An Attitude of Trust
My notes from Joyce Meyer's sermon "An Attitude of Trust". I transcribed this at 2.57am =)
You can stand 2 people side by side with the same problem and one is able to overcome it and have a great life, and the other might succumb to the problem and live a life of defeat. And the outcome of it all simply boils down to one's attitude.
It is important for people to remember this - Your attitude is not a feeling that you have. You choose your attitude. It is a choice.
You need to not just make Jesus your saviour but to make Him the LORD of your life, not make "self pity" Lord over you- enslaving you with bitterness.
We need to hand over our self pity attitude to Jesus and ask Him to help us.
Sometimes we have been grieviously hurt by someone in our life, and instead of overcoming that grief, we make the next person that comes along pay for that hurt dealt out to us even though it had nothing to do with them. That is not fair to people - esp those who love you.
You can be pitiful or powerful, not both. You need to make a choice to get rid of that self-pitying attitude.
You can choose to sit at home and cry all day, or choose to do something else and fight that self-pitying attitude. You can't wait for it to disappear, you need to proactively fight it.
Some people are more optimistic than others, so they let go more easily. But for those of us who are more negative, we need to fight the wrong attitude that has been embedded in our mind due to habit or something in our past.
By God's grace and mercy through Christ, may we come to learn how to TRUST.
Trust is what enables you to cast your care upon the LORD, and it also keeps you from worrying and being anxious. Trust keeps you from reasoning and trying to figure everything out; from trying to get answers to things that you don't have answers to yet. In fact, it is very likely that without trust, one will not be able to obtain joy in their lives. Without trust, you can't have peace either.
Regarding Trust in relationships - it is the basic foundation for a good and strong relationship.
We need to maintain the trusting attitude that Jesus had- and He definitely trusted.
1 Peter 2:22
He committed no sin, and no deceit or guile was ever found in his mouth.
He didn't do anything wrong, didn't say anything wrong.
When He was reviled and insulted, He did not return the favour by reviling and insulting back.
When He was abused and suffering, He made no threat of vengeance. But He trusted Himself and everything to Him who judges fairly.
You choose Christianity but you need to choose to live the victorious life where you can be happy.
You can be a miserable Christian.
Trusting God is the thing that we are called to- to trust God whatever the situation.
First of all the Scripture says that Jesus never chose to retaliate back when insulted. Many of us will take issue with this.
" I didn't do anything wrong so why must I take this lying down???"
" This isn't fair."
But when people aren't treating us fair and we feel that we have been doing the right thing, the only real response that we must have to this is not "I am gonna get you back," or "I am gonna treat you the way you've treated me," - We need to say "Well God, I trust You."
Joyce Meyer shares how she had problems trusting or submitting to Male authority because of the severe abuse she endured through her childhood (her father sexually abused her). God dealt with her on issues of trusting her husband, submitting to her husband and doing the things her hubby asked her to do. She was afraid to submit or even give anyone the idea that they could have authority over her because she was afraid she would again be abused and mistreated.
It was a problem that had embedded itself into her for years and it wasn't her husband's fault but she dragged him into that problem. It wasn't fair for him because he wasn't bad or evil, he was wanting to be good to her but she did not know how to let go and trust.
So one day she asked God - God, how can you ask me to trust him after all I've been through?
God replied her- "I am not asking you to trust Dave. I am asking you to trust Me with Dave. I am asking you to trust Me that even if Dave fails to treat you right, that I will deal with him and I will ultimately makes things right."
Now, none of us can get through this earth without being mistreated.
This is today's revelation - Life is not fair. If you are going to expect life to be fair all the time, then you can expect to be upset all the time.
It wasn't fair for Jesus to pay for our sins.
It wasn't fair for Him who did nothing wrong to be treated wrong.
And I think one of the hardest pills we have to swallow in life is - we think we are these nice people who deserve this different kind of treatment, and when we don't get it the first thing that comes screaming out of our soul is "IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!"
And you may be right about that - maybe it is unfair - but oh do we have some precious things working on our behalf if we will just take hold of it... God promises us justice.
Joyce's ending thoughts -
Trust is an interesting subject. All of life is not liveable, do-able if we don't have any trust.
I mean you aren't going to even sit on a chair if you don't trust that it is going to hold you up.
So we need to first and foremost trust in God because He is our most faithful and loving friend; and He has proven Himself to be very trustworthy. Anybody who has any experience with God at all learns that He is faithful. He is faithful. He always does what He says He will do. He might not do it when you like it to, or the way you want it to, but He will do it and when He does it, and it will be all right.
You need to learn how to trust yourself too. You need to trust that you can hear from God, trust that you can be led by the Holy Spirit, trust that you can make good decisions.
Don't live suspicious- always thinking the worst of everybody but learn that love always believes the best and just make the decision that you are going to learn how to trust God, trust yourself and trust people.
You can stand 2 people side by side with the same problem and one is able to overcome it and have a great life, and the other might succumb to the problem and live a life of defeat. And the outcome of it all simply boils down to one's attitude.
It is important for people to remember this - Your attitude is not a feeling that you have. You choose your attitude. It is a choice.
You need to not just make Jesus your saviour but to make Him the LORD of your life, not make "self pity" Lord over you- enslaving you with bitterness.
We need to hand over our self pity attitude to Jesus and ask Him to help us.
Sometimes we have been grieviously hurt by someone in our life, and instead of overcoming that grief, we make the next person that comes along pay for that hurt dealt out to us even though it had nothing to do with them. That is not fair to people - esp those who love you.
You can be pitiful or powerful, not both. You need to make a choice to get rid of that self-pitying attitude.
You can choose to sit at home and cry all day, or choose to do something else and fight that self-pitying attitude. You can't wait for it to disappear, you need to proactively fight it.
Some people are more optimistic than others, so they let go more easily. But for those of us who are more negative, we need to fight the wrong attitude that has been embedded in our mind due to habit or something in our past.
By God's grace and mercy through Christ, may we come to learn how to TRUST.
Trust is what enables you to cast your care upon the LORD, and it also keeps you from worrying and being anxious. Trust keeps you from reasoning and trying to figure everything out; from trying to get answers to things that you don't have answers to yet. In fact, it is very likely that without trust, one will not be able to obtain joy in their lives. Without trust, you can't have peace either.
Regarding Trust in relationships - it is the basic foundation for a good and strong relationship.
We need to maintain the trusting attitude that Jesus had- and He definitely trusted.
1 Peter 2:22
He committed no sin, and no deceit or guile was ever found in his mouth.
He didn't do anything wrong, didn't say anything wrong.
When He was reviled and insulted, He did not return the favour by reviling and insulting back.
When He was abused and suffering, He made no threat of vengeance. But He trusted Himself and everything to Him who judges fairly.
You choose Christianity but you need to choose to live the victorious life where you can be happy.
You can be a miserable Christian.
Trusting God is the thing that we are called to- to trust God whatever the situation.
First of all the Scripture says that Jesus never chose to retaliate back when insulted. Many of us will take issue with this.
" I didn't do anything wrong so why must I take this lying down???"
" This isn't fair."
But when people aren't treating us fair and we feel that we have been doing the right thing, the only real response that we must have to this is not "I am gonna get you back," or "I am gonna treat you the way you've treated me," - We need to say "Well God, I trust You."
Joyce Meyer shares how she had problems trusting or submitting to Male authority because of the severe abuse she endured through her childhood (her father sexually abused her). God dealt with her on issues of trusting her husband, submitting to her husband and doing the things her hubby asked her to do. She was afraid to submit or even give anyone the idea that they could have authority over her because she was afraid she would again be abused and mistreated.
It was a problem that had embedded itself into her for years and it wasn't her husband's fault but she dragged him into that problem. It wasn't fair for him because he wasn't bad or evil, he was wanting to be good to her but she did not know how to let go and trust.
So one day she asked God - God, how can you ask me to trust him after all I've been through?
God replied her- "I am not asking you to trust Dave. I am asking you to trust Me with Dave. I am asking you to trust Me that even if Dave fails to treat you right, that I will deal with him and I will ultimately makes things right."
Now, none of us can get through this earth without being mistreated.
This is today's revelation - Life is not fair. If you are going to expect life to be fair all the time, then you can expect to be upset all the time.
It wasn't fair for Jesus to pay for our sins.
It wasn't fair for Him who did nothing wrong to be treated wrong.
And I think one of the hardest pills we have to swallow in life is - we think we are these nice people who deserve this different kind of treatment, and when we don't get it the first thing that comes screaming out of our soul is "IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!"
And you may be right about that - maybe it is unfair - but oh do we have some precious things working on our behalf if we will just take hold of it... God promises us justice.
Joyce's ending thoughts -
Trust is an interesting subject. All of life is not liveable, do-able if we don't have any trust.
I mean you aren't going to even sit on a chair if you don't trust that it is going to hold you up.
So we need to first and foremost trust in God because He is our most faithful and loving friend; and He has proven Himself to be very trustworthy. Anybody who has any experience with God at all learns that He is faithful. He is faithful. He always does what He says He will do. He might not do it when you like it to, or the way you want it to, but He will do it and when He does it, and it will be all right.
You need to learn how to trust yourself too. You need to trust that you can hear from God, trust that you can be led by the Holy Spirit, trust that you can make good decisions.
Don't live suspicious- always thinking the worst of everybody but learn that love always believes the best and just make the decision that you are going to learn how to trust God, trust yourself and trust people.
Hi Geri,
ReplyDeleteAmen!
It is not easy for us to trust others. We are often suspicious of those around us.
In the work environment, we often over-react to something a colleague says or does because at the back of our mind, our colleagues are trying to stab us in the back. Even when we "let go" and do not respond to their hurtful remarks (often said deliberately, I believe), instead of backing off, they think that they have been given carte blanche to make life more unbearable for us. Sometimes I wonder, "How can this be right? I have learned not to react when he/she attacks me, so why do the persecutions not stop?".
Recently, I said words of life and encouragement to a friend and in return, I got a scarcastic retort in the chatbox in her blog. I did not respond to her reply and I do not think that she meant it (she is not a believer). However, from what she wrote, it was clear that she was believing in her own effort and works. She has friends who are believers but she is not ready to open her heart to the Lord. Sometimes, it is counterproductive to push and push. You may end up pushing away a precious one who could on another occasion turn to the Lord.
I have been listening to Joyce Meyer's sermons online in her website and they have been a source of encouragement for me. She is very practical and many a time, I get the chills because it is as though she is talking directly to me and about my situation.
Be blessed always,
Pebbles