So having got that out of the way, I was left with a swift reminder, courtesy of John's own words that God is a positive God. He can turn around any situation and work it for our good...
A Positive God We Serve
God, simply put, is all for restoration and He always makes a way where there is none. This then started to remind me that if God is who He says He is, then I need to start adopting a similar mindset; a positive one!
Why? Because whenever things went wrong, I was far too critical of myself and jumped on the negative thought train far too quickly!
What good is that?!
Romans 8:29-31 ESV For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (30) And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (31) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Need I say much more?
In living for a higher calling like this, I started to realise just how much power is at my disposal when faced with such negativity and I can either give in to it, or shut it down as fast as it begins!
God gave up the one thing that meant everything to Him; His own Son!
Why? So that we could have life and Jesus is at the right hand of God, interceding for us. He interjects freedom when we should be punished.
Go back and read that passage above again... "those whom He called He also justified". Though we deserve punishment for the wrong we have done in our lives, by the grace of God, Jesus interjects and says "no, no, no!".
How marvellous is that?! :)
Jesus, when God's plan was to discipline us to bridge the gap that's been between us and Him since The Fall, jumped up and said "no, Father. Life not death. Freedom not punishment, they deserve. I'll take what they should have."
So having established this, what a wonderful Intercessor we have in Jesus, we start to see something here; the prior verse I quoted in part one was onto something "if God is for us, who can be against us?".
God vs. Satan/Good vs. Evil
There you have it, the plotline of a thousand and one plus films straight out of Hollywood!
To put it another way, I quote Newton's law of motion: -
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction
For every one that doesn't believe (and believe you me, I've already said it before today; I do not hold it against anyone, it's your choice!), there are those that do and vice versa. Only my beliefs are slanted in the favour of God and you only have to read Revelation to see how it all ends!
How we determine our God, then, affects how we live our lives (or if you don't believe then there's a chance you can trade that for something you do believe in be it money/possessions/a job).
For me, God always always works through the positive; He is good therefore He does good and can do no wrong. If I get into a negative situation God will use it to bring about a positive conclusion, so I guess you could say that with God there are no sad endings!
In closing then, on day one of Brotherhood 2014, I decided that I was going to, from here on out, be a positive influence on those around me.
One piece of advice coming straight from John's mouth was this: -
"stop eating the food of the raven and eat the food of the dove!"
Think about the imagery that those two animals creates, one with death and one with life and peace, whilst I write up the third part of my review, which you can find here...
Peace out!
No comments:
Post a Comment