Here lately it has been a conviction of mine to watch my attitude around people. As it has probably been apparent to a lot of you recently, I haven’t had ANY problem wearing my emotions on my sleeve. First off, I want to apologize. I probably haven’t been the best friend to many of you because I have been selfish and have only focused on myself. I will admit that I have been struggling a lot lately. Satan has been feeding me lie after lie that I have had a tendency to believe over and over again; things like “you suck”, “you’re a terrible friend to so and so”, and even “living isn’t worth the struggle”. Too many times I’ve believed that I am worthless and that I don’t have a purpose in life or that I don’t mean anything to anybody. A note posted by a friend recently says otherwise. It was exactly what I needed to read. We are a masterpiece to God.
~Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
We are the art of God, his workmanship, the clay he molded into a masterpiece!!! Don’t most makers marvel at a masterpiece? They look to see how good their work is; how intricate every detail is; how precious and fragile this work of art is?
Satan can feed us lies and will keep feeding them to us, especially when we believe one after another. But we aren’t his. He knows God is better so he is going to work to destroy us and everything that God has worked to build up in us. He is jealous of how good God is. What does the jealous ex-boy/girlfriend do to the thriving relationship of an ex? My point exactly. Satan seeks to destroy and devour us.
~1 Peter 5:8 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
God is our creator though, not Satan. We have the seal of Christ on us. We are his, sealed by him, approved by him, owned by him through Christ’s death on the cross.
~2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
He gave us his mark of approval. He gave us his son and the spirit of hope and faith. Satan gives us trouble and lies, and in my own life, low self-esteem. Satan didn’t create us, God did. Where should our focus be: on the goodness of God or the lies from Satan? What should our attitude be towards anything in life?
The purpose of this note is more directed at our attitudes towards certain things in life. As stated earlier, my attitude has been terrible lately, not just towards others or even just myself, but also towards God. This probably should have been written before now so I apologize for that and the usual: it will most likely be long. A short overview of attitude in the Bible is that we do everything for God over man and we show our love for him in everything we do.
~Colossians 3:23-25 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.”
Our focus should not be on ourselves and actually not on others, but rather on God and what HE wants. So many times I catch myself (or friends catch me and are fairly quick to point this out) but I find myself focusing on what so and so is going to think if I do or say something. I think about how something is making me feel rather than focusing on the good God is doing in a certain situation.
~Galatians 1:10 “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
This isn’t saying to completely take your focus off of other people; it is just telling us to serve others by serving Christ. When we focus on serving God and loving him, we serve and love others without really noticing it at times. Jesus came to be a servant of his father. Through doing that, even as the Son of God, he was a servant of man and never compared himself to God. God was #1 but he always put others first and considered them better than himself. We are called to do the same. God is our #1 focus, but we don’t come in as #2. Every other person comes before ourselves, just as we came before Christ.
~Philippians 2:1-8 “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
When I take my focus off of what is true and right (the Word) my attitude changes. When I put myself first and focus on me, my attitude is the first thing to go out the window. I see how selfish I am at times like these and I disgust myself. My attitude is off the wall and it changes so much that I wonder who I am at times.
What do we do to keep a clear mind, a good attitude, and a focus on Christ?
1.) Identify the bad attitude and repent of it.
a. Acts 8:22 “Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.”
2.) Submit your attitude to God. A friend tells me repeatedly (I hear you, just may not always listen) that my attitude is my choice, one that others can’t make for me. My attitude is something between me and God so I need to give it up to him.
a. 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.”
3.) Equip and feed your attitude. Stay in the Word and dwell on the promises of Christ.
a. (This could go on #2 or #3 as well) James 4:7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
b. Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
SO the next part of this is just biblical reference on our attitude towards certain things. To keep this short, I’m only putting the references.
Our Attitude Towards:
God:
-Psalm 111:10
-Mark 12:30
-John 14:15
-James 4:7
Hard Circumstances:
-Romans 8:28
-Galatians 1:9
Unfairness:
-Romans 12:19
-Luke 18:7
Disappointment/Tragedy:
-Psalm 62:5
-Deuteronomy 32:4
-Jeremiah 17:5
-Job 13:15
Sin:
-Matthew 18:8-9
-Galatians 6:1
Misunderstanding:
-Colossians 3:12-13
-Matthew 5:9
-Philippians 2:14
We are God’s creation. Any chance that Satan has to destroy us or snatch us from Christ he is going to do it. We give him an inch and he’s going to take a mile. Satan blinds our minds (2 Corinthians 4:4), steals God’s word (Matthew 13:19), sets traps to capture us (2 Timothy 2:26), fights to stop us from following Christ (1 Thessalonians 2:18), and has plans to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8). How do we fight back? Ephesians 6:13-18 says it best by painting a picture of how we put on the full armor of God.
1.) Put on the Helmet of Salvation
a. Ephesians 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…”
b. The helmet of salvation is our knowledge of the Word and protects our mind against the devil.
2.) The breastplate of righteousness
a. Evil sees the breastplate and not sin.
3.) Pick up the shield of faith
a. Don’t believe the lies and accusations of Satan.
i. “They would be better off without me… I’m not good enough”
4.) Fasten on the belt of truth.
a. The truth sets us free.
i. John 8:32 “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
5.) Lace up the shoes of the Gospel of peace.
a. Know Christ and his peace that guards us.
i. Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
6.) Pick up the sword of the Spirit.
a. The spirit is in God’s word. Know Christ and dwell in him and the Spirit will fight for us.
7.) Our backside is left vulnerable. Why?
a. Other believers are there to guard our backs, help us, pray for us, and hold us accountable to the truth.
i.James 5:16 “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
We are not alone in the battles we fight; we just need to let God open our eyes. Prayers are far more powerful than we know and whether we think or feel like God hears us, he does. We need to learn to battle with the weapons of the spiritual world, not of this world. Use God’s word and the weapons he gives us in the Word and the Spirit and Christ’s death on the cross. As believers, we do not fight for a victory but from the victory Christ won for us through his death on the cross.
1 John 4
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
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