How To Stay Positive
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
by Alexandra Copeland
God tells us in 2Timothy 1:14The Message (MSG), “So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.” Timothy was like a brother to the Apostle Paul. As a matter of fact, Paul said that sending Timothy in his place was as good as him being there. This speaks to how detailed and conscientious Timothy was about the work of Christ. Like many of us, Timothy had his issues. He was not perfect, and he needed to be encouraged to press through obstacles in order to continue fighting the good fight of faith.
God tells us in 2Timothy 1:14The Message (MSG), “So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.” Timothy was like a brother to the Apostle Paul. As a matter of fact, Paul said that sending Timothy in his place was as good as him being there. This speaks to how detailed and conscientious Timothy was about the work of Christ. Like many of us, Timothy had his issues. He was not perfect, and he needed to be encouraged to press through obstacles in order to continue fighting the good fight of faith.
The world around us presents us
with unprecedented challenges to say the least. It has
always been easier to gravitate towards the negative, but as
Children of God, we are called to lay hold of the positive
and never let it go. Psalm 119:105 (NLT) declares,
“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my
path.” God’s Word is light! It illuminates everything
that is good and wise for our lives, and sometimes we forget
this. Again, it is easy to get caught up in what is
happening all around us, but God desires that we stay
focused on His instruction in 2Timothy 1:14.
Prioritize God’s Standard as #1
One of the ways that we can keep a positive outlook is to make sure that we are prioritizing our relationship with God above all else. God tells us in Matthew 6:33 (NIV) “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Our hearts should be geared towards pleasing God, and giving Him the glory and honor that He is due. We can’t do this if our minds are occupied with negative thoughts.
One of the ways that we can keep a positive outlook is to make sure that we are prioritizing our relationship with God above all else. God tells us in Matthew 6:33 (NIV) “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Our hearts should be geared towards pleasing God, and giving Him the glory and honor that He is due. We can’t do this if our minds are occupied with negative thoughts.
In Isaiah 8:20 (NLT), God tells
us through the prophet, Isaiah,
“To the law and to the
testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it
is because there is no light in them.” We run the risk
of not only walking in darkness, but having our minds and
hearts flooded with it when we do not anchor ourselves in
the light of God’s Word. We have a very deceptive enemy, and
one of his main operatives is to try to scramble things in
our minds. It has been said many times that battles are
fought and won in the land field of the mind, because the
mind is where spiritual warfare takes place. We can go all
the way back to the beginning of the bible in Genesis, and
see the first record of how this played out through the
devil’s trickery.
Adam and Eve had been taught the
Word of the Lord. The enemy sowed a seed of doubt by lying,
and by convincing them that God had withheld blessings from
them. Heavenly Father gave the first couple the incredible
paradise of the Garden of Eden to inhabit and tend, and yet
they took the word of satan over the Word of God. They
disobeyed God’s Word and lost their connection to Him, as
well as their position of dominion and authority. The enemy
has no new tricks under the sun, and uses the very same
tactic to undermine us today.
Philippians 4:8(NLT) tells us,
“And now, dear
brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on
what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and
lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent
and worthy of praise.” This is God’s standard for our
manner of thinking and behaving. You put the good stuff of
God’s Word out there, and the good stuff comes back to you,
for God declares that His Word never goes out void. Again,
Isaiah 8:20 confirms that God’s Word is a testimony of His
goodness. It provides us with everything we need to walk by
faith, and it’s laws and precepts should direct our every
practice.
Take Stock and Be Grateful
There can never be enough said about having a deep well of gratitude in one’s life. Without it we fail miserably and with it we climb higher and higher in the things of God. We live in such an age of entitlement and immediacy that our reservoir of thankfulness can become depleted very quickly. We must understand that it is our responsibility and privilege to take stock and keep that reservoir continually filled. We must set aside a time every day to give thanks to God for all that He has done for us and in us, and for how He has blessed and protected the lives of those we hold so dear.
There can never be enough said about having a deep well of gratitude in one’s life. Without it we fail miserably and with it we climb higher and higher in the things of God. We live in such an age of entitlement and immediacy that our reservoir of thankfulness can become depleted very quickly. We must understand that it is our responsibility and privilege to take stock and keep that reservoir continually filled. We must set aside a time every day to give thanks to God for all that He has done for us and in us, and for how He has blessed and protected the lives of those we hold so dear.
A cursory ‘thank you’ isn’t
enough. It’s a heart of thanksgiving that God is looking
for. Psalm 100:4 (NLT) tells us,
“Enter his gates with
thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to
him and praise his name.” This is the kind of heart that
we should have as we approach the throne of God, one that
seeks to thank and praise Him.
Colossians 2:7 (NLT) admonishes
us, "Let your roots
grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then
your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught,
and you will overflow with thankfulness." Our roots
represent the very core of all that we are. God tells us to
let all that we are grow deeply into Christ, to the point
that the very essence of our identity is built on him. This
is when we will begin to grow in truth. Nothing can grow
from a lie but more lies. As Christians, we are lights, and
we must seek to grow in the truth.
Once a person knows the truth,
they are made free. Jesus Christ tells us this in John 8:32.
Then, the Holy Spirit that indwells us will help us to
cultivate a well of thankfulness that is pleasing to God.
Expressing this kind of gratitude, on the deepest spiritual
level that we can, should be our goal. The way to get there
is to choose to use our time wisely by giving thanks to God
instead of adding to the chorus of complaints in the world.
God will take care of us in every
way. He demands that we have faith in this. 2Corinthians 9:8
(NLT) tells us, "And
God will generously provide all you need. Then you will
always have everything you need and plenty left over to
share with others.” So it is truly incumbent upon us to
change the dial on our emotional and mental registers, and
move them all the way up to the positives of God’s promises.
He will not fail us, and we can’t help but be positive if
our confidence in Him is where it should be. ■
New International Version (NIV),
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Scripture quotations marked (NLT)
are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation,
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