#84 - Faith in your Favor

GOOD MORNING! HELLO! It IS an awesome day! Just wait... after you read today's Word, it's going to be a GREAT day for you too!!! If you take it and apply it, IT WILL be a GREAT DAY! Man, I'm excited!!

Proverbs 13:21 (NIV) - Misfortune pursues the sinner, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous.

Psalm 43:5 - Why are you cast down, O my inner self? ... Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him ...

Psalm 103:5 - Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring]!

Proverbs 31:17 - She girds herself with strength [spiritual, mental, and physical fitness for her God-given task] and makes her arms strong and firm. 

OK! Are you ready? Let's just say, TWO WORDS: BRAIN SURGERY! Yes. Brain surgery is getting ready to happen!! I can't hardly type fast enough I am so excited!! I'm excited to see how the Holy Spirit brings it all together too because it's such good information! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!


Faith. Expectation. Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) versus a Happy Mental Attitude (HMA).
"Every man is what he is because of the dominating thought which HE permits to occupy his mind." -Napoleon Hill. 


I once heard a minister talking about having a Positive Mental Attitude. He also mentioned that there is a sharp difference between having a PMA and a HAPPY Mental Attitude. A "HAPPY" Mental Attitude doesn't necessarily mean that you are "Positive". There is a difference and ONE is DISTINCTLY different and better than the other. Can you guess what it is? If you guess PMA, you are right! A PMA. A Positive Mental Attitude. Tyler and I have owned our own business for the last 8 years. We have done well, replaced my income, allowing me to resign from Corporate America, and are on track to replace Tyler's income as well... giving him what? Options. The OPTION to work outside the home. Options are good. Especially in this economy, right. Well, along with owning a business when you are in a leadership position.... for you, whether that be at work, management, coaching, leading your family, sales, church, talking to a family member, whatever... when you are in leadership your attitude is of utmost importance. Tyler and I both would always put on our "HAPPY" face around business associates. Which that is great... but there has definitely been a revelation.... HAPPY is different than POSITIVE! Whether I was at my job working or at a business meeting, many of those times, my outward smile and bubbly personality was really just a mask. Here were some of my frequent thoughts, see if you can relate, "Things aren't going my way. Growth isn't happening the way I want it too. I don't want to be here. Just another day. Arghhh. I don't feel like going to work today. I don't feel like answering all these emails. Arghh, all these voicemails, I have to answer them. I have to call these people back. AHH! Oh great, another banker with another problem. Awesome! (sarcasm!) I really don't feel like answering all these emails. I really should call __________. I need to do ____________. I just don't have time." *big sigh.... blowing breath out*


Have thoughts like that ever went through your mind?? All the while, you are putting on that "HAPPY FACE" and inside it's like everything is falling apart or everything is terrible. Nothing is good. Nothing is good. You just want to pull the covers up over your head and run away from life and responsibility. Well.... let me tell you, I have been there!


"Bad luck", "misfortune", like it says in Proverbs 13, pursues the sinner. And do you know who it also often pursues? The person whose life lives and dwells in the repetition of negative thoughts. Bad things happen to those who EXPECT bad things to happen. 


You may say, "But Amy, I just can't help but be negative. I just feel like my life is terrible right now. Nothing is going right. Everything in my life right now just seems to be bad. I feel like I'm so far in the pit, it's just easier to cross my legs than to get out of the impossible. I don't have the energy to try and climb out." Friend, sister, brother, I have news for you..... YOU WILL RECEIVE SOME GREAT ASSISTANCE TODAY!!!! 


Psalm 43:5 asks the very question to YOU, "Why are you cast down?" It goes on to say, "HOPE in GOD, wait EXPECTANTLY!" FRIEND, WAIT EXPECTANTLY!!!! And while you are waiting start SPEAKING to your situation!!! Friend, START SPEAKING TO IT! Not in your mind, not thinking it, but speak it OUT LOUD! How does FAITH come? Tell me? Say it out loud right now!! How does FAITH COME? YES! You are right!!! Faith comes through HEARING!!!!! If your outer ear is going to HEAR, you need to SPEAK! You need to speak! You speaking is the beginning of changing your subconscious mind. It's the beginning of retraining your MIND to not just be walking around in the attitude of a HMA, but actually truly having a PMA! Brother or Sister.... take Joseph for example.... I know I have gone back to Joseph several times before.... but for real! Take JOSEPH... you all know his story. Dad gives him a coat of many colors, brothers hate him because he's the favorite, brothers conspire to kill him, throw him in a pit, then sell him - yes - SELL their OWN brother as a slave, tell dad that he's been killed.... Joseph then goes off elevated in Potiphar's house, wrongfully accused by Potiphars wife that he tried to make a pass at her or rape her, thrown in jail, remains for 2 years there... and then finally gets elevated out of jail to the right hand, 2nd in charge to Pharaoh. Pharaoh! Pharaoh, basically the KING or PRESIDENT of the nation. The one with ALL the power. And Pharaoh give JOSEPH COMPLETE POWER! 


