“I’m just in the mood”
is a phrase we are familiar with and understand that when someone says that it
means we need to back off asap. One little word can be the difference between “I’m in the mood for an ice cream sundae” or “I’m just in the mood to let you have it!”
By the time a person
reaches that “just” point it means their emotions are about to fly off the handle. Their mood is swinging all over the place.
It’s easy to let things
bother us, especially when you’re not feeling in the best of moods anyway. We can easily get offended by taking what
others say into our spirit. Sure it
would be great if on those particular days we could close ourselves in behind
huge castle walls, but that’s not really a solution … that is unless you happen
to live in one.
No, for the average
person we look to other things for picking ourselves up by the bootstraps to
move on in the day. That takes me back
to the time I was a senior in high school.
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Fashioned for Success
It was custom that each
senior class did something to inspire the classes that were to follow, by
challenging them to step out of their comfort zone and believe in themselves. The elected members of the student council
came up with a project that would challenge us to take past events and turn
them into positive things in our future.
For our senior year, this
life changing event was really a two day community and school function that took place as a
fashion show. Through strategic planning the theme chosen was from the 50’s jazz
era to the present.
Our class vice president
was a young innovative girl named Anne, who wanted to depict women as
successful, bold and forceful. The song “In
the Mood” by the Andrew’s sisters was chosen because of the lyrics that asked
us to see things in a different light through uplifting activities.
Using the same music, the
planning team changed the lyrics to fit our generation. Even though the song
was talking about relationships (dancing and music), there were several lines they selected as
encouragers to force the point into the ears of our audiences.
Phrases like, “steppin-out” of your comfort zone, “building-up”
one another. “Be alive, and get the jive.
You’ve got to learn how.”
Along with a few more …
“You can see the wonders that this evenin’ has done …
You were only hungry for some musical food,
Now you’re positively, absolutely in the mood" for
success.
Although I was a singer,
I wasn’t selected to participate in the vocals.
At that time I was part of our family singing group and we traveled on
the weekends, and practiced on weeknights.
Instead, I was roped into being a runway model … something way outside
of my area and certainly not what I thought I could do.
The day of the event
arrived and I was nervous to the point of almost being sick. None of my family or friends came, however one
person showed up who believed in me.
He wasn’t even my boyfriend yet, but that person would become my future husband you affectionately know as “Hubby”.
This was big time with
companies who sponsored the event coming to critique our performance. The first time I did the designer’s
strut, I practically fell from worry and anxiety, but by the closing show I
walked out on that platform with confidence.
My mood changed from negative to positive thinking.
That one experience
fashioned the way I looked at my life, so what my classmates had in mind
worked, at least for me. Little did I
know that experience would be groundwork to put me “in the emotional mood” for
future speaking conferences. All that
negative energy was turned into positive and I enjoyed the experience
regardless of who came to witness my success.
Energy Thieves
Worry and frustration
are things that tend to put us in a defensive mood quickly. If we wake up in a “mood” that is already
unsettling, we can be sure that the rest of the day will follow that pattern if
we don’t get our emotions in check right from the start.
Allowing negative types
of emotions to enter our spirit will prevent us from receiving the best God has
for us. If we spend time on the negative
it takes away from our energy and weighs us down, stopping joy from manifesting
in our activities.
How much energy do you
want to have sucked out of your day? I
don’t know about you, but I don’t have tons of energy to spare, so wasting it
on things that don’t matter isn’t really something I want to do.
When we allow emotions
to rule over our lives, it drains or literally steals from us physically. Our families suffer, our performance at work
is compromised and the Christian testimony is ineffective.
There will always be
something that will try to keep believers offended, stressed, discouraged or
frustrated. The dark cloud seems to follow some around all the time, because
they let the things other people do or say filter into their system.
I agree we cannot
prevent people from saying things about us that may get under our skin, but we
can stop those things from becoming a part of our thinking.
Pastor Kenneth E. Hagin used the phrase, “You can’t stop birds from flying over your
head, but you can stop them from building a nest in your hair.”
Stop letting the birds
build their nest on your head; in other words, don’t let what others are saying
or doing settle into your thinking negative thoughts about your future. Learn to guard your heart with the Word of
God.
Guarding Your Heart
Proverbs 4:23 in the New
Living Translation of the Bible says, “… guard your heart.” As Bible believers
we are to be selective in what we give our time and thoughts to when it comes
to what we allow to dwell in our thinking.
If we spend time on things that don’t really matter, we won’t have any brain
space left for the things that do matter.
The New King James
version says it like this: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs
the issues of life.”
What are the issues of
life? The issues of life takes in everything that falls on your plate
concerning the world, your life and what's going on around you.
God has promised a good
future for us, but if we focus on the poison words of others, our dreams will
never come to fruition. We can’t pump toxic
words and thoughts into our system and expect to live a faith filled positive
life. It doesn’t mean we are supposed to
ignore things, but that we are to trust God with the details.
