Bible-Prayer-Europe Equipping Center

 Your Attitude

"The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead."

"Happy is the man whose God is the Lord".  " A merry

 heart does good like a medicine." "Rejoice in the Lord".

Words describing the Christian's attitude are used many

times in the Bible. Proverbs and Psalms are full of the

encouragement that only God can give His children. We are

commanded to rejoice in the Lord and in the power of His

might.

Why then are there so many Christians walking around

with "a sad countenance"? Could it be that we don't realize

the importance of our attitudes. Have we forgotten that our

attitude can hinder our witness, break our fellowship

with God, hurt our relationships, and destroy us physically?

We may have forgotten what a "bad" attitude can do, but

our enemy, the devil, certainly has not forgotten.

"Positive thinking" is the devil's counterfeit for the mind of Christ

and it won't work. The reason that positive thinking doesn't

work effectively is that it is rooted in humanism--the

old "I will-I can" philosophy of man. That philosophy got

the devil, who originated it, kicked out of heaven and the

person who follows humanism will fall also.

A Christian cannot "make" himself have a good attitude

or  an attitude that will please God. This kind of

attempt would be "fleshly", and the Bible says that they who

are in the flesh cannot please God.

 A "fleshly" attempt or an "I will do better", will only result in failure and

make the believer more miserable. A Christian cannot "fake" what

he doesn't have or wear a mask to conceal this fact.

The Bible definitely says the mask will slip and that the

truth about the person will be revealed before the

congregation.

We as Christians dare not play games and pretend to

have "something" we don't possess. If our attitude is wrong

it will be made known. Our attitude cannot be hidden.

Through Jesus we as believers have hope and the power to

have Godly attitudes. We don't have to walk in defeat or

pretend. We truly can be happy and rejoice in the Lord and

in the power of His might.

This is the key.

In order to rejoice in the Lord, we as Christians must be "IN" the Lord.

In order to rejoice in the power of His might, we must

be "in" the power of "HIS" might. We must be hidden in

Christ. We must be dead to self, but alive to Christ.

As Christians we are to have the attitude of Jesus and the only

way to have the attitude of Jesus is to "HAVE" Jesus,

because Jesus cannot be separated from His attitude.

That is why the Bible states, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again

I say rejoice". We as believers CANNOT rejoice apart from

Jesus Christ. It is His rejoicing inside us that makes the

difference. When we realize that it is "not I but Christ"

--that He is our very breath--how can we not help but

rejoice when we realize our total existence is found in

"The Life". Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the

Life". How can we not rejoice that we are "in" the King of

Kings and the Lord of Lords?

We are secure.

No one can pluck us out of the Father's hand. Nothing can separate

us from His love. Rejoice in the Lord and in the power of His

might. And again I say rejoice. If we are walking around as

defeated and unhappy Christians it is because we are not

"dead" to self. We are trying to keep a foot in the world.

We have allowed the "world, the flesh, or the devil" a

foothold in our lives. That foothold is all that the devil

needs to come sweeping in with attitudes of fear, doubt,

worry, and defeat. We need to take authority in Jesus' name

over the world the flesh, and the devil.

As Christians we are not to live by the world's standards because they

are totally opposite of God's standards. The Bible is to be the

Christian's ONLY standard of right and wrong.

The Holy Spirit will teach God's Word to us and will lead us unto

all truth. Jesus is THE TRUTH. Circumstances and facts around

us are not the "truth" of the situation. Only Jesus is THE

TRUTH in our situations.

 "Whom the Son sets free is free indeed."

Never again do we as believers have to endure an "attitude" problem.

We are free in Jesus. Therefore, let us rejoice in the Lord and in

the power of His might.