Monday 1/13/14 Attitudes

Dear Father in Heaven:  Thanks for a wonderful weekend, and thanks for watching over us.  Thanks for sending Jesus to the cross to clean us of our sins.  Please, Lord, as we start this week, help me to walk each day with You, and please, Lord, be with those who watch over us here on earth.  Be with our military, our police,  our firefighters, and Lord, those who work the utilities and have been working so hard in the cold to keep power on.  Lord, bless those who serve You by serving others on this earth, who do the jobs nobody else wants to do.  Be with our "trash folks," those who  hang out on the back of the trash trucks, for it is cold and windy.  Lord, bless those who read this line, bless our flock at The Bridges, bless families this day, and Lord, please look after Donna's cat and Silver Spring Township K-9 police officer.  Thanks, Lord, for trusting us with Your critters.  Now, Jesus, I just want to tell You this this morning.  I love You.  And now, if You would be so kind as to plant a message on my mind and heart and put it out through my fingers and then help me dispatch it, I would appreciate it.  Thanks for teaching me how to love others, and Lord, please be with President Obama, his family, and all others who have power over us here on earth.  In Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen.

Good morning  from the Southern Location of the North Pole, where it has felt more like the North Pole.  For those of you who have followed Carry The Light Ministries over the years, a letter will be coming to update you on what is going on.  We are also sending out some hard copies by the way of Uncle Sam's postal  workers.  As you pray today, please pray for our leaders and all those who work to keep us safe.  And please remember to pray for those trash and recycle workers.  Back when I was a youth, we had to keep our trash and food  stuff separate.  It was called trash and garbage.  Well, I had a job on the garbage truck.  I made 50 cents per hour and all I could eat.  Yes, folks, I made that one up.  I worked in service stations, when they indeed were SERVICE STATIONS.  Please pray today for our leaders, including President Obama and his family.  Please note, whenever I mention our president, I send him a copy of the daily.  Now, brothers and sisters, let me get to the message.

Monday, January 13, 2014, Attitudes (Day One).

Ephesians 4:19 - Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to  sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.  20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.  21 Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.  22 You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self which is being corrupted by deceitful desires, 23 to be made new in the ATTITUDE of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in truth and righteousness and holiness.  (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, we all have one, you have one and I have one.  Our friends all have one, and so do those who might not like us.  Our political leaders have one, and even our animals have them.  And yes, brothers and sisters, Jesus had/has one also.  Yes, I am talking ATTITUDES.  Our attitudes can also change.  How can we take charge of our attitudes and make them be positive and not negative?  Be with me this week as we dig into Attitudes.

Dear brothers and sisters, if you want to lose friends, if you think your circle of friends is getting smaller and smaller, it might not be because your mouthwash is not working or your seven-day deodorant pad has been in use for fourteen days.  It might not be because they are on your left side and you used "Right Guard."  It might just be your attitude is really bad.  Brethren, it could be you have a very bad attitude or you are always complaining about something.  You know it is not always easy to get up in the morning and put on a good attitude when you are feeling a tad under the weather and you must go to work.  I am sure at one time or another we, and that means me and you, have had an attitude that really needed adjusted, and the best attitude adjuster is of course our Lord Jesus.

Have you ever gone to a store or someplace where the sales person has a bad attitude?  You wonder how they got hold onto their job.  If you are like me, you would sooner be waited on by someone with a good attitude.  Someone who smiles at you as they take your money.  One of the worst ways to show a really poor attitude, and I am sure you have seen this, you are being waited on at the food store, you are checking out and the clerk and the bagger or some others are standing there putting down their job and the bosses.  I have even stopped the folks and told them instead of complaining about the job they should be thankful they have a job, and if they did not like it they should go find  one they do like.  So I ask you today, is your attitude positive or negative?  Is it plus or minus?  Let's look at today's scripture:

You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self which is being corrupted by deceitful desires, to be made new in the ATTITUDE of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in truth and righteousness and holiness.

While I did not pull all of the scripture down, I want you to look at this.  If your attitude is bad, we are to put off our old self and take on a new self and do it to be like God.  And while that sounds easy, we might need to do this each day, or each time our attitude starts to turn bad.  If our friends who are slipping away would just be real truthful with us and tell us right up front, you need to change your attitude, it would be a blessing.  However, sometimes we do not want to hurt someone's feelings or we might be afraid of what they might say back, true friends should be able to really talk to each other.  So today I invite all of you to face yourself in the mirror, look deep into it, and ask yourself, do I need my attitude adjusted, and if so, ask God to help you adjust it.

I mentioned that even Jesus had/has an attitude, and if anyone should have had a bad one, it could have been Him, for He was born in a barn, had to escape because Herod wanted to kill Him as a baby, and people hated Him and even wanted to and then did kill Him, and His attitude was and still is an attitude of Love.  Amen.

Dear Father in Heaven, please help me adjust my attitude each day to be an attitude of Love.  In Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen.

Now go forth in the name of Jesus, sharing your blessings and your GOOD ATTITUDE with others.

Love ya.  Please pass that love on.
Pastor Dan