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Print By Elise Purcell Christianity is about empowering people to become an overcomer. The power source is, of course, the Holy Ghost. I have seen people who seemed so confident (almost too confident), and realized upon further examination that that individual had an abundance of faith in their life—faith for specific areas: financial, relational, social, emotional, psychological. Seeing their success, I have often envied these people and wondered, “What’s their secret?” Another, less honorable question also inevitably would wind its way into my head, namely this, “Are they allowed to have all that stuff? Is that what God really wants them to be doing with their time, money, and energy?” Of course, only God and they actually know. Nowadays we have a lot of hype about “positive thinking.” “Negative thinking” is taboo, and the mind and soul hold all answers—if we just listen. Which is, of course, baloney. Incidentally, the book The Power of Positive Thinking was supposed to be called “The Power of Faith.” It was the editors who suggested the nice change. Positive thinking + God = kaboom! Positive thinking - God = Ø We can and should succeed as Christians, not just in a spiritual context, but in our everyday lives as well. Part of succeeding is staying humble. Success + Pride = Ø Success - Pride = glorious. But how do we determine the difference between “Faith-wanting-to-succeed,” and “Pride-wanting-to-succeed?” In writing this article I can either think, “Wow, everyone’s going to love this article. It’s a good article,” or I can think, “I’m unworthy to serve the Lord in this way, but if He will accept my lowly article...” Now, which one is pride, and which one is faith? Well, the second mindset is not humility; it may be pitiful, but it’s not true humility. In trying to determine whether we are working through pride or faith, we examine the first mindset in this way: 1) What are my motives? 2) Is the thought right in the first place? If the idea is right and the motive is right, then everybody wins, and you are right. However, if either of these criteria is not affirmed, then you are wrong. So if my mindset is to write a lovely article so that the people will see me and the article too, then my motive is not right, even though maybe, I had a good topic. Faith So if you have a good idea and a right motive (like building a better business to help care for your family and further the kingdom of God, or working to obtain respect from others so that you can win souls and influence people for the better) then believe “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” (Philippians 4:13) and go for it. Visualizing is an important tool in faith. Picture your goal in your mind, or draw it, and never let it die. Keep adding details to it and building it up; in time, it will come true, if it’s right. I have tried this, and it really works! I was unsure of another individual’s feelings about me, and didn’t like the feeling of division between us. So I, in faith, drew a picture of me and that person shaking hands in mutual trust and love and respect. I promise you, five days later, it happened. Adversely, offense is one of the biggest enemies, if not the biggest enemy, of faith. Your faith will not work properly and will constantly malfunction if you have offense or bitterness in your heart towards someone. Offense, in essence, is getting our pride wounded. Wouldn’t happen if we had none! So there is nothing wrong with a humble faith that says, “I can do it!”, but we are to shun an arrogant spirit that says “I can do it, whether it pleases You, God, or not.”
ninetyandnine.com
© 2006, Elise Purcell ---------- Elise Purcell attends Landmark Tabernacle in Denver, CO. She is involved in choir, Community Group, Youth and Drama, and hopes to become involved in much more this year. In her spare time she can be found researching and learning on any number of given topics. For instance: ugly people (Google it), ugly dogs, ugly cats and so on. |
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