A Helpful Way to Increase Your Faith

Ah, that dreaded F word. No, not that one. Another one. Many of us seem to struggle with this one. It’s the topic of faith. We know we’re supposed to have faith. We know that the more faith we have, the more likely we are to realize our goals and desires. Yet we still often times lack this important ingredient.

I read a BIble verse earlier that reminded me about a post I had written about two years ago based on a sermon by pastor Andy Stanley. The verse is from Romans 4:21. It is based on Abraham who, even though he and his wife who desired a child, yet he and his wife were far beyond the age of conceiving children. Regardless, Abraham still had faith. The verse says he was “fully convinced that God had the power to do what He had promised.”

One reason we sometimes lack faith is that we try to figure out how God is going to act on our behalf. We tend to over-complicate things and wonder too much if, when, and how he will act. This often trips us up and only delays the process. Here is the key I learned and shared in the previous post... don’t focus on whether or how God will answer your prayer. Instead, know that he can! Just have that faith. Be fully convinced that he can. I think we all know He can do anything, and can certainly manage the small details of our lives. The key is to lean on that understanding.

Know that God can do it. Focus on that, do what you believe you are being led to do, and let the remaining details take care of themselves. I’ve seen for myself how this automatically increases the level of faith. I believe you will experience the same. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

Focus on These Two Words to Make an Awesome Impression

I live in the Unites States, which is not such a great place to be right now. I don’t mean to start a post on a positive thinking blog on such a negative note, but stick with me. It leads to what I’m about to share.

People here are frustrated. Besides the high crime and daily mass shootings, prices are rising at record rates. People can barely afford to breathe here anymore, never mind afford the daily essentials. Another dangerous trend that I’m seeing, is people taking this frustration out on each other. More than ever, I notice people being flat out mean to each other. In a way, you can’t blame them. At times, I’ve fallen into the same trap. I am usually a very nice, patient person. However, in recent times, I notice my tolerance level is lower than it’s been. I feel the stress of all this too, so I understand why most people are not happy right now and project those negative feelings upon others.

I will say that I hate being that way. I recently caught myself acting a bit (ok, a lot) impatiently towards others. I decided right there that I had to change back to my normal, positive attitude. I just didn’t like the feeling of negativity, and knowing I was projecting that towards others. I promised myself I would deliberately demonstrate kindness to other people.

I didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary for me, though I hadn’t been doing them a lot recently. Simple things like smiling, saying thank you, a small compliment, etc. These were just little things. However, I noticed the reactions were huge. Due to the flood of negativity in our world, these actions were unexpected. I felt like people were surprised. “Wait, why is this person being nice? People aren’t usually like this. Is this supposed to be happening?” I felt like this is what people were thinking. Yet, I could tell they appreciated it. I often received a smile and a thank you in return. It appeared that their demeanor changed for the better as well.

These simple actions are not rocket science. As I’ve said before, there are too many times where I lack the patience with people and positivity towards them that I should have. However, in the past few days, I’ve re-learned this… due to the negativity in our world now, if you demonstrate any type of kindness and positive demeanor to people, you will stand out.

Do you want to be noticed in a big and great way by people and make a positive difference in your world? I have two words of advice…. BE KIND. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

Avoid Resisting Negative Thoughts

My main theme on this site is to think positively. I’ve shared a million times that, when we think positive thoughts, it results in positive outcomes in our lives. What we think is usually what we get. That means the same is true for negative thoughts. If we continuously think negative thoughts, we unfortunately deal with negative outcomes.

So why does my title say to avoid resisting the negative thoughts? If negative thoughts bring negative outcomes, shouldn’t we do all we can to resist any negative thoughts? It’s an excellent question. After all, I’ve already said it. If we want positive situations in our lives, we need to think positive thoughts, not negative ones. Yes, we do need to remove negative thoughts. However, we need to be careful about how we do it.

