Transforming Attitudes: Choosing Joy and Gratitude

"Chuck Swindoll, who's, who has been one, kind of one of my heroes for a long time. I just love the way that he teaches. And he's blessed me. Through his ministry. I read this years ago, something that he wrote about attitude. He said this, Chuck Swindoll, the longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It's more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say, or do. It's more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. It will make or break a family, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude." [00:32:20] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"But that's usually not our first reaction. And so usually what we all do, the temptation to do it, is that we usually react to problems with irritation and complaining or grumbling. We have disappointments. Disappointments come from expectations, and expectations come from our often ingrained, we have this ingrained belief system. We all have a belief system. It's not always biblical. It's often based. It's based on experiences and things that have happened to us, and we haven't fully been able to root that out by the word of God yet. And so we all still struggle with mixed belief systems that agree with God and don't agree with God. But often our bad attitude comes from bad theology about our life. So like this, we say things like this, God must not love me." [00:35:30] (55 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"Gratitude needs to be expressed. We need to show it. You can feel it. You can think it, but it's more powerful. It actually helps shape our attitude when we say it. There's something about saying it. You may feel it, but there's something about saying it. To express daily the things you are thankful for. You're thankful for your life." [00:47:39] (26 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"I am not the product of my feelings. I am not at the mercy of my feelings or my circumstances or my experiences. I get to choose how I want to respond." [00:52:43] (13 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"Frankl, steeped in Freudian psychology, who discovered this was a great surprise in a Nazi prison camp. He discovered that no matter what the Nazis did to them, he had the ability to choose or not choose if he was going to hate them. And he said, No matter what they do to me, I have chosen. I will not allow them to, to cause me to hate them." [00:54:00] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"Between circumstances and my response, there's a gap in which I'm free as a human being to make a choice. So Frankl discovered in the concentration camp that it's not what happens to you that determines the quality of your life. It is your response to what happens that determines the quality of your life. You can choose your response. No matter what happens." [00:54:37] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"Do all things without grumbling or disputing so you may prove yourself to be blameless and innocent children of god above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world holding fast the word of life said in the day of christ i will have reason to glory because i did not run in vain nor toil in vain you can choose your attitude and if you choose your attitude paul is saying if you choose your attitude it will be a light to those people around you if you choose your attitude everybody's grumbling everybody's grumbling but you can be a light in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation i love the way it describes the world as crooks and perverts okay in the midst of crooks and perverts we can shine like light and the way we shine like light is that he says how do we do that we don't complain we're not complainers we've changed our attitude we've committed our attitude to the lord and we realize this is important this is life -changing stuff that my attitude what i say what i speak might be the thing that's going to push someone closer to jesus because i don't want to be like the devil pushing people away right i want to be like the holy spirit pushing people to jesus so i don't want to condemn them i want to give them the hope that's in christ i want to give them life in jesus christ so i want to watch what i say i want to watch my" [01:01:48] (99 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


"lord help us with our attitude you want to have a better attitude anybody want to complain less and praise more i want to be more thankful i want to recognize the things i want i want to be better at recognizing the things that i need to be thankful for i'm so good at seeing the things that i can complain about i want to be i want to be more skilled at seeing the things i can be thankful about lord help change my mind you said we're changed by the renewing of our minds and father i ask that you would renew our minds that we would we would choose that we're not at the mercy of our circumstances we're not at the mercy of things that are happening to us we have the ability to determine our thoughts because the word of god is alive and in us the holy spirit is alive and in us you are working in us and you are working in us and you are working in us and lord we want to have an attitude that shines like light in a dark place to use us for the kingdom of god and for your glory lord help me to be thankful and have an attitude of gratitude in jesus name everybody said amen amen man i love you see you next week we're gonna change your mind" [01:03:55] (77 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)