Brighter and Brighter

Those of you who know me, know I am a die-hard advocate of mental toughness. What we use our precious thought-life energy on is what we will likely begin to believe. So to change what we believe we have to change what we think about. What we think is what we eventually (if we haven't already) become.

I've chosen to share a daily writing (occasionally) from an email newsletter I receive.The premise of each of these daily readings is to make us aware of what we are allowing ourselves to think and how that affects our relationship with God and others. Then it gives us some concise and easily understood steps of how to change wrong thinking. I hope they speak to you as much as they have me.

I've written some of my own thoughts at the end of each post. You didn't think I could just sit down and let someone else have my pulpit now did you?

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Today we're fasting from the thought that says, "Things aren't getting better. They're getting worse!" Gang,thinking this way is NOT AN OPTION.This thinking keeps us bound to the past, or moving backwards. The media espouses negativity. The spirit of darkness is behind all these thoughts. The devil promotes doom and gloom, to get people depressed, on drugs, fearful and timid, distracted from the worship of God and the work of the gospel.The world is full of bad news - the economy is getting worse, society is getting worse, etc.But we reject this thought TODAY!

1.The path of the righteous...gets brighter and brighter until the full day.

(Proverbs 4:18)

2. "Evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."

(2 Timothy 3:13) But the opposite is true about you!

Goodness follows you, therefore, you go from good to better!

3. Don't think "glass half full or glass half empty." Think: My cup runs over!

(Psalm 23:4)

4. Your life is going to end up better than it started!

(Eccl. 7:8 says, "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning.")

Haggai 2:9 says, "The latter days of this house shall be greater than the former."

5. Believe that God has saved the best for last.

John 2:10 says, "...But you have saved the best for last!"

6. God only has the best in mind for you. In Luke 15:22 the father said, "bring the best robe, and put it on my son..."

Follow the pattern of how God does things--

He takes us from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant;

from the blood of animals to the blood of Jesus;

from law to grace;

from sin to righteousness;

from sickness to health;

from adversity to prosperity;

from defeat to victory;

from unclean to clean;

from empty to filled.

Everything in God's kingdom gets better and better.The kingdom of God is in you (Luke 17:21) therefore, expect things to get better and better in every area of your life.

THINK IT & SAY IT:No matter what is happening in this world, things are getting better and better for me! God has made me righteous through His blood; therefore, my path is getting brighter and brighter every day.My inner man is being renewed, day by day. Evil people may go from bad to worse, but the goodness of God follows me, so I go from good to better, every day.I can celebrate in the presence of my enemies, because my cup runs over, and never runs out! God has saved the best for last in my life, and my latter days will be better than my former days, in Jesus' Name.

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One of my favorite scriptures of all time is the first one used here in point #1. Any of us could easily say it sure doesn't seem that way sometimes. But isn't that how scripture is? It is TRUE whether it seems that way or not. Our responsibility is to BELIEVE it even when it doesn't SEEM like it. That's what the life of faith is all about.

I confess that lately I've struggled with seeing the glass half empty. So many things going on at once and so much bad news all around. I've had to pull away from keeping up with the news in order to keep focused on God's plan for me. I'm not saying I hide my head in the sand. I still catch some of the headlines and read some of my favorite Internet sites but honestly I just can't know everything that is happening all the time because it distracts my heart. It agitates and irritates me.

I've gone back to reading my stand-by scriptures on the goodness of God. His master plan for His children keeps my heart in tune with HIM. No matter who the President is or how bad the nightly news is God NEVER CHANGES and His plan for His children is a plan of redemption.

This Easter week is a superb reminder of His sacrifice and His VICTORY in the face of every demon in Hell.

I'm choosing to think about that today!

Blessings, Meems