I was recently re-reading a book by Rhonda Byrne called “The Greatest Secret.” It’s an amazing book (as all of hers are). One of the chapters deals with this subject about dealing with negative thoughts. In this chapter, Rhonda reminds us that it is counter-productive to resist negative thoughts. The reason is that the more we resist something, the more we give power to it. For example, I’ve recently had some negative thoughts about money. Our country is a mess right now, with prices from gas, food, travel, and pretty much everything else going through the roof. After going through a rather comfortable financial season recently, my family and I are starting to feel the crunch. Due to the much higher prices, we are struggling to keep up. As a result, I was having negative thoughts about money. I know that negative thoughts don’t serve me well, so I was fighting these thoughts. However, as I’ve learned in the past, fighting them only makes it worse, brings more stress, and doesn’t solve the problem.

Instead, I was reminded in this book of a different strategy. In fact, I’ve shared this in recent posts. Since I needed another reminder, I felt the need to share with you. The key is to avoid resisting the negative thoughts. Rather than fighting it, the best strategy is to simply acknowledge and allow the negative thoughts. When you notice a negative thought, stop and accept it for what it is. It is only a thought, and you are not that thought. So accept the thought. Actually allow it. As you allow it, you acknowledge that you have full control over it, and every thought. It’s not the other way around.

Again, it seems to go against the logic of positive thinking. However, in the past few days I’ve experienced the results of following this advice. When I was receiving the flood of negative money thoughts, I stopped and followed this advice. I acknowledged that I had negative thoughts about money. Instead of fighting them, I allowed them. I accepted them for what they were, and eventually released them. This alone provided an instant peace. However, things really changed when I took it a step further. Once the negative thoughts were released, I began searching for truthful thoughts. I thought about how God provides countless reminders in the Bible about His provision. I began to reflect on some of these verses.

This is where the magic really happened. As I did this, my mind automatically starting filling with positive thoughts. My overall feeling vibration also changed in a major way. Instead of feeling doubtful and stressed, my emotional vibration was at the highest end of the scale. I was thankful for God’s provision. I was joyful that these negative thoughts that were weighing me down had disappeared. Remember, it is these high emotional states that bring the greatest manifestations. No, I haven’t received any financial miracles yet. However, I was reminded of some other things. I am due for a significant raise at my job in the near future. As I a teacher, I am on vacation for the next 8 weeks, and I have some significant money making opportunities in front of me. I know I will be fine, at the very least.

Once again, I remind you. Instead of resisting the negative thoughts, acknowledge them and release them when you are ready to do so. Another great benefit of this according to Rhonda Byrne is that, besides releasing the negative thoughts that have held you down lately, this process releases all of the past thoughts about that as well. In my example, this not only helps me get over my recent financial stresses, but also helps remove money blocking negative thoughts I have had in the past. What a great relief! Hopefully the benefit of great peace, and moving from some of the lower to highest emotional states is an inspiration to help you with this process. It has helped me immensely, and I know it can help you too. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

Can Negative Thoughts Be Productive?

I’m going to do something a bit unusual for this post. If you regularly visit this site, you’ll know that I do my best to promote positive thinking, and focusing on God’s truth about us. However, today I’m going to go in a different direction and promote….gasp….negative thoughts???

No, I haven’t become a hypocrite and say one thing and act in an opposite manner (although I am sometimes guilty of that). I haven’t changed my mind and decided that what I’ve been reading and writing about is untrue. Instead, I am applying some very helpful information I’ve studied, sharing it with you, and hoping that it can help all of us.

I’ve written several articles about how harmful negative thoughts can be. If we think negative thoughts, they ultimately play out into negative situations in our lives. I’ve also read and shared different techniques to deal with these thoughts. One very helpful one is the idea of re-framing. This idea is that whenever you notice a negative thought, immediately catch it and replace it with a positive thought. It can be any positive thought, or one opposite of what you were first thinking. For example, if you catch yourself thinking that you are not worthy of something, stop and think of reasons that you ARE worthy. If you don’t feel healthy, think of what it would be like if you were healthy. Those are just some examples.

Recently, I read of a very helpful technique in dealing with negative thoughts. This has produced a great amount of mental healing and personal freedom during the first few weeks of this new year. I read the idea in Rhonda Byrne’s book, “The Greatest Secret.” Several of her books like “The Secret” and “The Magic” have had life-changing impacts on me, and this one is no exception. In fact, I think I like this one best because it is more of an application process instead of just providing information, which is exactly what I need.

