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Faith and Attitude By Elaine Jamieson A big part of what determines the level of our faith is the kind of attitude we adopt.
hen I took on a paper route, I delivered a free community newspaper once a week. Every week when I pulled into this one driveway to throw a paper to the front door, I would read the same bumper sticker: "YOU CAN'T ALWAYS BELIEVE WHAT YOU ARE THINKING." I would think, "What does that mean?" I'm the kind of a person who keeps thinking about things and then wonders, "Why am I thinking this way?" There were quite a few times when I thought I had analyzed a situation correctly only to later find out my thoughts were a misperception. As time went by, the bumper sticker began making more sense to me. The relationship between thought patterns and attitude
I remember Mr. Herbert Armstrong saying Satan easily influences our attitudes when he "broadcasts" his own (Ephesians 2:2). I'm sure Satan would like to keep us in a bitter state of mind. We have to fight against that attitude. I know that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us and protect us from Satan's influence (James 4:7-8). Even God has an attitude, but His is a positive attitude! His influence leads us to have more positive attitudes of our own. The relationship between attitude and faith When I get into a negative attitude, I notice that it diminishes my faith. I end up complaining and thinking of things in the wrong spirit. You can read in Numbers 13 about God sending Israelites to spy out the land of Canaan. Most of the spies had a pessimistic outlook. They lacked faith because their attitudes were wrong. They weren't close to God at all. In Numbers 14, we see that the fear and pessimism were contagious, infecting most of the Israelites. The Israelites whined and complained and the Lord was very unhappy with them. Only two of the spies had positive attitudes -- Joshua and Caleb:
We see that wrong thoughts led to wrong attitudes, which led to a lack of faith. As a result, none of the adults over age 20 were allowed to go into the Promised Land. The only exceptions were Joshua and Caleb. A remedy for lack of faith Jesus asked, "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).
Here is the definition of faith: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Hope is certainly a positive attitude that leads to faith! We should have an attitude while praying that God is for us, standing firm in our faith and being willing to do what God wants us to do without complaining. We need to keep looking forward to the promises that await us, keeping that big picture in mind. God never lies and will never let us down. Standing firm But when things aren't going as well as we think they should be, it's so easy to allow negative attitudes to start creeping in. Then our faith that God will provide us with "the way of escape" begins to dwindle (1 Corinthians 10:13). If you begin to think that all hope is lost, you had better check your attitude. If the attitude level is down, the faith level will be down.
When you have God's Spirit and you align your attitude with these things, you can believe what you are thinking. Further reading To learn more about how to develop good thought habits, a positive attitude and dynamic faith, request our free booklet . Copyright 2011 by United Church of God, an International Association All rights reserved. |
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Origin of article "Faith and Attitude"
Keywords: attitude faith attitude and faith
Holy spirit - mind of God: