Firstly, I would love to make a quote by Norman Vincent Peale
“Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously. Never permit it to fade. Your mind will seek to develop the picture... Do not build up obstacles in your imagination.”
Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking. In the bible, James wrote instructively about the tongue too. He categorizes it as a small member of the body but capable of doing mighty things. It can bless; and it can curse. By it the cause of a life or nature can be determined. In a sense the mind can also be viewed in this light. Though not as small as the tongue it is an aspect of man that is behind all of the inventions, both and good and evil, since the dawn of history. If it is brought under the control of the holy spirit, it can fathom solutions to the worst problem confronting man and civilization. As the famine kept biting in samaria the four leprous men at the outskirts of the city put on their thinking cap. They challenged the propreity of siting down in one place,idle. By asking themselves one critical question they commenced the first step in a recovery process. In dealing with the problems of life the beginning point is asking that one critical question. Sometimes you are fortunate to have a third party ask that question; but most times you need to ask your self.
Since we call it critical question, chances are that you may be offended if someone else were to ask you. When you direct the question to yourself you overcome the chances of being offended. Are you faced with any personal challenge? Or are you suffering from any problem that is collateral in nature? Then ask the necessary question now.
But being honest, in the race of life there are going to be many times when we wouldn't have the humanly strength to carry on. Then, we would only be able to survive on the power of faith in our God.
I have been thinking today of how much that “mindset” ties in with faith. If your mind says no then know your faith will not be activated. I want to stay open always at all times to believing in the Lord. I want my mind-set to be one of/with faith.
I don’t believe that our faith will not have opposition in our minds . In fact, at many times, it will. But I do not believe that it is about the size of our faith,but rather the source of our faith.
As we read in scripture in
Matthew 17:20
“Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
I want to be a person with a mindset of enormous amount of faith. I want to be someone who calls those things that are not, as though they were. I want to be someone who, when Jesus returns, he will find faith still on the planet earth. I want to be sure of what I hope for and be certain of what I can not see. I want to be commended by the Lord for faith, because I know without faith it is impossible to please God. I want to have a mindset that pleases God almighty. Faith pleases God.
There are different kinds of faith for various stages of our lives. There are two words in Greek that are translated as “power” in the New Testament of the bible. One means "slow moving power". It’s kind of like a bulldozer it just keeps moving on. The other word for power is something like a dynamite, very explosive. There are different times in our lives when dynamite kind of faith is required. It is powerful and comes with immediate results.
Then there are also times when slow moving power is needed over time, but the results do come. Faith is like that. There are times when faith is immediate and we see immediate results. Then there are also times when our faith needs to be steady over time to experience long term results.
It’s easy to have a mindset for dynamite faith, but not so easy to keep a good mindset of faith when it seems like it is not happening at all or moving very slowly. That is when we all have to keep our mind stayed on him, on God almighty, the author and perfecter of our faith. Have a mindset of faith for provision, giving, healing, family, employment, marriage,success, promotion, increase and in every area of your life. Believe the Lord today and have a Mindset of faith.