Mensa Otabil - Choose to Be Positive
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God is interested in our attitude, the attitudes we have when we’re waiting for something good to happen to us, when we go through a difficulty, when life is hard. God pays attention to how we should behave because the way we act in those periods will determine the outcome of our situation. So today, I encourage you to learn to delight in the Lord. Be excited about the things of God. Psalm 37, verse 4: «Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.» Isn’t that amazing? God says when you delight in Him, when you are happy and excited about what He is doing, then you will get the desires of your heart.
Many times, while waiting for the realization of our desires, for our expectations, or while we’ve prayed and believed God for something, and the thing is not happening, we get moody; we sometimes feel depressed and a sense of defeat because we’ve prayed and prayed and prayed, and we’re not getting the answer. But God says that while you are waiting for the answer to your prayer, delight yourself in the Lord. That means get excited about the things of God. It means to praise the Lord, to worship Him, to thank Him; it means to intentionally choose to be positive while negative things are happening to you.
Now, most of us worship God when things are going well. You know, when something good happens, we burst out into singing, or we go to church and rejoice, waving our handkerchiefs as we do here in Ghana because everything is going well. Then, when things stand very bad, we go in the opposite direction. So, our praise and our worship are conditional on our feelings at a particular time. But we are to delight in the Lord at all times. We have to have the joy of the Lord and express that joy even when we don’t feel very joyful.
So, a few things just to help you when you’re going through those moments: First, practice praise when you are tempted to yield to self-pity. Just open your mouth and praise God. Sing a song of praise. It may seem dry in your mouth; it may not even seem real, but sing it anyway. What you will realize is that when you praise God and sing praises, pretty soon your atmosphere will change; your whole attitude will change, and the burden becomes lighter and lighter for you. Practice the praise of God when you’re going through difficulty, and participate in the joy of other people. You know, while you are going through difficulties, somebody has come out of difficulty. Don’t be angry at the person who has come out of a difficulty; participate in their joy.
When somebody has a baby, participate in their joy; when someone gets a good job, participate in their joy. When somebody tells you of their good news, be happy for them. It may not have happened to you, but be happy for them because God says if you do that, He’ll give you the desires of your heart. Practice the praise of God, participate in the joys of others, and promote God’s work. Be concerned about what God is doing. If you are in a church, participate in the church, join a department, and serve. Just invest your energies in the things of God. Don’t invest yourself so much in meeting your needs that you forget the work of God.
And God says if you delight yourself in Him, He will give you the desires of your heart. That’s His promise to you. If you forget about your own problems, challenges, and difficulties, and you begin to be more outward in your praise, sharing in the joy of other people and getting involved in the work of God, then God takes your burden as His burden, and He gives you the desires of your heart.
So this week, learn to delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, thank You for meeting my needs. I delight myself in You and in all that You are doing in my life. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen.»