Bible Verse Friday #39

"After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran.  They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land.  This was their report to Moses: "We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country -a land flowing with milk and honey.  Here is the kind of fruit it produces.  But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified.  We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!  The Amalekites live in the Negeve, and the Hitites live in the hill country.  The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley." ~Numbers 13:25-29

My NLT Life Application Study Bible Says the following:

God told the Israelites that the Promised Land was rich and fertile.  Not only that, he promised that this bountiful land would be theirs.  When the scouts reported back to Moses, they gave plenty of good reasons for entering the land, but they couldn't stop focusing on their fear.  Talk of giants (descendants of Anak) and fortified cities made it easy to forget about God's promise to help.  When facing a tough decision, don't let the negative cause you to lose sight of the positives.  Weigh both sides carefully.  Don't let potential difficulties blind you to God's power to help and his promise to guide.

Optimist?

Pessimist?

Realist?

When you look at the glass what do you see?

I have always joked that I see another dirty dish that needs to be cleaned.

I suppose that puts me in the realist category.

Think about it for a minute though, how do you approach each day?

How do you view life's advances?

This verse tells us of where the focus of the scouts was.

Despite seeing God's promised land and knowing that he promised it, they focused on the negative.

This caused them to forget...wait for it...GOD PROMISE!

How often do we allow ourselves to be blinded by negativity?

Honestly, I really have worked on this over the past few years.

I'm in no way perfect or immune to negativity, but I can say that I try to recognize it for what it is when it attacks.

Negativity is like a virus.

It spreads like wildfire.

Negativity is corrosive.

It can erode faith leaving room for Satan to grab hold and plant seeds of hopelessness, bitterness, and resentment.

Think about that for a moment.

I believe that focusing on the negative can be a result of mental laziness.

It can be A LOT of work to find the good in situations.

That is why we must practice looking for the good so that we can build the muscles in our heart and brain to automatically seek positivity.

Athletes train their muscles with repetitious activities.

In doing so they barely even have to think when put in compromising situations.

Their bodies simple react based on the training they've given themselves.

This is the same type of rigorous training we, as Christians, must practice on a daily basis.

By looking for the good, focusing on the positive, it'll be easier for us to automatically dial into it when we are placed in compromising situations.

The next time you encounter a positive vs negative situation here is my advice:

Stop for a moment and put a name to that negativity.

Now that you have claimed it....vaccinate it.

Find something positive to replace it.

If you are around someone who is just grumpy and grouchy, try to point out the good in their situation.

Wear a smile.

It's your best line of defense against catching and passing on the virus that is negativity.

I hope you have a Blessed Friday!