Topic: Focus On The Things Above [Sunday August 13, 2017]
John 11:44 “And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.”
JOHN 11:44
Symbolically, Lazarus is like many Christians. The Bible speaks of us passing from death unto new life when we get born again. But it is also true that in the physical and emotional realm, we bring our “graveclothes” from our old life with us (i.e. habits, attitudes, etc.), and we need to be “loosed” to fully enjoy our new life.
Our emotions and attitudes follow what we think. When we focus our attention on our problems, they are magnified out of proportion. When we neglect our problems and think on God’s provision, the answer is magnified and the problem shrinks. Whatever we think upon is going to dominate us. If we think on depressing things, we’ll be depressed. If we think on uplifting things, we’ll be uplifted. If we think, “by His stripes, we are healed”, we’ll be healed. If we think on sickness, we’ll be sick.
Godly contentment isn’t dependent upon circumstances. That is totally opposite of the way most people think today. No one really desires depression but very few feel any responsibility or authority to maintain positive emotions in the face of negative circumstances. They think emotions follow circumstances. That’s not true. Emotions follow the way we think, and we can chose to think on things that are lovely, true, of good report, and so forth regardless of our circumstances. As we think, is how we respond emotionally.
Focus your attention on the invisible truths of the spiritual realm that are eternal, instead of the visible things of this physical world that will pass away.
This message was written by The Association of Related Ministries International (ARMI) is an extension of Andrew Wommack Ministries (AWM). ARMI is a unique partnership committed to providing resources to help like-minded ministers succeed in a spirit of excellence and to draw from the experience and expertise of both the AWM and Charis Bible College staff. (www.awmi.net)
