Hoover Dam, built from 1931 to 1936, one of the largest concrete structures in the world.

Pride is the concrete of the soul. It hardens us, turning a soft heart to stone. In the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar became self-absorbed in accomplishment and power. His heart was lifted up, and his spirit “was hardened in pride.” The same thing can happen to Christians. The book of Hebrews warns us against the hardening of the heart (Hebrews 4:7).

Love is the salve of the soul. It softens us and makes us tender, and that’s the medicine of Him who knows how to take out our stony hearts and give us a new heart and a new spirit—the spirit of love.

If I had only one sermon to preach, it would be a sermon against Pride.
G. K. Chesterton

 Read-Thru-the-Bible: Joshua 11 - 13