Anyway, here is the technique…. one of the greatest reasons negative thoughts cause negative situations in our lives is because we tend to resist them. We know negative thoughts are harmful to us. We don’t want them. So what we do, is we fight the feelings they cause. We fight to try to rid our minds of the thoughts. What happens when we do this though, is we add fuel to their fire.When we resist something, it just causes more if it. Even though we’re trying to do good and rid ourselves of the negative thoughts and feelings, we are doing more harm because we are still remaining focused on the negative situations.

The freedom bringing suggestion given in the book, is to welcome the negative thoughts instead of resisting them. At first, I disagreed because this seems counterproductive. So we’re just letting these harmful negative thoughts rule our minds? No. We are just saying they are welcome. Now, we can add a little more to this. Ms. Byrne says that when we do this instead of resisting, we take away the power they have on us. Eventually, the negative feelings go away. To add to this, she says that any of these same negative feelings that have built of over time also gradually disappear.

Again, I was a bit skeptical at first, but I decided to give this a try. It didn’t even take a day to realize the truth of this. One of the greatest negative emotions I feel is guilt. I am often slow to act, fall short of my potential, and I regularly feel like I could and should do more for people. As I thought about this, I realize how much this has built up in my mind over time. I don’t like to feel guilty, so I fight it. The result is usually more of it! So at that moment, I decided it was OK for me to feel guilty. However, what happened after that was even more amazing. As I accepted the feeling of guilt and that it was OK to feel that way, I started to automatically re-frame the negative thoughts (the technique I discussed earlier). I felt God speaking to me. I felt like He was saying that the guilt that I was holding onto was just my own thought, and it wasn’t His. I was reminded of several Bible verses to back that up, like there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Like the fact that every sin I’ve ever committed, and every mistake I’ve ever made has already been forgiven because of His death on the cross. On and on I was provided these positive reminders.

I then tried this with other negative thoughts too. I don’t often get angry, but one day there were just several things my wife was doing that were just bothering me. I’m sure you’ve never had that happen to you, but it was happening with me. And it’s not like she was doing it on purpose. Anyway, I caught the negative thoughts as they were happening. Normally, I would try to fight it because I don’t want to think negatively of her. However, I instead welcomed the thoughts and allowed myself to be bothered. After only a few minutes, the negativity lightened, and we ended up having a very nice conversation about something. Lengthy conversations between us don’t happen like they did before, but this was a very pleasant one. What was happening is that, as I accepted and allowed these negative thoughts, I actually felt more positive!

I am realizing more that thoughts and feelings are just that. They are not who I am. More importantly, they don’t control me. I control them. And it is important that I control them because, even though I say they don’t control me, the quality of my thoughts and feelings ultimately controls the quality of my life and circumstances on the outside.

I share this with you because it has been very helpful to me. The process of simply allowing the negative thoughts without resisting them and without letting them control me and determine who I am has been extremely enlightening and liberating. I challenge you to try this as well. Don’t go looking for negative thoughts. However, when you do notice that you are thinking or feeling negative, make yourself aware of it, and welcome the thoughts. Know that it’s OK to have those thoughts, as long as you don’t allow them to overtake you. If you’re like me, you will notice some mental counter arguments. You will feel a release of that negative thought and others like it that have built up in the past. Then those negative clouds eventually disappear, allowing the great light in you to shine uninhibited. That is definitely something to think and feel positive about. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

How to Find Your Inner Joy (That’s Already There)

I recently wrote an article about finding your joy. I mentioned the key to doing so is to look inside of you because that’s where your joy always is. You seek joy there instead of looking for it on the outside in circumstances, people, or activities. I recently heard a message about this that provides a different take on this, and felt the need to share.

