J-P spoke tonight about being positive, reminding us that positive minds produce positive lives. Jesus told the centurion who came to Him seeking a healing for his servant, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” (Matt 8:13) Great things can happen when we exercise faith, but so often, we let previous hurts and disappointments stop us from daring to hope and believe again. We insulate ourselves against future disappointment and avoid hope, often falling into the mentality that ‘nothing good will happen to me.‘ It is dangerous to think like this, for Prov 23:7 reminds us that as a man thinks in his heart, so he is. If we constantly think and speak along negative lines, then we will become negative people, but if we speak in agreement with God’s plan for our lives, we will see great things happen.
Even if we do not know God’s specific plan, we can rest in what we know of who God is. We can expect God to bring good from even the most difficult of circumstances. (Rom 8:28) Instead of focussing on the small things that might not go according to our plans, we can move forward with hope because we are new creations in Christ. (2 Cor 5:17) He has given us a fresh start (and continues to do so each day!) Moreover, God has given us the Holy Spirit as our helper and Phil 1:6 reminds us that we can have confidence not only in God’s plans but in the fact He always finishes what He starts.
A key aid to positivity is spending time in God’s word each day, as the Bereans did. (Acts 17:11) Daniel and his friends kept faith and praised God no matter what came against them, and God reminds us that hope is an anchor for our souls (Heb 6:19). Hope is that rudder which keeps us on a steady course. Because of God’s nature, we can have hope (‘Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!’ (Is 30:18))
A positive mind will lead to positive speech (Ps 34:12-14) so that we can build ourselves and other people up. A cheerful heart is good medicine (Prov 17:22) and will lead us into encouragement. If we trust in God, we have every reason to be positive, no matter what the circumstances.
