Have you ever asked God to help you correct your attitude? I have. I have often been obedient but not willing. I have at times done things in obedience to God's word but my attitude was not willing. Is 1:19 says that the willing AND the obedient shall eat the good of the land. Just because you were obedient doesnt qualify you to enjoy the blessings. No, you have to be willing too.
I heard a motivational speaker once say, "The attitude of the servant controls the atmosphere of the Palace." I always thought that was a powerful statement.
In the book of Daniel we read (Daniel 6:3) "Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set hiim over the whole realm." Promotion comes because and excellent spirit created an attitude that is worth promoting.
Someone is looking for a good attitude to promote. Could it be yours. Sometimes we get synical towards life and the let downs that occur. Watch your thoughts and your behaviors and your attitudes towards life and learn that by keeping a good attitude, you will be empowered to minister to GOD.
Hannah of the Bible had a very important prayer. Hannah was a barren woman in a time when not only the wife's worth, but the husband’s esteem was measured by how many sons they had. She was the wife of Elkanah, a man who had two wives.
Because Hannah was barren, he took a second wife, Peninnah, who bore four sons. Hannah was treated contemptuously by Penninah because of her barrenness. Penninah jeered and mocked Hannah relentlessly until Hannah could not even eat. It was not long before Hannah became, in her own words, bitter of soul. But she believed God answered fervent prayer! So in I Samuel 1:10-11 we read her prayer:
In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head."
Sure enough, that night God "remembered Hannah"! (1 Samuel 19-20)
Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.
So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, [literally "heard by God"] saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him."
Now Hannah had promised God that if He would give her a son, she would give the son back to God. By this she meant when the son was weaned at the age of three, she would make the long journey back to the Temple and leave her son with Eli, the Priest.
As one author had said, "why a mother who was so grateful for the one son she had would be willing to leave him with Eli the Priest"? As you dig deeper into the unhealthy family, we could say she was wise. She knew her son would be better off serving the Priest than he would be fighting off his half-brothers who would treat him as their own mother had treated Hannah.
The big day comes, and Hannah and three-year-old Samuel make the long walking journey to the Temple. She leaves her precious son with a the man of God (who had two evil sons who Hannah probably was unaware of). Really, Samuel was probably left in an even more sinful environment than the home into which he was born. And instead of crying, Hannah prayed a prayer of rejoicing. I want to show you a small part of her prayer, taken from 1 Samuel 2.
Then Hannah prayed and said:
"My heart rejoices in the LORD;
in the LORD my horn [strength] is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.
"There is no one holy like the LORD;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God."
I'm wonder what your attitude and my attitude would be if we left our only son behind?
So determine to begin your prayer with praise. Who is God? Why is He worthy to be praised? Next comes gratitude. What are at least three things for which I am grateful today? Next comes my petition. What exactly was I asking God to do? And finally, thanks for God's faithfulness to His Word and to me.
Something begins to happen in your attitude when you pray like this. You will find yourself being more positive in your thoughts, actions, and words.
You will expect less of people and more of God.It was similar to a reformatting of a computer's hard drive: negative out, positive in! An added bonus is that it makes you more hungry for God's word and all HIS attributes!
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