Attitude part 2
When we operate from a posture of rest (which is not inactivity, but Holy Spirit directed activity) we are not trying to GET anything, but simply GIVING what we've already got. The only way to do that is to know what you've got. Because you can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. And the only way to know what you've got is to stop worrying about everything you haven't got, and to be grateful for the things you have got. Look at Colossians 4:2 in the Message Bible, "Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude." Seeing is believing, right? God reveals Himself to us (and in us, and through us, and as us) and what we see... is what we be. Eyes wide open. Not chasing the carrot but only getting the stick. Rather... being thankful for what you have, and proving your gratitude by sharing what you have! Giving it away. Receiving and releasing the gift we've been given. We are blessed... to be a blessing. We have been filled to overflowing with God's Spirit. His love. His life. And all we have to do--all we have to do--is fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled to overflowing with! All we have to do is let what's inside come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. All we need to do is be thankful for what we have. Enjoy what we have. Use what we have. One more time: Receive it and release it. Let it flow through us. Our attitude determines our altitude. Our mindset defines our reality. We can either be a thermometer (and take the temperature) or a thermostat (and SET the temperature). We can either let what's going on around us define our lives, or we can let the love of God define our lives. What's inside... or what's outside. That's the choice. Chasing what we (think we) don't have... or sharing what we (know we) do have. If you think you're going to have a good day... you probably will. No matter what happens. Because the fire in you is always hotter than the fire you're in. You can let the fire inside come out and burn away everything else. But remember, that fire is LOVE. We can let the LOVE that's inside come out and burn away everything else. It's all about love. When we focus on love--and when I say that I mean focus on the love we HAVE, not the love we WISH we had--everything else falls into place. We love, because He first loved us. Our love comes from the God who IS love. HE fills us up and then we let it come out. Receive it and release it. Receive it and release it. Receive it and release it. That's the Divine Order of things. God fills us up, and we give what we've got. By knowing what we've got. By believing that we've got it. By being grateful for it. Thankful for it. By being generous with it. Lavishing our love on people. You can react to things any way you choose to. I always say, "Feel what you feel, but don't let it control you." The only thing that should control you is God's love. But I think that's where I'm going to pick up with this tomorrow. God's love controlling us. Our attitude being one that says, "I am loved... so I can love. I am loved... so I am love!"