Now... you tell me, did Joseph have the opportunity to be negative? To have a "NEGATIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE?" ABSOLUTELY! And never in scripture does it say that he even complained about it! 


Stick with me just a little bit longer.... this is what the Holy Spirit told me on the subject...

So many people do think they are good and positive. Yes they act happy on the outside. When people smile, they smile and laugh back, but they are all the while expecting the worst. They let their minds RACE on all the bad things that COULD go wrong. This meeting or that person. Yes even selfishness. So many of MY children don't EXPECT favor, so there in that place, they GET WHAT THEY EXPECT. My children are weak and depressed. True FAITH is positive. True FAITH is  NOT frustrated, or stressed. Stress is an opposite of faith. People are missing MY blessing because they are NOT in faith. How do you get in faith? Yes you DWELL ON IT. You dwell on the positive. You SPEAK the positive possibilities for what seems like a bd situation. List out, OUTLOUD all of the good outcomes. Write your OWN ending. Yes because like Joseph, even in what seemed like bad situations, he had a good attitude. I worked in FAVOR on his behalf. He was ELEVATED to the 2nd highest place of authority & saved the lives of NATIONS! Faith & Favor.

SO, don't be misled. Don't fake yourself out. Don't think you have this "Great" PMA when all the while, all it is, is an HMA. Catch yourself! Catch what you are thinking about! BE PROACTIVE to DWELL on good things. THINK ON THESE things it says in Phil. 4:8. Dwell on the good, the positive, the FAVOR! What are you thinking about. Are you dwelling on the positive or are you dwelling on the negative. Do you allow your mind to dwell and search for the solutions and all the GOOD things that could come out of "THIS" very situation?? A bad employee at work, a bad report.... do you then allow your mind to DWELL there? Dwell on the bad news? CATCH YOURSELF! Choose to FORCE your mind to go down the positive road. Speak all the GOOD things that could come out of the situation. You got this bad report just so that you would be in this certain place because you were suppose to meet the next person who is going to change your life! And, the bad report will then just go away... it was an error. It's really a good report. FIND A WAY to dwell on the positive. And if you're so far in the pit that it seems really hard to do that, FORCE YOURSELF to speak OUT LOUD all the GREAT things that could happen. SPEAK the outcome you want. 


You are then on your way to truly walking in faith! Faith, when you expect the outcome to be in your favor. Faith, calling things that are not as though they were. Call your situation how you want it to be! That is Faith. 

#80 - Year of FAVOR.

HELLO! Ok.... I'm about to show my age! So... I was sitting out on the porch and reading my Bible... a bit cool, fall is definitely here. Well, I listen into the kitchen and this is what I hear, "Cotton Candy, sweet and low, let me see that tootsee roll..." Yes... bustin' out with a little 1994 tunes! Whoa! Is that aging me?? Lol! And another hearty "Yes"... Tyler and I still bust out around the house in a bit of some dance groove. (I would say "booty" music, but since this is a Christian blog, I'll keep that thought to myself!)


Ok... I'm over the tunes... I'm ready to get started!! 

Proverbs 5:8b-9 - ...come not near the door of her house [avoid the very scenes of temptation]. Lest you give your honor to others and your years to those without mercy. 

Psalm 35:12-14 - They reward me evil for good to my personal bereavement. But as for me, when THEY were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting, and I prayed with head bowed on my breast. I behaved as if grieving for my friend or my brother; I bowed down in sorrow, as one who bewails his mother. 

Psalm 65:11 - You crown the year with Your bounty and goodness, and the tracks of Your [chariot wheels] drip with fatness. 

Proverbs 31:21 - She fears not the snow for her family, for all her household are doubly clothed in scarlet. 

What's our overall take-away of the above verses? In walking as the righteous, in avoiding the scenes of evil, you may not immediately be rewarded with good. It actually may seem like the unfair is taking place, that you are being put in an unfavorable position by not doing things as the "world" does them. But FEAR NOT! The YEAR of God's favor WILL BE UPON YOU! The RIGHTEOUS WILL BE Blessed! God will not let you go without being blessed for your righteousness! If initially people are bestowing "evil" upon you, FEAR NOT. If you are being treated unfairly, FEAR NOT! Your God will avenge you. God will lift you up! How would you rather be raised up? By your OWN doing, or by GOD doing it? If I were a betting woman, I would bet that GOD will lift you up in a far superior light than what you could do yourself!!


