Gratitude is such an important emotion that it is worth revisiting. It creates a powerful magnetism in the ether, and thereby generates an unstoppable flow from God. The emotion of gratitude ensures that the doors to heaven remain open, so that whatever you need always can be provided. Satan knows the power of gratitude, therefore, his unrelenting purpose is to ensure that we remain in a constant state of dissatisfaction. We are dissatisfied with our weight, our height, our income, our spouse, our children, our jobs, our chosen career, the size of our home, our neighborhood, our hair, our facial features, etc. Virtually everything and everyone is a potential source of dissatisfaction.
There is a vast difference between being dissatisfied with something or with someone, and seeking growth and improvement in that area of your life. When a person is dissatisfied, the emotion is negative and counterproductive. When they seek growth and improvement from a place of gratitude, the emotion is positive and joyful. Spiritually, the combination of joy and gratitude can be explosive. If you are dealing with a difficult situation, or a specific and urgent need, taking charge of and controlling your emotional responses may be extremely difficult. Nonetheless, it is the key to your ultimate victory!
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You are the only source of control over your thoughts and attitudes, and you can make a decision to be joyful always. Being the author of your emotions means that no one on earth can cause you to feel angry, or sad, or insecure, or fearful. If you repeatedly have negative feelings in reaction to certain people or certain conditions, only you can change your responses. You literally must rein in the negative attitude or emotion. When the negative attitude or emotion is under control, it becomes easy to manifest joy.
It may seem unreasonable that God expects us to be joyful always (Philippians 4:4). However, joy is a powerful emotion that causes the physical body to produce antibiotics, pain killers, and other hormonal substances. We may not be joyful about the specific circumstance, nonetheless, we can find a context for it within which to be joyful. For example, if you just learned that your employment position is being outsourced, you can decide to be joyful about the new position that God is leading you toward. There always is a methodology for doing what God commands us to do. Having a negative attitude is not merely a matter of moodiness or pessimism, it is a sin condition. If the Scriptures command us to be a certain way, then being any other way is considered sin. The Scriptures command us to be joyful always (Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16), and to pray continuously, presenting our requests to God with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:5-6; 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18). If this is God's command to us, then this is who we must become.
Greed is the most destructive of all sins and transgressions, and holds the greatest capacity to pull a person into the depths of depravity. It corrupts the soul, destroys the parts of the brain that relate to conscience, and causes the bones to begin to rot. Greed will enable Satan to seize control over the thoughts, hearts and minds of one third of the world's population.
Being complacent is not an attitude that is deemed to be a major sin or transgression. Complacency is a choice that often is made consciously and deliberately when we don't believe that there is an urgency to act. However, the failure to act when circumstances demand action is as significant a transgression as committing an act that violates spiritual laws. James 4:17 states that "Anyone who knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."
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