Many people are aware that the best place to find joy is within themselves. They know true joy is there, yet they still struggle to experience it. I live in Buffalo NY. Winter here is very difficult. Besides the large amounts of snow we receive, it is very often cloudy and dark. We regularly go days, and sometimes even weeks, without seeing the sun. Does that mean the sun is not there? Does it completely disappear? We know that it does not. The sun is always there. We just don’t see it because it is blocked by the constant interference of clouds and precipitation. When this interference disappears, the beauty of the sun is visible again, we feel its warmth, and we experience its benefits.

This is also true of the unlimited joy we all have. It is always there, all within us. So why do we not experience this joy often enough? It’s because of all the interference we allow that clouds the light of God in us. What is that interference? It’s the constant chatter in our minds, and the negative thoughts and feelings we allow to get in the way that are blocking the light of God’s love. As a result, we don’t experience it, and our lives become dark and depressing, just like the Buffalo winter.

Once again I remind you that the joy you wish to experience is not something you have to go searching for. You already have it and will always carry it right there with you. Here is the key… don’t focus on going out and finding joy. Instead, figure out what is interfering with the joy you already have. Simply clear the clouds of negativity and let them dissipate.

You don’t have to be controlled by your thoughts. Instead, you control them. Any thought that you don’t want, you simply command that it leaves your mind. It’s your choice to keep or dismiss any thoughts. I believe this is what the Bible means when it says to take each thought captive. Focus instead on what you want, and what is good, noble, and praiseworthy.

I realize this is often easier said than done. I’ve been aware of this information for a long time, yet I still fall into this trap more times than I care to admit. I allow the negative thoughts to interfere and block the light far more than the Buffalo clouds. I recommend that if you find this difficult, then ask God for help. He always comes through. There have been times where the winter darkness has been so depressing here, that I’ve asked God to have the sun shine for once. It often happens. He also answers quickly when I ask to see more of His light as well. I believe He will do the same for you. Ask Him to remove the negative clouds from your mind, and I know He will come through and help. Then His love, light, and joy come through, and instead of darkness, you can experience heaven on earth. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

God’s Great Gift to All of Us

God has given us many great things in this life. It would be impossible to think of all the great things he has done for us. However, as I lay awake in the middle of the night praying and meditating, I was reminded about one of His greatest gifts of all. What could that be? Why of course it’s…the Present!!

Every present is a wonderful gift. OK, please forgive my play on words here, but here are some thoughts I pondered on…

When does God give us all of these great gifts? In the present moment.

When do we have all control of what we think or do in our lives? The present.

When can we stand before God, fully perfect and forgiven? The present.

When in my life are there absolutely no problems and stress in my life? Now, the present.

When can I have anything I desire in life, at least in my imagination? In the present.

When I can I start my clean slate and try again, forgetting what may have happened in the past? In the present.

You may be thinking that you can’t completely forget about the past. After all, some great things have happened too, and even our failures provide some valuable lessons to learn from. I will say that you are totally correct. However, when can we re-live those wonderful memories and reflect on things to learn from? Yes, in the present.

And I haven’t forgotten about the future either. I know we have to plan for the future. But that planning for the future happens….that’s right. In the present. And as I often share here, our future outcomes in life are determined by our predominant thoughts and emotions, when? In the present.

As I often say, it is very refreshing to know that, in this present moment, we have full control of the thoughts and emotions we feel. When we are focused on the present, we don’t have to worry about stressful and difficult situations. Unless they are happening right at that moment, there is no stress in the present moment. Seriously, if something negative is happening now (and unfortunately they sometimes do) you can deal with it…now, in the present. However, if you’re not in the middle of that situation, then it is not happening now! What in this moment is your problem? Most problems we have in our lives are either something lingering from the past or something we are worried about for the future. In almost all cases, there is not a problem now, in this present moment. And if there is, and you deal with it in the present moment awareness, it is much easier to find a solution and resolve it.

I challenge you and myself to maintain this present moment mentality as much as possible today. Let us see this present moment, right now, as the great gift from God that it is. Whenever I live in the present, I feel an unbelievable peace. I want to experience this peace as much as possible, because it is indeed a gift from God. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

God Chose Me

Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com

God is great, isn’t He? I like to reflect as often as I can on the great things God has done, both in my life and in humanity overall. As I did this reflection a few days ago, I became overwhelmed with awe and gratitude as I reflected on some things specific to my life. I began to truly appreciate the fact that God chose me. I never did anything to initiate this choice. Instead, He decided to use me as a vessel for accomplishing His will. Here are some of the thoughts that crossed my mind…

God chose me to be used for His glory.