Part of the problem is
that we want to “know all the details” when it comes to what people are saying
about us. There isn’t a day that goes by
that I don’t see something negative posted on the internet about a person,
because the second party is airing their dispute in public for all to see. I remember listening to a famous evangelist
say that he never reads what people are saying about him (good or bad), because
it can affect how he presents the gospel.
We all could take that advice.
Instead of feeding the
fire when it comes to having our emotions on the defensive all the time, we are
to be disciplined in where we let our feelings take us. We have the choice not
to let the world dictate our emotions.
Fashion Your Victory
When it comes to success
in anything people forget those who have lost the battle. All the focus is on
the winners. No one cares about the person in last place. The more favor that is on a person’s life the
more criticism will come against them.
People will find fault with almost everything because they want what God
has given the “other” person. They never
stop to see why God’s hand was on the winner or what they had to go through
that fashioned their victory.
The Bible gives us
plenty of examples of those who walked in the favor of God and those who were
envious of them. The individuals who didn’t
have the Lord’s blessings became very
nasty, and did whatever they could to destroy the favored of God through their
behavior or negative words. Jesus’ life
is the best example of that.
Those who honor God and
follow His guidebook will always walk in the Lord’s favor. There will be people who will hate you
because of the favor on your life and we can’t stop them from feeling the way
they do. Not everyone will be happy
because of what God is doing in your life.
Don’t waste your life on those people trying to win them over; it’s not
going to happen.
The blessing of God in
your life will bring controversy. Some
will be happy for you while others will find ways to take you down. They will belittle you, talk trash and bring
out all your faults, but don’t let that affect your mood.
Retain Power
I have spent the
majority of my life thinking on the positive things like it tells us in the
Bible. However, there are times when I
have done the opposite. Jesus didn’t
tell us to think on your problems, dwell on those who hate you and give
attention to those who will never like you.
God has given us wisdom,
knowledge and understanding to change some things, but we’re not always going
to be able to change everything. This is
where we have to act on what we say we believe by really trusting in God to
turn the situation around. In doing so
we will learn to live the peace of God in all circumstances.
Part of the ingredients
in making a bad situation grow into something bigger is when we spend all our
waking hours trying to find a solution.
We feel we need to do something about it right away and by doing that we
don’t give God time to work in the matter.
Don’t give people the
power to offend you by reacting to every sentence that comes out of their
mouths. It is when we emotionally give
offense the permission to infiltrate our thoughts that the Word of God becomes
fruitless, and blessings cease to exist.
It is a choice to maintain a good attitude and mood. When we give in to offense, we give away our
power.
Think of it like this, if
the favor of God wasn’t on your life people would leave you alone. God has a great destiny for you, so don’t
stop your own blessings from coming because you’re allowing the wrong things to
change your mood and outlook on life.
Walking in the favor of
God isn’t about you, but about what God has preordained in your life for His
plan to be established. When we
understand that we are supposed to be blessed as children of God, we would
learn to disregard what others thought about us and would only be concerned
with what God says.
God has something spectacular
planned for your life that is still locked up inside you. It will take all the
favor of God on your life to walk out that destiny, so it is our responsibility
to block out those things that will prevent the best to come into our lives.
Stay in the Faith Mood
You may have some really
bad things that happened in your life and think that there isn’t a successful future
in store for you. That’s not true. God
knows all that you have experienced and promises to use what the devil wanted
to harm you with and turn your mess into a message He can use. Nothing you are experiencing will stop your
destiny from happening if you stay in faith.
God didn’t create you to
live a life defeated. Your something is
coming, but you have to stay in the mood emotionally for the blessing of God to
be manifested. God sees what you don’t.
He knows the greatness He has put in you.
“… the race is not to the swift, nor the battle
to the strong, nor the bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding,
nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all.” (Ecclesiastes
9:11 NKJV)
King Solomon learned
through his time with God that, “Time and chance come together for every
person.” That means God is going to
send people into our life that will give us favor even when they don’t know why
they’re doing it. Situations and
circumstances will change if we stay in faith and believe good things are
coming.
The spirit has to come into
agreement with the Word of God for favor to be given.
God has amazing things
planned for your life, but even though He has them planned you can turn off the
favor by the negative mood, thoughts and words that are making a nest in your
hair (your mind).
The external world will affect
the internal person if we allow it. You
cannot hang around negative critical people and expect the favor of God to work
in your life. Surround yourself with
positive people and focus on joyful things that will stimulate a peaceful mood
in your life.
Create Your Environment
I make it a point not to
engage in conversations with people that bring me down. I’ve had people try to discourage me in
walking out what I feel I’m called to do by God. I’ve been told “you’ll never ….” more times
than I care to mention, but it hasn’t stopped me. In fact, most of the time it has made me more
determined to keep going, because I know God has better plans yet to be
manifested in my life.
