God has been dealing with me lately about my attitude. How do I know that? Because I'm more aware of it. I mean lately it seems like every television sermon that comes on t.v. is dealing with attitude. I find myself, even noticing MY attitude flaws developing in my own children. In my spirit I hear "If you'll change your attitude, your children will follow in line". What do you think about that? Have you ever noticed that whatever flaws you dislike about your children, generally speaking, if you look hard enough in the mirror, you'll discover where they picked them up from? This can be a painful discovery and hard to digest at first. But I firmly believe that a main part of getting to the next level is looking at self.

With improving self in mind let's do a review of the Life Today broadcast featuring"Wednesdays With Beth". Beth Moore flows in the gift of communication, teaching and breaking down the word of God, to a level of understanding. Today's lesson can be found in the bible in Acts 16:16-34. The famous story of Paul and Silas locked in jail. Many people have read and heard this story summized, but I like the way Beth breaks it down, to dealing with everyday life. She illuminates the fact that, Yes God is a Big God, but he is still concerned with the little things in your life too. If the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, don't we want God there at step number one? This means that we not only want God to change our life but our day, even our moment. Wherever we are on the journey we want Him to meet us.

Moving from one level to another is greatly determined by your attitude. Let's look at the situation of Paul and Silas locked in jail. First of all they were imprisoned without wrong doing. Second the bible says they were severely beaten. Think about that. Have you ever been to jail, had a family member or friend incarcerated? Imagine being beaten severely by the guard. Then the bible says their feet were fastened in stocks. This sounds very uncomfortable. They made a choice to praise God. Praising God is a choice. With burning physical pain and confinement, I'm sure they didn't feel like praising God. However they decided to praise Him anyway. On today's broadcast of Wednesday's with Beth, she spoke of Prayer and asking God to change your situation if it's an undesirable one. Yet if there's not an immediate change what are you going to do? Are you going to grumble about the problem? Not if you understand how much power your words have. Grumbling and complaining about the problem is just a cycle of creating and recreating more and more of the problem. Make a choice to praise Him in the mean time.
Points to remember:

  • You CAN Praise In Pain
  • Attitude IS a Choice
  • Happiness IS a Choice
  • Negative words CREATE MORE Negative Situations
  • Your Attitude DOES Determine Your Altitude (how high you will go)

As we know the end of that situation ended triumphantly. Acts 16:25 -26 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundatins of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and eveyone's chains were loosed.

On a personal note let's hold each other accountable. You or I may feel locked in a situation that is undesirable. Let's pray for change and mantain an attitude of praise until change comes. The book of Psalms in the bible, has some excellent prayers for praise. For more information on Wednesday's With Beth, including a broadcast schedule vistit http://www.WednesdaysWithBethMoore.com

God Bless