Mensa Otabil - Avoid Negativity
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God is interested in our attitudes, the attitudes we have when we’re waiting for something good to happen to us, when we’re going through a difficulty, when life is hard. God pays attention to how we should behave because the way we behave 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 37:4 says, «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’s doing, then you will get the desires of your heart.
Many times, while waiting for the realization of our desires, for our expectations, or when we’ve prayed and believed God for something, and the thing is not happening, we get moody. We sometimes feel depressed and experience a sense of defeat because we’ve prayed and prayed and prayed, and we’re not getting the answer. But God says that whilst 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; it means to worship Him; it means 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 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 turn very bad, we go in the opposite direction. So, our praise and our worship become conditional on our feelings at a particular time. But we must 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.
Here are a few things just to throw your way 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.
Practice the praise of God when you’re going through difficulties, and participate in the joy of other people. You know you are going through difficulty while someone else has come out of it. 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 someone 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 will give you the desires of your heart.
Practice the praise of God, participate in the joy 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 in the church; serve in the church. Just invest your energies in the things of God. Don’t invest yourself so much in meeting your need that you forget the work of God. God says if you delight yourself in Him, He will give you the desires of your heart. That is His promise to you. If you forget about your own problems and your own challenges and your own difficulties, and begin to be more outward in your praise, sharing in the joy of other people, and just get involved in the work of God, then God takes your burden as His burden and 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.»