Living Positively (Message from Nov. 18)

We all struggle with living positively, whether it be maintaining a positive outlook, filling our lives with positive influences, or looking at our relationships in a positive way.

The negative will kill you! There is a reason the negative sign is a flat line. It will cause you to flat line. The negative will just suck the life right out of you.

So today we are going to talk about living positively. We have no other choice! No other way! Either we live positive or we die. We may not die physically, but if we hold on to the negative we will die mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

As I prepared for this message, I was trying to think of one of the most negative parts of the Scripture. I did not have much trouble doing so.

We are going to start at the beginning of Exodus. Israelites, had been enslaved in Egypt for many, many years. They had been treated very harshly.

Exodus 1:13-14: (The Egyptians) worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor . . .

Exodus 2:23 The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

Let’s just say it was not a very pleasant time. We might say a negative experience. But there is hope, it goes on to say:

Exodus 2:24-25 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Out of that concern for them he sends them a deliverer Moses. Through Moses and many miracles it says, Exodus 13:13 with a mighty hand the Lord brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Israelites were delivered from their slavery. They were given freedom. They find themselves in the desert. Certainly life is not easy in the desert. But it is not a life of slavery and harsh labor. God provides them food. It was called manna. It wasn’t anything fancy. But it was food to eat.

We pick up the story in Numbers 11. Here in spite of the freedom God had given them, the food God had provided them, the Israelites spin a serious negative vibe.

So Numbers 11 and we will pick up in verse 4:

The rabble . . .

I love the name – “The rabble” Right away you can tell this is not the most positive group.

They began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost – also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna.

They bring out the first form of negativity on our outline and that is discontentment.

They complain. “How good we had it back in Egypt. Those were the good old days!”

The problem was that the good old days that they remembered were not so good. They forgot about their slavery and their harsh labor. The way they were treated ruthlessly and how they groaned under their oppression.

Anyone here like candy corn? I am not a big fan, but it one of those things that I start snacking on, and I can’t stop. This week coming up is Thanksgiving. We have probably all heard about the story of the pilgrims.

I was reading something interesting this past week, that the ration of food that they had for the winter was five kernels of corn a day! That is one, two, three, four, five kernels. One kernel for breakfast. Two whole kernels for lunch. And two whole kernels for dinner! Five kernels of corn.

What I found interesting was that after they survived the first winter, that they would place 5 kernels of corn beside their dinner plates. The 5 kernels of corn served as a reminder to them of the many blessings they have been given.

Five kernels of corn is not much, but it is something. Most of us can point to blessings that far surpass five kernels of corn. We have so much and yet we complain. We are discontent.

Discontentment sometimes comes in the form of jealousy. God why can’t I have a house or a car like that person? Why can’t I have the recognition and the success that they do? Why can’t I be as influential as him? Why can’t I be as smart, or artistic, or as athletic?

Discontentment says to God the cross is not enough. There is something more that I need.

I have been reading through the book of Daniel recently in my devotion time. One of the stories that struck me was the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If you know the story, King Nebuchadnezzar sets up a golden statue and orders that everyone should bow down and worship its likeness. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to worship this image. They declare that they will only worship one true God. You can imagine this does not make King Nebuchadnezzar too happy. He orders that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be thrown into the fiery finance.

The response of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is one of true contentment, as the result of faith, in a difficult circumstance. They say:“O Nebuchadnezzar we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:16

What an amazing display of contentment. They put their future into the hands of God. And the story goes on that they are indeed saved. They are thrown into the furnace, but the fire has no power over them.

Is the cross enough or do you need more?

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

This is a hard verse. And I want you to ask yourself this morning if you really believe what it says here. Because there is a hard truth in this verse.

It is that all things work for the good of those who love him? It says not just some things, but all things work for our good and for his glory. This includes tragedies, this includes disappointments, this includes everything we don’t understand.

If you are thrown into a fiery furnace, do you believe God will use that for your good and his glory? If you loose your job, your home, your spouse, your child, do you believe God will use that for your good and for his glory? If you are diagnosed with cancer, do you believe that God will use that for his good and his glory? Whatever it might be, if God’s blessings do not match your expectations, do you believe that he will use it for your good and his glory?


Beyond discontentment, another form of negativity is judgmentalism. In chapter 12 the negative vibe continues.

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this.

In our minds, one of the easiest ways to cover up our shortcomings is to point out the shortcomings of others. Why is it that when someone gives us a jab, we give them a jab right back. It is because we find ourselves exposed and we are falsely led to believe that if we expose someone else, then the attention will be drawn to them.

The best way to overcome this negative vibe is to really put ourselves into perspective. To see ourselves for what we really are.

Romans 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

It is the big “H” word. It is humility. Notice in Romans 12:3 what Paul starts with. He starts with the grace that God gives him. When we recognize just how much grace God has extended to us, we are better able to extend his grace to others.

Pray for others! Do you have negative feeling towards someone else? I need to ask you if you have prayed for that person? I am not talking about praying that they get what is coming to them! Pray for their welfare, for their well-being, for their salvation, and for reconciliation.

I had an anonymous email sometime ago. Someone asked me to pray for them and a difficult marital relationship. I replied that I would pray for them and their husband. I soon received a reply back asking me not to pray for the husband involved in this situation.

There is this passage in James that says, “wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy . . . that is a big one. We don’t like to be merciful, but vengeful . . . so be full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.


Yet, a third form of negativity is pessimism. Pessimism is discovered in chapter 13.

The very next chapter, the Israelites, send 12 spies to scout out the promise land. When these spies return, Caleb give the first report. It is filled with positive energy. He says, We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.

But! The big but! The men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”

The Word, can’t does not exist in the vocabulary of child of God. Jesus said it, “With God all things are possible!”

There is no doubt about it. Yet too often we add the word but. No! With God all things are possible. Say it with me – With God all things are possible.
One thing I have learned about negative pessimism is that the negative side of things is typically exaggerated. The mountains and walls are seen as insurmountable against a limited power of God. But it is really the reverse. The power of God far surpasses the size of any obstacle that stands in our way.

Lord of Life’s financial situation is one obstacle that seems enormous at this moment. But we serve a God that is much, much bigger!

Jeremiah 17:7 says: Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.

This is some positive stuff. And it all starts with God.

The moment we loose our focus, the moment we begin to look at ourselves and away from God is the moment we go negative. I can’t do it. We can’t do it.

Well of course we can’t do it, but God can! With God all things are possible.


And it is with that confidence, I want to invite you to be ministered to this morning. Part of the reason that we felt led to do this message series, there seems to persist a negative spirit.

This morning, maybe you feel that you cannot overcome the negative spirit that is in your heart. Maybe you are feeling discontent this morning. Maybe the grass seems greener on the other side of the fence. You are not content where God has placed you. You want to be at a different place in life, even though you may not know where that place is.

Still others of you, maybe you have a relationship where you are experiencing bitterness. Someone is not treating you the way you think you deserve to be treated, or that someone is not doing what you think they should be doing. Maybe you are continually talking down to or about another person or people. You greatly desire to be a voice of encouragement, but more often than not you are spouting discouragement.

Or you have an obstacle before you that seems impossible to overcome. You feel like you have walked down a dead end. You have lost hope.

This morning if a negative spirit is weighing heavy upon you. It is sucking the life right out of you, you are dying a slow death, but you don’t know where to turn, you don’t know what to do.

But I will assure you of this. God does. Not only does he know the answer. Not only does he provide the answer. He is the answer.

If you feel the weight of negativity, whatever that form of negativity is, and you want a word spoken to that negativity, I want to invite you to come forward, to be prayed for and to receive a word from the Lord.