We Make Our Situations Better Or Worse With Our Attitudes
I was quite pleased to hear Joyce Meyer’s TV broadcast message this morning, because it was about our attitudes and how they affect our lives, which is SO important for anyone standing for marriage restoration to understand. Since I tend to have very little patience with anyone feeling sorry for themselves (sitting on the “pity pot” as I often call it), that’s something I really have to battle while ministering to other women. For that reason, it’s very important to understand that talking about changing our attitudes, does not deny the reason or just cause for the emotions we experience, so encouraging someone to change their attitude is never meant to invalidate their feelings or the seriousness and devastation of the situations they face. However, there are many times, especially while standing for marriage restoration, when we will find ourselves in situations that we’re totally powerless to change, at which time we have a very important choice to make. We will either choose to identify ourselves as victims and allow those situations to overwhelm and defeat us, or we’ll choose to be victorious and overcome them. And even if we don’t realize it on a conscious level, we ARE making that choice…one way or the other. And the bottom line is that by making that choice, we are making a statement about whether or not we REALLY believe the word of God, and trust our Lord and Savior as we say we do.
So when we find ourselves in the MOST difficult and challenging times of our lives, we also find ourselves at a place where the rubber meets the road in terms of testing and demonstrating the faith we profess in God. In addition to determining the outcome of our situations, the choices we make WILL either draw others to the Lord, or cause them to reject Him, because we will either give Jesus a good reputation or a bad one. When we claim Jesus as the Lord of our lives, we need to remember that it’s HIS name we bear as Christians, and it does a great deal of harm to tell others that Jesus came to give us life, and life more abundantly, when they can’t see the evidence of that in ours! So as Christians, it is VERY important for us to remember 1 Peter 4:11, which says If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
So when Satan and our circumstances do their wicked best to convince us that the Lord has forsaken us, that our situation is hopeless, and that we just can’t do this anymore, it’s important to have the following verses memorized so we can rely on them to remind us that we go forward in the grace and strength of our Lord and Savior, and that we do it for His glory!
1 Corinthians 8:6
yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
Romans 11:36
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
2 Timothy 2:10
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
Hebrews 13:20-21
May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Timothy 1:12
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Romans 8:37
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
If we foolishly try to walk through the trials of separation and divorce, standing for marriage restoration, in our own strength and relying on our own understanding, ignoring the wisdom found in John 15:5 and Proverbs 3:3-6, we are certain to be very disappointed. But if we rely on the promises of God and stand on HIS word and walk in HIS strength and grace, HE will vindicate and bless us as we’re assured in Isaiah 41:8-20, and He WILL deliver on His AWESOME promise in Psalm 37:4-6, which says Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
And here’s the link to Joyce Meyer’s TV broadcast message from this morning, The Power of Attitude – Part I, which I encourage anyone struggling to keep a good attitude to listen to.