Quote from Forum Archives on December 19, 2000, 9:12 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

I'd like to return to the material of Bob Gass today (who happens
to use the same name as I do for the daily devotional message -
Word for Today. In this message, Bob mentions something that the
apostle Paul knew about 2000 years ago, something Paul learned
from Jesus Christ, through divine revelation: our attitudes have
a profound effect on the way we live.

I encourage you to read the twelfth chapter of Romans today. In
it, we find many of the same words from Paul about what love is,
and what it means. We also find the statements about offering
our lives and our bodies as living sacrifices to God, the
reminder to renew our minds continually, not by the trash around
us, that distorts and pollutes our thinking, but by the Spirit,
which transforms and renews our minds.

Some of us are discouraged today, instead of being filled with
joy at this time of year. Consider this message and find hope in
it - the Spirit of God is within those who call upon Him,
acknowledge our dependence upon Him, seek Him with our entire
mind and being, and turn away from our previous attitudes and
actions. With this kind of attitude, God is willing to forgive
the most vile offenses imaginable, but without acknowledging our
errors and our deep need of Him, we are indeed lost.

What do you think? Is He worth our complete devotion? Are we
needy? For me, the answer is that I am very happy, and I am
truly blessed. But if it were not for the wondrous change that
the Lord brought about within me, I would not only be lost, I'm
not sure I would even be alive today. For like many, I was once
in deep despair. Like King David, I was once in hiding, in
caves, seeking to get away from the things that troubled me.
Like David, I sought the Lord. I doubted, yet I trusted. I was
changed, just as sure as these words speak today.

How about you? Have you personally experienced this kind of
change in attitude? Do you recognize that you even need a
change? If the answer is yes to either question, there is great
hope. "For in Him we live and move and have our being..." (Acts
17:28A)

Brother Brian

Word For Today
From: "ChristianNet" <admin@christiannet.org>
To: Word For Today mailing list <wft@welovegod.org>
Subject: [WFT] Wed 20 Dec 00 - Happiness is an 'inside job'

WORD FOR TODAY with Bob Gass - Wednesday 20th December
2000

Happiness is an 'inside job'

'...BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND...' ROMANS 12:2
(NAS)

William James said, 'The greatest discovery of our generation is
that we can alter our lives by altering our attitudes.' Think
about that! It's your thought life, not your circumstances, that
determines your happiness.

We keep thinking we'll be happy if only a certain thing
happens. For example, some mothers say, 'When Johnny gets out of
elementary school, I'll be happy.' And they are - for a
while. Next, 'When Johnny graduates from high school, I'll be
happy.' And they are, at least for the summer. Next, Johnny's
graduation brings the same promise; so does his marriage; so does
the birth of her first grandchild. But the problem is she hasn't
learned how to be happy between happenings! If your happiness is
always controlled by something outside yourself, you'll always be
a hostage to other people, places, and things. That's not God's
plan for you!

David said, 'I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall
continually be in my mouth' (Ps 34:1). David chose the right
attitude and you've got to choose it too; you've also got to
maintain it. That's the hard part. Like the old farmer said: 'The
hardest thing about milking cows is - they never stay milked!'
It's the same with attitudes; they don't stay changed. You've got
to work on them every day; it's called 'renewing your mind.'' The
only way to do it is to stay in the Word of God. Have you been
doing that lately?

(c) Bob Gass Ministries 2000 (used by permission)

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Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
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