08/21/2020
THE SECRET TO OVERCOMING NEGATIVITY!
There is so much going on the world we live in today. Who in there wildest imagination-would have ever dreamed we would live in a time where fear, lies, deceit, rebellion, hatred of others, intentional slander to destroy the lives of others would be the norm rather than the exception. It is so easy to fall into a pattern of seeing the worst...yet there is a secret that I want to share with you this morning that will completely change your life and the way you view the world around you...it’s really not a secret...yet, what if I told you that all you have to do is simply change the way you think!
In order to overcome negativity… we have to change the way we think.. if you think what you have always thought, you are going to get what you have always got...if you say what you have always said you will get what you have always spoken…if you do what you have always done...You will get the very same thing every time….Sounds pretty simply RIGHT... If you want something you have never had...you are going to have to begin to do something you have never done before…The way we overcome negativity is to change the way we think and understand where negativity comes from.
You’ve met them...those who are always negative that are always raining on the parade of others! Those are folks that I call NEGA-HOLICS. A neg-a-holic is a person that is addicted to being negative. I bet you never thought of negativity as an addiction, right! Well it is...it’s a coping mechanism...just like any other addition. It fills a void in your life...a lack of self worth and self-esteem. What we fail to see is that all the wrong and negative we see in others is really a reflection of all that we don’t like about us!
The word “negative”is a derivative of a Latin word that means “to deny”. When you deny something, what you are really saying is that ‘I cannot do that” I can’t do this or that, I can’t loose weight or quit smoking or afford this or that! So, here is what is so powerful about that that way of thinking...did you know that our brains were never programmed for negativity...our brain only knows what we tell it….Your brain does not know the difference between positive and negative..It only knows what you tell it…
in order for you to change the way we think...we need to understand the root of negativity and where it comes from. I believe that that there are three sources of Negativity: We have always heard that Perception is reality, right!
A. Perception-They way your mind records a situation or circumstance.
B. Explanation-Your “inner dialogue” or self talk to your self about that situation.
C. Belief-What you believe about that situation, based on your perception of how you see it.
Simply put this morning... Your thoughts become emotions or feelings and our feelings become our actions. Jesus put it his way....As a man thinks in his heart...So he is! Overcoming negativity is simply changing how we think about things. Philippians 4:8 (Message Bible) puts it this way...Summing it all up, my friends, I’d say you would do best by filling your minds and meditating on things that are true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious- the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.