God chose me to lead one of the most beautiful families on this earth, being an example to a Godly wife and three wonderful daughters.

God chose me to inspire thousands of middle school students and teach them about a new language and about life.

God chose me to write and inspire thousands of others with positive words.

God chose me as an heir to His wonderful kingdom.

God chose me to send His son to die for.

God chose me to be a beacon of light and love for those I work and play with on a regular basis.

God chose me take advantage of opportunities to further His kingdom at this particular time in history.

I can certainly add many more items to this list. As I said before, as I thought of all these truths, a feeling of awe and appreciation built up inside of me. What an honor that God would use an often weak, incapable, disobedient, and doubtful human being that’s just one of the trillions that have walked this earth in its existence to further His excellence and glory. After reflecting on this, I certainly take this honor much less for granted than I did before.

I share this not to promote my own significance, but to inspire anyone reading this. You may feel insignificant, and believe God has no place in His kingdom for you. Please know that it is not true! If you are on this earth, God has you here for a reason. You may not know what that reason is right now, and may not even be able to think of many things to include in a list like mine. However, I can tell you those reasons exist. God has you here for a wonderful reason. He chose you without you even asking. He sees you as perfect, capable, and loving, and as His wonderful child. I challenge you to accept the honor of being chosen and guided by this mighty loving God for greatness and His glory. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

God Is In Control

Things are a bit out of control these days, don’t you think? Between a Coronavirus, mass shootings, political injustice, you name it. There may also be a lot going on in your life, and it’s even more fearful because you feel like you cannot control the situation. It’s certainly understandable if you are feeling that way.

As I was doing my Bible reading today, I was reminded of a wonderful fact. God is in control. In fact, He has every possible situation fully under control. And that includes anything in your life now or in the future. The verses I was reading are Romans 1:19-20. “They know the truth about God because He has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and the sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” What I take from this is, when you see a beautiful sunrise or sunset, beautiful mountains, an endless ocean horizon, geese flying in perfect formation, or anything you can marvel at, God is in that.

As chaotic as circumstances are in this world, nature is run perfectly. This earth was placed in the perfectly ideal spot. Any further one way, we would scorch. Any further another way we would freeze. The sun rises and sets without our help. The seasons change without us doing anything. Think about your own body. As you are going about your business, it still breathes, digests, circulates blood, and replaces dead cells. Your body even does this while you are sleeping. In other words, there is a Godly force out there managing the nature of the earth and 7 billion bodies all at the same time. I can’t even imagine that, but it’s true. Again, neither you nor I have any control of the sun, seasons, or involuntary functions of our bodies, and we don’t do a thing about them. Yet they are completely taken care of, many times without even a thought by us.

The message I am trying to convey today is that, if God can control all of nature, not only on earth but the entire universe, in addition to the 7 billion bodies on earth, He can also control much smaller circumstances on this earth and in your lives. Yes, a killer virus, a bad relationship, hurting finances, or any negative circumstance in life can seem like a major, uncontrollable situation. It always seems that way in the middle of it. However, I share what I was reminded of today with you. God is the creator of everything. He is the controller of everything. He is in ultimate control, and if you leave your cares, anxieties, and difficult situations with Him, they will be very well taken care of.

The best advice my father has ever given me is this…only worry about the things you can control. Don’t stress over the things you can’t. I offer the same to you. Whether you are sick, poor, hurting, lonely, lost, or whatever. Focus on what you can control today and take actions based on that. For the things you cannot control, leave it to God, and ultimately I know He will come through for you. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

How To Be Fruitful and Make a Difference

As we go through this difficult time with Coronavirus and so many other things on our minds, there are many people going out of their way to make a positive difference for the people around them. I am eternally thankfully for these individuals. Many others have the same desire to make a difference in their world too. However, some may be wondering how you can do so.

