In the next several Episodes we shall be considering the way God would want us to
manage our responses towards the situations and circumstances of life. Today we shall
lay the foundation with the topic-The Power of Our Attitude. 
We can simply describe attitude as the way we perceive or feel towards another person,
a situation or an idea; it’s a tendency to respond positively or negatively to other
persons or situations. And it includes our general impression of God and also ourselves.
You know some of us view God as a taskmaster, as just tolerating us, while some are
very bitter towards God because of certain events that happened in their lives. Some of
us have an over bloated impression of ourselves while some have low self esteem of
themselves.
Pessimists would always criticize, condemn, put others down and find faults with
everyone and everything.
Pessimism indicates an unhappy and negative mindset and can be seen in a person’s
words, demeanor and body language.
Optimists on the other hand have a positive mindset and would normally focus on the
good aspect of people and situations. They have a positive expectation of the future and
believe in the goodness of God. In a way Optimism can be described as having faith in
God because faith in God impacts our attitude.
Now how does our attitude impact our lives?
Negative attitudes put out negative vibes and will lead us to fall. We have seen that
peace and contentment will elude a person who has an attitude of instability and lives in
doubt.
A person who has an attitude of fear will always fall into the devil’s traps because as we
know fear is the opposite of faith in God. Recall Job’s cry that the thing he feared most
had befallen him.
A person who lives with hatred, resentments and unforgiveness, would live an
embittered and hateful life and would definitely not have free flow of fellowship with
God.
Our attitude determines the health of our relationships-Galatians 5: 13 urges us to serve
one another in love. Philippians 2:14 instructs us to-Do everything without grumbling or
arguing so that we may become blameless and pure children of God in a warped and
crooked generation. This scripture points to the fact that how we treat others is more
important than how they treat us by recognizing that we live in a warped and crooked
world. It recognizes that having a positive outlook to life should not depend on the
environment and the way people treat you. A positive attitude should depend on a
positive mindset regardless of the negativity around us.

A negative attitude repels relationships because people don’t want to be around anyone
that perpetually complains.
In Numbers 21:5, the bible narrates how the Israelites complained and grumbled
against God and Moses because they lacked food and water. And in 1 Corinthians 10:9,
the scripture warns us-And do not grumble as some of them did-and were killed by the
destroying angels. These things happened to them as examples and were written down
as warnings for us. Of course we would not be killed under the NT because of
grumbling, but this scripture in 1 st Corinthians serves as a warning to reveal God’s
mindset about an attitude of complaining and grumbling and what effect it has on our
relationship with Him.
A positive, joyful and peaceful attitude attracts healthy relationships, free flow of
fellowship with God and of course more of God’s blessings.
Many of us out of fear, low self esteem, envy, inferiority complex, challenges and other
reasons have developed a negative attitude which is affecting us adversely and will
continue to affect us until we change the narrative.
How can we overcome a negative attitude?
Proverbs 4:23 says “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of
life”. It is important that we guard the flow of our thoughts because the way we think and
what we think determines our feelings-whether positive or negative and the way we feel
determine our behavior. Put differently, we become what we think.  Proverbs 23:7 says:
“as a man thinks in his heart so is he.”
Satan knows that the victory of a child of God is not determined by our circumstances,
but how we face circumstances. He understands that it is not the problem but our
attitude towards it that would cause us to fail. That is why his primary target of attack is
the mind and thought life of children of God. Satan’s main strategy is to destroy
Christians by creating fear, self-pity, criticism, resentment, envy, and anger in their
minds.  And that’s why the Bible says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you!
Before we gave our lives to Christ, it was convenient and acceptable to hold unto
offences and refuse to forgive, to find faults with others; to complain and grumble.
But now that we have given our lives to Christ, Paul counsels that we must incorporate
a new attitude of love and understanding in order to develop a healthy and positive
attitude. He recommends in Philippians 4:8. that whatever is -true, noble, right, pure,
lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy, we should think about such things.
We all have the potential and have been equipped to act as instructed by Paul by the
help of the Spirit of God. Galatians 5:22 states that the fruit of the spirit is-love, joy,
peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. And
every child of God ought to be bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

In Psalm 43:5, David asked himself-Why are you downcast O my soul?  Why so
disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God.  I will yet praise him my Savior and my
God.” David counseled himself to snap out of sorrow and depression and start trusting
in God!”
You also have a choice to let a defeatist attitude paralyze you whenever a crisis
emerges or, like David, determine that a downcast soul is not acceptable for someone
who has the loving and faithful God as his father. You can also determine that a
negative attitude of holding unto offences and resentments; finding faults with others;
focusing on the negative aspect of situations; perpetually complaining and grumbling is
not acceptable for someone who has the loving and faithful God of the universe as his
father. Ultimately, it is a matter of choice. You have to make the choice to work on your
negative attitude.
When you have made this determination, you need to ask the Holy Spirit to help you
bear the fruit of the spirit on a daily basis in order to shift from a negative to a positive
attitude. Then you need to start making a verbal pronouncement and confession of who
the Bible says you are. 
That means you should start confessing, “I am a spirit filled child of God, I am forgiving,
kind, virtuous, honest, loving, holy, faith-filled, confident, and a doer of the Word.
Confessing your identity in Christ and who God says you are will affect your attitude and
character.  And this is why Revelation says we overcome: “by the blood of the lamb and
the word of our testimony.”
It will take time and practice but with perseverance you can do it.
In conclusion, it is imperative that we develop a positive attitude because a positive
attitude attracts blessings from God. A person with a positive attitude acknowledges the
good things that God has done for us. According to Psalm 66: 5-6- “let the people
praise thee oh Lord, let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her
increase; and God, even our God, shall bless us.” For those with a positive attitude and
hearts of gratitude, the earth shall yield her increase. The blessings of the Lord are
reserved for such persons.