The Missing Ingredient

What If You Expected The Best In Every Area Of Your Life?

I spoke with a friend today who's having the same types of family problems with two different daughters-in-law. I asked her to examine the situations and look for the common denominator. After painful self-examination she admitted that she had projected her belief system and manner of doing things upon them, and got the same results, namely rejection, conflict, verbal altercations and unhealthy relationships with her sons. She measured them by her own standard of excellence, which is faulty. I encouraged her to pray, meditate, seek out, speak and expect the best from each relationship, and repair the damage created by her illusion of perfection.

The Only Person You Can Fix Is You

When surprised or threatened, our fight or flight mechanism kicks in, preparing the body for perceived life-threatening situations, taking resources from such as the digestive and immune system and dumping cortizol into the bloodstream to fuel the immediate muscular and emotional needs in order to avert the perceived threat. This leads to the immune system being depressed, leaving us susceptible to disease.

You'll notice I stress the word perceived, because whether or not there is an actual threat, our physiological reaction is the same. One wise sage once said, "Some of the worst things I have ever feared in life have never happened." Since our brain produces defenses to ward off perceived danger (whether real or not), it can also unlock the limitless potential of faith in our lives through daily prayer. Unfortunately we spend more time investing our energies in unproductive pursuits incapable of impacting our most important issues, namely producing a healthy and productive spiritual future and destiny.

The missing ingredient? Intentionality. On-purpose praying designed to paint the picture of our future using the brushstrokes of the word of God spoken out of our mouths with the fuel of faith. In my earlier example, my friend must not critique failings and flaws, but pray for God to reveal His best in her for them, stepping back from the day-to-day conflicts they have with her sons, and minding her own business. She agrees. Want to break the cycle of faulty thinking and fractured living?

~ matter of the mind challenge ~

1. Pray constantly.
   
2. Expect the best in every situation and circumstance.
3. Get rid of every weight and sin that gets you off track.
   
4. Thank God for everything (food, clothes, work, issues, health).
5. Feelings and emotions have no place in developing spiritual agendas.
6. Don't allow circumstances to affect expectations.
7. Read & meditate over the word of God daily.
8. Speak God's word over your plans aspirations, and future.
9. Transform your thinking - Renew your mind - Conform to the Word.
   

Tomorrow's Matter Of The Mind: The Biblical Model For Answered Prayer.