As I was doing my Bible devotion this morning, I came upon this verse which inspired me to share this with you. For those looking to make a positive difference, I think this will certainly help: “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.” This is taken from 2 Peter 1:5-7. Please allow me to break it down quickly for you…

Faith – Start with an excellent foundation of faith in God and His promises in your life. Be confident that His power can make a difference in your life and those of the people around you.

Moral Excellence – when you demonstrate integrity, respectability, honesty, and strength in character, you stand out in your world. People will definitely notice.

Knowledge – Where can you gain great knowledge? The Bible is an excellent starting point for increasing knowledge of how you can make a difference, or for any life topic. The internet is loaded with valuable resources on how you can enable yourself and others to grow. Use whichever is best for you, and feed your mind with positive information.

Self-control – Mainly self-explanatory on what this means, but your ability to remain disciplined with your mind and emotions, especially in difficult situations, is another thing that stands out and allows your light to shine in the darkness.

Endurance – The ability to press on in the midst of difficult circumstances.

Godliness – Reflecting the same character traits of God. This can also mean remaining devoted to God and His cause.

Brotherly Affection – We’ve seen plenty of examples already of how people are going out their way to help their “brothers and sisters” in society. Your willingness to help in any way you can easily allow you to make a difference in your world.

I believe these verses make it very clear that, if you consistently demonstrate these attitudes character traits, you can make a difference in your world. This point is confirmed in the next verse…. “The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” As we Christians grow in Christ, we develop the above characteristics. And as those characteristics manifest in our personality and we make them a part of our very being, we become more fruitful and make a greater difference in our world.

Are you looking to make greater impacts around you? I believe God is showing us how with these words. The challenge now is to focus on demonstrating these attitudes consistently, then look for ways you can make a difference. If you pray for God’s help in all of this, He will certainly help you. You can and will make a difference, and I believe this can happen almost immediately. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

 

How to Become a Millionaire Instantly

They say “Love is more precious than gold”
Can’t be bought and it can’t be sold
I got love enough to spare
That makes me a millionaire

Chris Stapleton

I heard this song the other day, as I have many other days. However, this was the first time where I truly listened to the lyrics and made the connection to the message of the song. It says that it’s not gold, silver, or dollars that really makes us millionaires. Instead, it’s an abundance of love and great relationships that really makes us rich.

We would all love to have more money in our lives. However, taking from the message of this song, let us not focus on how we can bring more currency into our lives. Let us focus instead on that abundant love of God that inhabits all people and things. Let us appreciate the good we have, and the good in others. That would make us true millionaires.

Now, I am writing a part 2 to this for anyone inquiring about the dollars and cents side of a million dollars. My mind reading skills are telling me some people are feeling like they’ve been ripped off by my title. So is it possible to be a millionaire instantly? I say yes, but please listen to my reasoning.

Just like the example above about being loving and thankful, I believe we can be millionaires without having a cent in our hands or in the bank. It’s a matter of simply playing the part. Think about this for a minute. If you actually had a million dollars in the bank, how would that make you feel? For me, I would feel free to do the things I want to do. I would feel more confident. I would feel far less stress. I would certainly be thankful and would have the desire to help as many people as I could.

The key is to focus on these feelings instead of your circumstances. For a moment at least, ignore the fact that you may not actually have a million dollars. Can you still be thankful for the things you have? Can you still have the freedom to do at least something that you want to do? Can you act more confidently and joyfully? I believe the answers to all of these questions is yes! And I believe further, that if you act as you would if you were truly a millionaire, then that puts you at the status of well…. a millionaire!!

When you do this, a funny thing happens….more money actually ends up at your disposal!! It may not actually add up to a million dollars, at least not yet. However, when you live as close as you can to the million dollar lifestyle, you’ll be amazed of how much this can start to be a reality.

I very much appreciate the excellent reminder I received yesterday. The true millionaire is not always the one with the big bucks in the bank. It is the one who fully demonstrates an attitude of love, joy, and simply being the best they can be, living life freely and abundantly. Isn’t that what you would hopefully be doing if you had the money in your pocket? I wish you the best, and hope you feel like a million dollars today 🙂