19 February 2017
Two-Minute Features | 26 February 2017 | 12 February 2017

Wrong Attitudes- A Hopeless Perspective, Part 4 (TMF:590)

Friday, February 24, 2017
Peace to Live By: Wrong Attitudes- A Hopeless Perspective, Part 4 (TMF:590) - Daniel Litton
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       A good example of having hope in the Bible comes to us in Romans chapter 4. If you’ll turn over there or tap there, you can see this tremendous example to us, from Abraham in the Old Testament. The Apostle Paul talks about the faith of Abraham here, indeed noting his tremendous faith. Let’s note particularly verses 18 and 19, which say, “In hope he [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith” (Romans 4:18-19ex, ESV). And Paul goes on to talk about how his faith was not weakened. God had promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child, but they both were old, Sarah being past the normal child-bearing years for a woman. But nevertheless, they believed God, they hoped in God, and God eventually did what he said he was going to do.

Wrong Attitudes- A Hopeless Perspective, Part 3 (TMF:589)

Thursday, February 23, 2017
Peace to Live By: Wrong Attitudes- A Hopeless Perspective, Part 3 (TMF:589) - Daniel Litton
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       You see, if Satan keeps us hopeless, we will accomplish little to nothing in life. He loves it when we are hopeless, because with hopelessness comes the death of motivation and the beginnings of depression. Satan will put hopeless thoughts in our minds, and if we continue to ruminate on those thoughts, we will truly be fruitless. We have to replace what he is saying to us with what God has said to be true in his Word. In the love chapter, in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, God talks about the fact that we need to have both faith and hope. These two attitudes, these beliefs, are very important to us. Remember what the Lord says in Hebrews: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1, ESV). If we don’t have faith, we cannot have hope. Let us not be people of little faith, like Jesus talked about, who sink into the water, but let us be people of great faith, so as to remove mountains, to master the great hurdles, that come in our lives.

Wrong Attitudes- A Hopeless Perspective, Part 2 (TMF:588)

Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Peace to Live By: Wrong Attitudes- A Hopeless Perspective, Part 2 (TMF:588) - Daniel Litton
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       Another thing that’s tied into a hopeless attitude is what I call Satan’s “I can’t do it” attitude. We have all suffered to some degree from this type of thinking in the past. Again, when a situation seems impossible or is really hard, we can look at it and say, “I can’t do this.” But the Apostle Paul reminds us, “I can do all things through him [Christ] who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13, ESV). This is a really good verse, and it combats the thoughts that Satan puts into our minds. We can in fact do what God wants us to do, no matter how hard it may seem to do it, because God strengthens us with his strength to do it. When a situation seems impossible, my advice to you is just take the first step. Then take small steps and see how God blesses what you are doing. You have to start somewhere. Take your mind off the ‘big picture,’ and focus on the first step. This is how good things happen. You see, if Satan keeps us hopeless, we will accomplish little to nothing in life. He loves it when we are hopeless, because with hopelessness comes the death of motivation and the beginnings of depression.

Wrong Attitudes- A Hopeless Perspective, Part 1 (TMF:587)

Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Peace to Live By: Wrong Attitudes- A Hopeless Perspective, Part 1 (TMF:587) - Daniel Litton
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       So, let us get started off by talking about an attitude of hopelessness that Satan wants us to have. I want to note, first, that hopelessness crops up easily in our lives when we lack patience. In many situations in our lives, it takes time to see progress, to see the results that we want to see, and to reach the goal we want to reach. We may try to do something, and fail the first time. We may try a second time, and then have little progress. And if we are impatient, that attitude of hopelessness will creep into the picture. We will think, “I’ve tried and I’m not getting anywhere. This situation is hopeless.” Satan will drill that thought into our minds, and keep trying to tell us things will never be the way we want to see them. But we have to keep trying, if we believe it is God’s will, what we have peace about in knowing what God wants in this particular area or situation. When we maintain our peace and patience, hopelessness gets pushed out of the picture.

Remembering that God is On Our Side (TMF:586)

Monday, February 20, 2017
Peace to Live By: Remembering that God is On Our Side (TMF:586) - Daniel Litton
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       We have to remember that God is on our side. It’s so easy to cultivate the overall attitude in our minds that God is against us, that he’s a mean, legalistic God who demands our perfect performance. And we may get the idea that if we do one thing wrong, that God is now angry with us and is going to work against us until we do right again. But this kind of thinking is incorrect. God is on our sides. He wants to see us living peaceful, happy lives in Him, and not lives of grudging effort in order to gain his acceptance on a day-to-day basis. Indeed, it is important that we have a right view of God. He wants us to try, but he is not standing there ready to bust us every time we mess up. He wants to help us do good in our lives, and he wants us to love him. God will help us to eliminate these wrong attitudes as we give ourselves completely to him, trusting him in every area and situation in our lives. It is very important that we have total surrender to God; otherwise, we limit the work he can do in us.