Surrounding yourself
with people who believe in the call on your life is vital. When you are around
people who stimulate your faith, nothing will stop you from reaching your
goals. Don’t let people turn off your
future with their poison by allowing your emotions to be fed by bad
things.
For the past few weeks
my husband and I have been asking people this question. What things put you in a good mood? In other words what kinds of things do they engage in to alter their mood by changing their surroundings?
Create the environment
you want in your life with things that stimulate a healthy mood and attitude. Stop limiting God
with your thinking and choose to believe you were made for more than this.
Get out of that negative environment and
wrong thinking mentality that will stop you from being all God wants you to be. There is more to you than you think, believe
it. One act of favor from God can change
everything in your life.
Maintain your life with
God by, “edifying
and building yourselves up on your most Holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.”
(Jude 1:20 NKJV)
This Week’s Challenge:
Create A PMA
In terms we can all
understand, we're going to re-create our environment to release our destiny.
PMA is my new phrase otherwise known as “positive
mood attitude,” while my husband has his own version and calls it a “mood-a-tude”
change.
Several weeks ago I
asked my husband what he does to put himself in a good mood. He had this cheeky grin on his face and said,
“I look in the mirror!” Then he calmed down and said, “I don’t know,
what do you do?”
Right then I began
listing a ton of things that help lift me out of a negative mood. All sorts of things make me smile like giving
flowers to strangers, and taking pizza to businesses or doctor’s offices. It makes
them freak out, but puts me in a good mood.
As soon as I dwell on those things it brightens my day.
With him not being able
to give me a slew of things off the top of his head, it made me wonder if others
were having the same difficulties when it came to encouraging themselves. Thus my need to find out began with us becoming
reporters on the street.
Geek on the street
interviews by Hubby (him being the geek – his “negative” words, not mine.). He asked: “If
you’re having a bad day, what do you do to try to get yourself out of a bad
mood?”
Here are a few of the answers he received that you may consider.
Pray/read the Bible.
Take a walk, jog, go to the park.
Talk it out with a
co-worker to help her.
Think about her kids.
Remind myself of where I
was in life and where I am now.
Call mom, because she
always knows what to say.
Create a PMA – a positive
mental attitude by thinking about spiritual things.
Listen to music, sing or read.
Put praise music on and
dance with Jesus.
Spend time with pet(s).
Drinks an energy drink
to overcome emotions – one I wouldn’t recommend, but someone said they do it.
I was surprised but pleased no one mentioned food or shopping.
Here's the Task
This week we are
challenged to create our own PMA – positive mood attitude plan. Wait, there's more.
Forget those sad story songs
that play on your emotions and put on uplifting music that will exhilarate your
spirit.
Post scriptures that
motivate you and alter your mood, throughout your home. Anyone that has ever been in my house knows I
have verses posted everywhere, even in the bathroom.
Recognizing when you’re
about to be “just in the mood” will change how you respond to people when you
realize God’s favor is at stake in your life.
In the comments section below, share what you do to maintain a good PMA (positive mood attitude).
The second part to the
challenge is to ask this question to everyone you come in contact with this
week.
“What do you do to improve your
mood?”
You’ll be surprised as to how
many people turn red when you ask them.
Following through with
the assignment my husband came to a new level in his understanding what mood
can do to your day. When he saw a miniature
rose bush in the store he stood there and stared at it. He found himself smiling and his mood changed
in a second. It really changed when he
presented it to me by surprise!
Don’t live a life of
regret because you let people talk you out of your destiny. It’s still inside
of you. Get in agreement with God and
thank Him that your dream will come to pass.
Stay in the right frame of mind and believe Jesus over all others or
negative circumstances.
Declare the
favor of God is upon you and that you will become everything God has created
you to be.
“And now, dear
brothers and sisters, one final thing.
Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure,
and lovely, and admirable. Think about
things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians
4:8 NLT)
Thinking on these things will help you to maintain your new PMA.
Whatever is Lovely by Michelle Wagner
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Until
next time, PMA promises God’s favor!
“I’m always in the mood to give favor.”
Jesus Christ
Note:
The words satan or devil are not capitalized deliberately, because we give him
no place in our lives.
Disclaimer:
Article information is not meant to be used as treatment for mental or physical
issues, but geared toward spiritual awareness.
What’s New This
Week: Click on book or link.
Living Beyond Your Feelings: Controlling Emotions So They Don't Control You
by Joyce Meyer
Maybe you
don’t know the Living God that I know, but would like to have this kind of
favor in your life also. Click on the
above tab “Tell Me” for more
information on becoming a child of the Savior.
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and Image Copyright from Favored1. Do not copy.
Scripture
reference was taken from the New King James Bible Version provided by Gateway Bible
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credit: Google Images or Dreamstime Creative Common License if not specified.
Image: Guard Your Heart
Disclaimer
Notes: Results may vary due to lack of belief.