Start the New Year Right
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009The audio portion of this broadcast is no longer available on-line.
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PROGRAM D-5912
Let’s start the New Year off right! Although that is an overworked cliché, it is still a good idea to make a new beginning as we start a new year this week. So, I’m determining to do some things better, more consistently, and make some needed changes so that I am more effective for the Lord in 2010 than I was in 2009. I hope you’ll join me in this quest.
I suggested some ways to start the New Year right by spending time each day in God’s Word and prayer, and I’m going to incorporate some of those new approaches. Here’s another idea that will help me—and perhaps you, too. I’m going to watch my attitude more closely and make sure I avoid those negative lapses, both in my thinking and in my talking.
Years ago I began to realize that I had to be intentional about staying positive in a world that is full of negatives. It won’t just happen! And I just need to reinforce that commitment, because it is so easy to let your attitude slide down toward negative territory.
Paul exhorts us to “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). If I’m rejoicing always, I won’t be a negative, complaining person. So, I’m going to pay more attention to my attitude. If I don’t think negatively, I won’t talk negatively, so this begins with bringing every thought into captivity and making it obedient to Christ.
One way to stay in positive mode is to continually thank God for his goodness to you. I know, some days it’s hard to remember his goodness, when everything is going wrong and nobody seems to care. And with the difficult financial times we are going through now, it can indeed take some effort to be thankful. But I know if I am a thankful person, I will be much happier, much more effective for Jesus, and I’ll have much more energy to do what I need to do.
Did you know that when you’re in negative mode, you are robbing yourself of needed energy and strength? You see, the joy of the Lord is our strength, and in negative territory, there is no joy! So, you don’t have strength and you aren’t very productive—and that just causes you to be more negative.
Please join me as we start this New Year, and let’s determine, by God’s grace and in his power, to truly keep our attitudes in joyful, thankful territory—all day, every day.
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