Negative, Positive, and Faith

Okay, so last night's bible study was an interesting one. sometimes Angie likes to repeat her lessons... let me rephrase that; sometimes God likes to have Angie repeat one of her older lessons for the benefit of some new folks in our bible study. not tonight! this time it was something new, and i know that i definitely benefited from it!

"Negative people never finish."
when you're negative in your mindset, you tend to take everything in the wrong direction and can actually cause blessings in your life to avoid you! when king David danced before the Lord he was making an earthly fool of himself, humbling himself before God and just praising Him. his wive, Michal daughter of Saul, saw what he was doing and mocked David for it. saying, "how the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!" but what she didn't know was that he was coming to the house that very moment to give her a great blessing from the Lord. instead, her comment about his "vulgar dancing" caused her not to be blessed, but instead was barren for the rest of her life!
2Samuel 6: 12-23

be careful not to fill in the blanks about people, assuming the worst. Michal assumed that David was simply acting like a fool rather than what he was really doing, worshiping God. do you find yourself filling in the blanks? try some of these on for size and see how they fit:
"well, she didn't come to work today, must be because of _____" or perhaps, "she lost a lot of weight, but you know i bet it's because she's doing _____", or maybe even, "this thing is missing, i bet _____ stole it!" filling in the blanks about a person can lead to wrong thoughts about them, almost always negative ones.

the majority of voices in your life are going to bring you negative reports. when the 12 spies were sent out to investigate the promised land, there were only 2 who gave a good report telling how the land was lush and could be taken. but there were a full 10 who gave an "evil" report, saying how there were giants living in the land and we look like measly grasshoppers to them! that evil (negative) report caused the Israelites to wander in the desert for 40 years!
negativity comes at the high points and the low points, whether you're on top of your game and everything is going great or you're down at the lowest you've ever been and things couldn't get any worse! if there is anything inside of you that likes the way it feels to be negative, CUT IT OFF! pitty-parties feel good inside because it's a deep selfishness, or when you feel negative about how so many things are going in your life it's easy to put yourself down about it, see the negativity and take some sick pleasure in the supposed "power" you seem to have to make things so bad. CUT IT OFF! heck, when David was given a very negative word from an old man that mocked him when he was at his lowest, he sent out one of his men to kill the guy! ;)


by contrast, there's positive! it's the way we need to be, right? in Seattle, you can go to Pike Market and buy huge bouquets of flowers for just $5, then you can go get some fish and watch the men throw the fish around while they get it ready for you. it's quite the sight to see and tends to make anybody smile and get happy to watch the flowers and "flying fish". but does it do anything more than this? proverbs 17:22 says "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones". it would seem that there is something good to being positive, but there's no real power to it. you might be able to laugh your way through life, but it won't change anything. being positive gives you the the endurance to keep going, but not the power to change things. someone in Angie's family had developed this condition where he couldn't use his arms and legs. his guy's family tried to cheer him up by going on a Disney cruise with him. but instead of the intended outcome, they were all depressed and grumpy by the end! he felt he was nothing but a burden to them, keeping his family from getting to have fun themselves because of his condition. positivity didn't work, it backfired. so they tried something else, they'd heard about this cure in Mexico where they use bee-stings. so they took him down there for that. they met some rather neat folks along the way, had a great time and went down to this bee-doctor to have the treatment. oddly enough, the guy tells them, "the bee stings only work if you acknowledge that God made the bees". well, the fella got the treatment and felt somewhat better, but never acknowledged God's power in his life. ultimately he died sometime later, never fully recovered.

perhaps a good way too look at being positive is like painting a beautiful river scene on the side of a barn. during a drought, there's still no water. the painting brings no water to quench your thirst. it may make you feel a bit better about the situation, even reminding you of what it's like to drink water. it may help you endure the drought, but don't count on that picture to have any power to help bring real water!

so what about faith? where does that fit in all of this? Faith is described in the bible as calling things that aren't, as though they are. it's the difference between an umpire and an intercessor. one calls things the way they see them and is proud of the fact that they can see them before others can. the other sees things and uses God's power to change them. (Romans 4:17)
-The Pessimist calls things as they fear them to be.
-The Optimist calls things as they want them to be.
-The Realist calls things as they are.
-The Fatalist calls things as the worst possible case they could be.
-The Idealist calls things as they should be.
-The Believer calls things that aren't, into existence!
where do you stand in this lineup? 5 of them simply see things, but one of these actually changes things! ;)
just because there's a problem doesn't mean you have to just sit there and say, "yep. there's a problem coming." NO! get up, intercede and change it!

Abraham considered not that he was 100 years old, or that his wife was 90 and was barren, or that she couldn't even dance the two-step anymore let alone make babies! Abraham simply believed God. many people would have something to say about that situation and how it was impossible, but God says something different. and when it comes down to it, "consider not" what others are saying, or even what you're saying about it! instead, consider what God is saying.

I cannot tell you how a 90 year old woman can give birth, but i can tell you to trust God. :)


Ever the Warrior...
Chris-Jon (James Swift)