Change the way you think in 2016

I challenged my congregation last year to take the whole month of October to dedicate to positive thoughts. This may seem like a simple task, but we saw many complications along our journey.
Many people struggled with negative thoughts that birth negative actions. The church had a negative outlook on life, so my mission was to try to change their process that created these negative results. Being positive is expecting a good result in a negative situation. I was amazed how that simple concept offended many and created tension in that month. I realized negative thinking was an addiction to many people. When I took every reason away from them to be negative in their life. It created an identity crisis within them, because their identity was seeking pity for their mental and spiritual outlook on life. People would stand up during prayer request and pour their heart out with grief and concern. Any attempt to bring resolution to their problem brought a pushback. In Christ, hope is rooted in the belief that in any situation our dependence on Christ is greater than our problem. Choosing to be positive is seeing everything in the light of Christ and not in the darkness of negativity.
When you change your thought process it changes the results in your life. Thoughts are seeds we cast in every moment of our life. If we cast negative seeds, we will get a negative harvest. The choice to be positive goes against the world around us. The world around us is full of fear and negativity. Perfect love cast out all fear, so fear is a direct result of not tasting perfect love. Fear is torment in our thought life. Positive thinking is a fruit of knowing this incredible love. The Lord will never let you fall in your life. He will never abandon you or cause you harm. We will face trials and tribulations in this life, but in Christ, we will overcome though His victory. There is nothing in this life that can separate us from the love of the Lord. The act of being positive is just trusting in the Lord even when we do not see a natural reason to believe.
The end result of my experiment was some were changed and some were not changed. We even had some people leave the church, because the church was no longer a place they felt their addiction to negativity could be feed. I saw a change in my ministry, because I realized my fear was a direct result of mental torment. I decided to trust in what I had dedicated my life to giving people. I choose to simply believe like a child that the Bible is true and accurate. My ministry is now a reflection of this positivity, and many great doors of opportunity have opened as a result of this choice. I challenge you to believe in yourself and to believe that the Lord has a plan for your life in 2016. The Lord is faithful beyond our faithfulness. His love is perfect and without any flaws. His gospel is a reflection of perfection, and His plan for you is without error. You will face adversity in your life in 2016, but I challenge you to believe your year will be the best year of your life. It may seem like a childish challenge, but I promise you that it will change your life.