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“People who enjoy life make life more enjoyable for others.”


A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 168). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Have you found that so?  That is if you hang out with someone who really enjoys life you find your spirits lifted and you enjoying life too.  But if you are around that person who is always depressed and always rehearsing the negatives in their life then you see your spirit start going down and you discouragement going up. 

I am reading Job right now and his time with those negative friends.  Granted Job had it rough but those friends made it worse.

Let me ask you, what kind of friend are you?  Do you help others enjoy their life or do you bring them down.  Let me tell you, if you bring people down then you will probably be alone a lot.  Life is tough but I don’t want to live in despair about it.  I want to live in hope and joy.  That is what happens when you have a deep strong relationship with Christ.  Yes He had it rough but He also enjoyed the challenge of His life and it showed in those around Him.

Someone said that we have over sixty thousand thoughts every day and over 80 percent of them are negative.  If that is true we need to do whatever we can to combat that negative self-talk.  Steven Furtick in his book, Crash the Chatterbox: Hearing God's Voice Above All Others says that “when we allow our thoughts to go unchecked, a steady drip of lies cements the wrong patterns within our minds, building a Berlin Wall of bad beliefs.”

He also says, “It’s in the mind that the transmission of God’s plans for our lives either succeeds or fails.”

Erwin also said, “I am reminded of the simple words in the Scriptures, ‘Do this and you will live’ (Luke 10: 28). Jesus’s echo of that promise is, ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’ (John 10: 10). Clearly God does not feel limited by the human canvas. He is more than certain that he can work with the material of our broken humanity to create a life that is nothing less than divinely inspired.”

So we can either listen to our broken humanity or the hope of our creator.  It starts with asking His Spirit to live inside of us and listening, listening as He counteracts the lies.  It can be really tough to hear Him especially when you feed the negative.  Choose your friends wisely and take control of your thoughts.

So who are you listening to?   
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  1. Setyo-Utomo SaidApril 29, 2014 at 5:35 PM

    interesting post :)

    http://agro-turisme-fishpond.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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