Fix Your Mind on Praise

(How do we delight in the Lord? – Part 6)
By Kelly Dixon

Reading: Philippians 3:17 – 21; 4:4-9

Have you ever worked with a person (either in your profession or elsewhere) that just wasn’t a team player? Every time momentum would start going forward they would put a “monkey wrench” in the works which made the goal that much harder to accomplish. Their attitude towards working together, and in general, just plain out stunk and because of it there was a stifling of not only productivity but also in your relationship with that person. When we have a bad attitude and concentrate more on our problems or our current status then we do our Lord’s presence and His work, we create a stifling in our growth with God.

It is impossible to delight in the Lord when we have a bad attitude. If we don’t watch ourselves, life will take us in a direction of a bad attitude every time. It is part of our flesh to complain about things around us. