YOUR TROUBLES AND YOUR ATTITUDES
Spiritual growth is a name subject. It is one of the hidden secrets of victory in spiritual warfare. If you want to become too hot for the enemy to handle,
you must apply practically, the secret of spiritual growth.
In this book I have addressed certain secrets of spiritual growth which will help those who have an eye on growing in their Christian lives. In my years of walking with the Lord, I have discovered that the closer you walk with the Lord, the higher your level of victory. You must work on the growth of your spiritual life today. Jesus is our perfect example. You must continue to grow until you are complete in Him. To grow spiritually, you must work on your attitude. Your attitude to the things of God determines your growth. Your attitude to life experiences matters. One thing you must take cognizant of is that problems are forerunners of growth.
Psalms 34:17-19: The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
Psalms 9:9: The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
Proverbs 17:22: A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
It is not possible to run away from problems. There is no place where there isn’t any trouble. Life itself is full of troubles. If you are a careful reader of the Bible you will find out that all the great men in the Bible experienced crisis, but had testimonies at the end of the day. If by chance you are looking for a problem free existence you are a dreamer. A life without problem is only available at the cemetery. Whether you like it or not, God will allow you to face challenges. Life itself is a process of solving problems. As a believer, you see a problem as a miracle in disguise.
Asking God to deliver you from all of life’s problems is mere wishful thinking. God will allow some problems in your life. Problems can make you bitter or better. The truth is that every problem has a life span. God in his infinite mercy does not reveal all problems at a time; He does reveal them step by step. He may even decide to hide some. He works line upon line and precept upon precept. By the time you begin to examine the wheel on which life runs, you will realize that problems are spring boards to progress and the achievement of your goals.
CHALLENGES
There was a problem several years ago. Whenever it was dark people endured the situation. Somebody, came up with the idea of making electric bulbs that would light dark places. A researcher thought of putting light everywhere instead of moving lights around. A scientist began an experiment which took him twenty thousand failed attempts. One day he finally got it. The electric bulb was discovered.
If you are a spirit filled believer, there is no way there won’t be a little bit of the rain of trouble. You cannot be victorious if you have not passed through problems. You cannot give testimony if you have not passed through a test. Your condition does not matter, your attitude counts. What happens to you? It is how you handle crisis.
WHAT IS AN ATTITUDE?
A positive attitude will make you to remain optimistic even in uncertain
times. It is the ability to be positively firm when problems multiply. You must see problems as challenges and an opportunity, to glorify God. Do not accept that the devil is going to kill you.
You must develop the ability to see set backs as temporary inconveniences. You must develop the ability to welcome changes. You must develop a posture that is not upset by surprises. Your actions and attitude will always reflect or show who you really are. Your outward disposition will reveal your mindset. These are deep areas of your life that you need deep prayers to address.
The enemy has turned some people’s mind into concrete slabs which will need the hammer of God to break. When you experience a problem, the first thing the enemy does is to make you develop a negative attitude. Satan wants you to react negatively to any problem that comes your way. When people experience symptoms of sickness the first thing they think about is death. Whenever people do not seem to do well in an examination the first thing they will think of is failure. Negative mindset or attitude can kill the positive spirit in people’s lives.
In most hospitals, especially in open wards where different people with different ailments are admitted, most people think of death. Negative attitudes must be killed if you must experience victory. Unfortunately, many people have agreed with satanic verdicts over their lives.
For some people, the enemy said it would not be possible for them and they agreed with the enemy because of negative mindset.
Life itself is a battle of attitudes. Attitudes can make or mar you. It can build you up or break you down. It can heal or hurt you. Attitudes can earn you plenty of friends and can also earn you plenty of enemies.
When a manager is removed from his post and the junior staffs begin to do praise and worship it is the attitude of the boss towards his staff that made them happy about his removal. Your attitude can make you a success or a failure. It can also make you happy or sad. The human attitude can be powerful.
THE POWER OF ATTITUDE
After giving or surrendering your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, the next thing you need is deliverance from bad attitudes. A lot of people put up a nonchallant attitude to situations; they are not concerned about anything. Even in emergency and important situations they show a nonchallant attitude. If their colleagues are progressing and prospering, it does not bother them; they are not concerned. They are not ready to participate in the progressive activities. Some parents are not concerned whether their children are making progress, or not.
Your attitude is more important than your efforts towards getting solutions to your problems. Your attitude to your circumstances is important. Your personal attitude is more important than people’s opinions. It is more important than your wealth or riches. Your attitude represents your disposition.
Bad attitudes are formed gradually. If you allow bad attitudes to find a landing spot in your life you may become an expert in negative attitudes. Your attitudes determine the failure or success of every relationship you get involved with. When a bottle that is filled with water is shaken without putting on the cover of the bottle, all the water will spill out. If there is no water in the bottle then no matter how vigorously you shake the bottle no water will come out. The same goes with human beings. When people are squeezed, what comes out is the attitude inside of them. Your attitudes need to be seriously addressed.
There is always a difference between two people commutting in the same bus. If all of a sudden, the driver matches the break of the bus, somebody in a priestly garment may scream and a true believer may shout “blood of Jesus”. What is inside you will surely come out when you are squeezed. If you are a child of God you will manifest Chistlikeness.
NEGATIVE REACTIONS
When people are in trouble they tend to weep, cry, relapse into a sorrowful mood, exercise self pity, become hysterical, curse or shout saying, “God, are you there? This is unfair, what kind of thing is this”. Some would even nurse suicidal thoughts. Some would become slaves of false prophets. Some would abandon God and worship idols. Some might feel that God is too slow and
When people are in trouble they go about downcast, moody, quarrelsome and agitated. Some even go into hiding and refuse to talk to people around them. Some complain and murmur saying all sorts of things. Some will not come to Church while others will magnify their problems. Some even resign to fate saying “What will be will be”. Some may even be so discouraged to the point of giving up. All these are attitudinal problems. That is why the Bible says, “A merry heart doeth good like medicine but a broken spirit will dry the bones”. A wrong attitude will make you grow lean.
A pastor came to see me in my office. He said, “General Overseer, somebody in this church said something bad to me and because of this am leaving this church”. I asked him “Who spoke to you badly”, and he mentioned another pastor’s name. I told him “Was I the one that spoke to you? He said no, but he was going. The pastor left in 1995 and he came back this year. He came to apologize saying “I am sorry I made a mistake in 1995, I never knew MFM would grow like this, if I had known I wouldn’t have gone”. His attitude towards us then was that we would never succeed. He came back with financial problems. I made him realize that if everybody had left the way he did nobody would be here to rescue him from his financial problems.
THE WINNING ATTITUDE
The differences between people are their attitudes. It is the attitude that differentiates between negative and positive people. Our happiness and success depends on how we respond to the challenges or problems that we face. If you are a good Bible reader you will appreciate Shadrack, Meschack and Abednego. They had the cause to complain. God was not sleeping when Nebuchadnezzar raided their country. God allowed King Nebuchadnezzar to capture them. God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to waste Israel. It was a terrible war crime. The children of the King of Israel were killed right in front of the king of Israel; Nebuchadnezzar plucked the eyes of the King of Israel. It was a terrible situation.
Shadrack, Meschack and Abednego had every reason to change their attitudes towards God. They had the right to say “What kind of God are we
serving? Are you a living God? But they had positive attitude towards God and the situation around them. Shadrack, Meschack and Abednego said to king Nebuchadnezzar “We will not bow down to you. The God whom we serve will deliver us”. They had a positive attitude even to the point of death. A positive attitude can remove discouragement from your mind and motivate you to accept the challenges ahead. Positive attitude will inspire you to choose action instead of withdrawal. Positive attitude will make you to choose growth instead of stagnancy. Positive attitude will make you to choose courage instead of fear. Positive attitude will make you decide for encouragement instead of despair. Positive attitude will make you to see good results in every situation.
WINNING IN CRISIS
Paul and Silas were beaten seriously. They were treated badly. They were dragged on the floor. Paul and Silas were sent to the innermost jail. Paul and Silas had the right to complain and cry bitterly to God for their ill-treatment but their attitude made them receive deliverance from God. The Bible tells us That at midnight Paul and Silas began to sing praises.
When your attitude is bad, you will handle life’s problems wrongly and mess up yourself. When there is a problem you may think withdrawal is the solution. That is a bad attitude. Negative attitude brings about fighting your wife or your husband, drinking alcohol or smoking, worrisome, resort to taking drugs to make you relax, suicidal feelings, confusion, being insultive, crying all the day long because of challenges, reckless driving, intake of sleeping tablets, neglecting family responsibilities, sleeplessness, making sarcastic statements, getting involved with destroying of properties.
I knew an excellent guitarist. One day he had a misunderstanding with his wife. Out of anger, the wife broke his expensive guitar on his head. The guitarist got angry and carried the most precious thing which the wife brought home. It was a big television. He took the television and slammed it on the floor. They both displayed violent anger as a result of negative attitudes. But much damage had been done by the time they realized their folly
THE POWER OF CONTROL
When you begin to have bitterness against people who have what you don’t
have, you have a negative attitude. When you get very irritable and moody, you have a negative attitude. When you feel that attending Church services is not important and you decide to go back to the worldly things you have abandoned before then you have a negative attitude. When you begin to attend parties that you have never attended before watch it, you have a negative attitude.
Beloved, you can completely alter your life through your attitude. The good news is that your attitude is within your control. You are responsible for how you react to disappointments. Happiness in life is a choice. Happiness in life is just ten percent of what happens to you and ninety percent of how to respond or react to it.
I remember Dr Sails, a popular man who published children’s books. The first children’s book that he wrote was rejected by twenty-three publishers. The publishers condemned the book that it was absolute rubbish. His twenty-fourth book was published and he sold 6 million copies because of his attitude. It was easy for Dr Sails to give up.
Attitudes are secret powers working 24 hours a day for good or for bad. Excellence is not a skill or talent. It is an attitude. It is not your position that matters but your disposition to your condition.
STEPS TO GOOD ATTITUDES
How can you develop a positive attitude?
- Begin to speak positive words. To become a positive person you have to learn how to speak positively. You must learn, by practice, to speak positive words. Positive attitudes can not come to you naturally. The Bible says “As in Adam all died”. So dead people from Adam cannot speak positive words. It is not natural to speak positively but it is always easier to talk negatively. Criticizing and abusive language bringing other people’s fault to notice can be done effortlessly. Negative words, criticism, sarcastic statements, just flow out from people’s mouth.
You must learn how to speak positively. When you begin it may be hard but practice makes perfect. Speak positive things to people. If you do this, you will begin to create an atmosphere of love and power around your life. What
you utter will create an atmosphere for you. If you speak positive words you will create a positive atmosphere. If you speak negative words, you will be surrounded by a negative atmosphere.
- No matter what happens, look for what is good in people and you will find it. When you recognize negative attitudes refuse to dwell on them. People tend to find what they are looking for whether negative or positive. You can look at the whole of your life and see giants but you can decide to see the stones of David, These stones will kill your goliath.
- Take charge of your thought life. Good thoughts will expel garbage from your life. Fill yourself with the word of God then you will have a positive attitude.
- Replace destructive attitudes. Replace destructive attitude and satanic attitudes with Christ like attitude. You need to do this by taking practical steps and through prayer. Replace disbelief with belief; replace your dryness with the flavour of the river of life. Replace disarray with order. Replace the divorce spirit with the spirit of oneness. Replace the spirit of division with unity. Replace doubt with stable confidence that will bring answers to your prayers. Replace the spirit of derogatory speaking with speeches that move people forward. Instead of condemnation make edifying statements or comments. Replace disloyalty with actions and Words of loyalty. Replace thoughts of infirmity with thoughts of health and healing.
You need to be fervent in prayer in order to achieve all these goals. You need to work on your attitudes because when the enemy begins to blow his trumpet and you begin to scream, you have encouraged him. Pray God for the cultivation of the right attitude today.
Pray these prayer points.
I damage every attitude of failure by the power in the blood of Jesus.
Every good thing that negative attitudes have stolen from me I recover you by the power in the blood of Jesus.
Anything planted in my life that has not manifested now but will manifest
in the future to destroy my destiny, die in the name of Jesus.
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