Choose Joy Today
When I wake up in the mornings one of the
first thoughts on my mind is, "Is this going to be a good day?" Then
the mental check list begins to form, "Let's see I have to do this and
this and this." UGGG, I am already not in the mood. I am half asleep and I
have to get up and go to work. Work can have it's own separate issues because
we all can agree that work is frustrating in itself. That doesn’t include
coming home to people who may be in a bad mood and it causes me to be in a bad
mood. Or something won't work out the way I want it to. There is a never ending
list of reasons why my day can end up a bad one. One thing I never think about
is the fact I can make it a good day with one decision in the morning. I cannot
bypass, as much as I want to, that things go wrong in life. Things break,
people get mad, I have lack of sleep, etc. I cannot change the way that life
works. However, I can change my reaction or attitude regarding these "happy
accidents." Yes, I quoted Bob Ross, but he knows how to be calm and
collected unlike me. But seriously, we
do not realize that we can make it a high day or a low day. So, the choice is
ours.
Did you realize that there is power in the
words you speak? I didn't until now but I still forget. What gives power behind
one word? Faith. Everyone has faith in something or someone it doesn't matter
who you are. We all have faith in our coffee machines to make us coffee in the
morning. We have faith that our car will take us where we need to go without
any problems. We have faith that when we flip a light switch we will see light.
Now you know how simple faith is. It's not something you can feel, it is a
sixth sense it's just there. Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, "…If ye have faith as a grain of mustard
seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it
shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." A grain of mustard seed normally ranges from 1
to 2 millimeters in size. It's small yet it can produce much. 1 to 2
millimeters of faith is all we need to move a mountain, how much more the
atmosphere of our whole day?
What we need to challenge ourselves to do
every day is just making one decision and then confessing it the rest of the
day. It doesn't mean we wont face difficulties, it doesn't mean that we won't
face people who are mean, and it doesn't mean that you have to work up a
certain feeling in order to be positive. Remember, we cannot live life based on
our emotions. (https://jsfocusonthepositive.blogspot.com/2019/08/its-not-based-on-emotion.html)
It's just a simple decision and one word. I have to be honest, the moment we
decide to have a good, positive day will probably be the day that we have the
most frustrations. Of course we will! The devil doesn’t want you to be happy.
He wants you to stay angry, tense, and constantly depressed. You have an enemy
that will always try to destroy you. That's why we have a great and mighty God
who will always raise a standard against the enemy when he becomes overwhelming (Isaiah 59:19). God will
remind the devil who you are. Your identity is found in Christ so you cannot be
overtaken by the enemy's tactics. So, what do you do when things get hard? Ask
God for the ability to stay calm. Don't react. Don't dwell on things that make
you upset. When thoughts come into your mind don't entertain them. Enjoy your
life. All of these other things just waste our energy, so what is the point of
basing your entire day or even week on other people, accidents, mistakes,
traffic, work, home, etc. What's the point? Does it solve our problems when we
argue with people? You know the thing is we just want to prove a point. We want
to explain how we are more logical in whatever situation that started the
argument. When an argument comes about we should try to calmly explain how you
feel and then let it go. Go find
something to do that helps you to relax without dwelling on the situation. Give
it to God! Let me give you an example of something that happened to me yesterday
that normally would make me so angry and probably ruin my day. So I am on my
way home and I decide to stop at the gas station to fill up my car. I'm going
through the routine putting in my code for a lovely 10 cents off the norm
price, then the debit card, and finally my pin number. I hit enter. I hit it
again. And again. Ok, it's not finalizing my payment transaction so I hit
clear. Nothing is happening, the screen is completely frozen. I am literally
standing there looking at the screen for several minuets thinking to myself
what am I going to do now. I don’t want to go inside and then possibly have to
move my car to another pump. NO!!! I am still standing there and right when I
decide to go inside to figure out what is going on the screen said the
transaction was cancelled. I'm like oh, ok I will just go through the whole
process again. I did and everything worked just fine. I just said, "Thank you LORD for taking
care of that for me." I finished filling up my car and I am walking to the
drivers side. I hit the button to unlock my car. It's not unlocking. So I hit
the unlock button on my key fob, nothing. So I am walking around trying all the
doors and still nothing is happening. So I am left standing there again. Ok, I
guess I need to call someone to help me I'll just grab my phone……and it's not
there. The one time I leave my phone in the car. Oh no, what am I going to do?
I am about to walk away when I heard a noise. My car unlocked!! Thank you Jesus
again! The point of all of this is that I did not let it destroy the good day I
have had and I did not react with automatic anger at the one little thing that
goes wrong. Life isn't perfect so how can we expect things to go smoothly? I
just stood there mentally asking God for help and He did. We are the ones that
make things more complicated than they need to be.
I want to share with you a poem that a
very good friend/ brother in Christ wrote. It is all about the power of our
words and how it can influence our day.
Brand New Day
By:
Richard Milligan
Today
is a brand new day to do as you may.
You
have the power to make it a high day,
Or
with equal strength to make it a cry day.
The
power lies in what you say, allowing the Lord to make a way.
Our
thoughts, when spoken, can create encouragement,
Or
with equal strength discouragement.
At
the end of the day, you cannot say, this is not what I meant,
When
looking back you notice how your quiet time was spent.
You
have the power to turn that impossible mountain
Into
the most generous flowing fountain.
Whether
the needs are spiritual, financial, or physical, your
Blessings
you can begin countin,
When
you speak those words of faith without doubtin.
The
spirits of both sides travel on the words you speak,
Launching
their marching orders to what they seek.
You
must keep the abundance of the heart flowing pure,
Cause
this regulates the words that bring the cure.
By
mediating continually on God's Word this is done,
And
bowing your head in prayer all battles are won,
This
is not as difficult as it may sound,
To
be in control of causing God's promises to abound.
By
the daily renewing of your mind,
The
invisible becomes visible you will find.
You
soon become a complete new creature,
As
your abundant living is now a normal feature.
This
is what you need yo carry you through
To
your real home beyond the blue.
Always remember that
we cannot handle things all on our own. Life is hard and can get overwhelming
very easy. But the important thing is that we give our thanks and time to God.
We cannot expect God to move for us on these types of days when we refuse to
give Him any time in return. It's only by the power of God that we can speak a
word of positivity in faith. It's only by the power of God that we can have
strength to endure to the very end. Remember that one line in the poem above,
"This is not as difficult as it may sound…" So choose joy today and
God will take care of the rest. My advice to you is that you print this poem
out and post it somewhere in your house to make sure you read it everyday as a
reminder. You can find this poem in his book called, "The Mind of
Christ" which I highly recommend! I will include the link to the book and the free audio version below. God Bless you.
The Mind of Christ
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