A few things come to mind here. 


Avoiding the Appearance of Evil: Tyler and I have had something that we have always done to avoid the appearance of evil. When I worked in Corporate America, I often had the opportunity to ride to appointments with other Business Bankers. Instead of riding with them, I would ask them if I could just meet them there. And Tyler does the same. It sometimes seems inconvenient. People think that it is weird. "Why would you want to meet us there? Don't you want to save gas and just ride with me?" Well.... the answer was, No. No, I don't want to "save gas" and meet you there. What I want to do is AVOID the appearance of evil. Avoid the question that could raise in someone's mind if they saw me in a car with another man. "Humm.... That is Tyler's wife. I wonder why she is with that other man. He's attractive. Hum. I wonder where they are going?" We heard Billy Graham once say that he had a glass office. It was glass so that any time during any meeting, he completely avoided the appearance of evil. Anyone could see into his office and always know that things were in the "open" and above board. If he was on an elevator alone, and a woman got on the elevator, he would get off so he wouldn't be on an elevator alone with another woman. Inconvenient, sure. But.... he avoided the appearance of evil and to this day, Billy Graham is esteemed as one of the most godly men in history. 


Being Rewarded with Evil: This doesn't seem like a fun topic. When I re-read over this section in Psalm 35, I was a bit astounded by the humility of a man and how he would treat an enemy. Someone who treated him so poorly. But what a true showing of a Christian. Like what it talks about in the Sermon on the Mount, 'love your enemies.' The gist of it saying, what more are you if you love those who love you, don't even sinners do that? But, love your ENEMIES, those who persecute you. That is different! 


I was at a funeral this weekend. The minister told a story about a man back in the 1400's. A man was on trial and was going to be killed. Another man, hearing about the man, decided to walk 70 miles to pleed for his life. To beg for the man to be able to live. As he arrives after hours and hours of walking, he gets before the king or magistrate and begins to pleed for the mans life. The King states, "NO. He will be hung. He will not live. Any friend or family would most assuredly come this far to try to get me to spare his life, NO! He will die." The man who traveled such a long way on foot responded, "But sir, he is not family, nor is he my friend, he is my greatest enemy." The King responded back, "Well, with that being the case, if you would travel that far for your enemy, I will pardon his life. He will live." 


Wow! But, that in essence is what it was saying above, in Psalm 35. If you read the whole Psalm, you will hear that. Where the Psalmist was repaid with evil, he mourned and wept for his enemies. He repaid them with kindness, with love. 


The YEAR of BOUNTY: What a great reward to look forward too! This is something that I am going to claim for the NOW. That NOW, this year will be the "Year of God's BOUNTY and goodness!" That as the RIGHTEOUS, we can believe for the goodness of God to shine in our life. Sure, maybe sometimes by living as the righteous, we may be treated unfairly. As we live above reproach, things may sometimes seem unfair and not to be going in our favor. BUT, I am reminded recently by a revelation that Tyler received. What is a PMA? What is a Positive Mental Attitude? I have always thought that I was pretty optimistic, that I had a pretty good attitude. What what is a TRUE PMA? A TRUE PMA? A true PMA, no matter WHAT the situation or circumstance says, "I know that things are going to turn in my favor. I know that EVERYTHING works out in my favor. I didn't get this deal? I didn't get this sale? No biggie. I know that EVERYTHING works out in MY favor because I am a child of God." 


I had a true encounter with that this morning. Someone replaced our facet in our sink yesterday. Well.... I have run the dishwasher twice since then. And... couldn't figure out why the dish detergent was left in the dishwasher. Then I noticed that a lot of the things in the dishwasher were ruined. Cups were disfigured, some of the boys spoons were disfigured... my Camelbak water bottle- disfigured... and other things too. I was so sad. :( Then, I realized that water wasn't getting into the dishwasher. I called the man who fixed it, he told me how to turn it on, so I did. And, Wha-La, fixed. Well.... in the meantime, things are ruined. I asked Tyler, if I should ask for money to replace what was ruined, he said No. He said, what does a PMA say? I didn't answer. Partly because I was standing there pouting. Bummed about my Camelbak. :( I didn't know what a PMA would say, I was just bummed. He said, "It will all work out in your favor. You will get something even better. You'll get to pick the color. Or, you'll just get something you like better!"


Ok. 


Well. Bless your enemies. Evaluate, do you REALLY have a PMA? Expect GOD. Expect that THIS will be YOUR YEAR of BOUNTY and goodness!! 


Have a blessed day! :)