I listen to a fair amount of speaking and preaching to help encourage and grow me to try to keep my mind focused in the right direction.  One of the things that almost every speaker that I have heard talks about is ATTITUDE!

I have heard, read and even said many times that “Attitude Is Everything!”  I don’t really believe that!  I don’t believe it is everything, but I do believe that it is a very big something!  A wrong attitude will mess everything up, while the right attitude will help everything to be better.

One of the biggest battles I have faced and continue to face in my life is keeping my attitude right!  John Maxwell says:  “Attitude isn’t everything, but it is the one thing that can make a difference in your life.”  We need to think about our attitude.  We need to work on our attitude.  We need to make our attitude better.

You have a choice and you have the power to decide and make a difference for you!  You can have a good attitude or a bad attitude.  You can have a positive attitude or a negative attitude.  You get to decide for you!  It does not matter what anyone else does to you or says about you.  You and you alone control your attitude.

Attitude can make or break you.  Living with a positive and right attitude can make all of the difference in your life, while living with a bad attitude can keep you from experiencing amazing blessing.  Take a moment today to do an “attitude check”!  How is your attitude and what can you do to make it better?  Really take some time to think about this.  Be honest with yourself and do what you need to do to get a better and more positive attitude – you will be glad you did!

My phone is great!  It let’s me talk with people, with it, I can take pictures, it will tell me what the weather is going to be, it allows me to buy things and will even let me throw birds at pigs!  Pretty cool device, but there is one problem!  Every now and then, I forget to plug it in and the battery gets low.  My phone is pretty much useless without the power of the battery, so I have to plug it in and let it recharge!

In each of our lives, we have a power source.  Allow your power source to become too low without recharging and you are going to be in serious trouble.  Our power source is our heart and we need to stop and take time regularly to make sure that it is getting recharged!

How do I recharge my heart?  By spending time with my Creator!  I plug-in and I use the gifts He has given me and discover inspiration that does amazing things.

I open my eyes and take the time to look around me and I appreciate all of the beauty.  I listen beyond what I can hear and hear something that most people miss.

I touch and am touched by other human beings with the realization that we really do all need each other!  I breath in and smell the power of the living and I breath out and lay claim to impossible possibility!

When I actually take the time, I can taste that life is good and my heart is recharged and I am ready!

Ready for what?  Whatever great adventure is next coming my way!  Live blessed!

I wanted to take a moment to wrap up the conversation we started this week on dealing with and getting rid of anger.  We all know that anger left unresolved is dangerous and unproductive.  We also know that while it is not easy to get rid of anger, it is possible.  To get rid of anger and it’s harmful impact, there are some things that we need to remember and remind ourselves of on a regular basis!

We Must Forgive Others!  This is for their benefit and ours!  We tend to be a selfish, angry, bitter and unforgiving people, especially if someone has done us wrong or hurt us!  This mixture of bad attitudes does not honor God and what He has done and wants to do in our lives!

My wife – Joy can do 100 right things, but I tend to only notice and focus on the one thing she does wrong!  Why is that?  Because, I expect her to do what is right!  The problem is my selfish nature!  My selfish nature will cause me to forget the 100 right things and focus on the one wrong thing, while allowing anger and bitterness to take control of my life!  And the real problem here is that – this attitude robs me of what God forgives me for – life not in the flesh, but in the spirit!  Jeremiah 17 says: “Man is cursed when he takes his trust from the Lord and puts it in the flesh!”

Forgiveness Sets Us Free!  Only when you get unbound from the one you can enjoy the one hundred!  Forgiveness is not optional for the child of God!  It is a command!  Jesus says: “The measure we use will be used on us!”  To forgive is to release the debt!  When I forgive I surrender/give up/let go of the debt to God!  Jesus is our perfect example!  In I Peter 2:23-24 it says:  “23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”   This is why Jesus was able to pray:  “Father forgive them for they know not what they do!”

We want to hand others over to God for judgment and punishment, but God desires to show them the same mercy, grace, forgiveness and love that he shows you and me! Matthew 5:44-45 says “44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

So How Many Times Do I Have To Forgive?  Are you really ready for the answer to this question?  A wise person once said:  “Only if I am keeping a tab, can I keep count!”  If I’m keeping a tab, then I am not really forgiving and wiping the slate clean!  Ouch – gets you doesn’t it?

So our only other option is to pull out “OUR BIG EXCUSE!”  We love to say:  “I would forgive them, but they have not ask for my forgiveness!”  But then we remember – God forgave us way before we ever thought to ask for it, otherwise we would have been wiped out a long time ago!

Another way of thinking about it is like this:  Have you remembered to ask God to forgive you for everything?  At some point in time, we are going to fail to ask God to forgive us of something, because we are imperfect, but God gives His forgiveness anyway and we have to decide if we will receive it and what we will do with it!

There are three steps to breaking the addiction of anger!  1.) Receive God’s Forgiveness!  2.) Give Forgiveness To Others! (This sets you free!)  3.) Allow others their time to receive it!  When they receive it! (It sets them free!) And the beautiful thing:  FREEDOM BRINGS GLORY TO GOD!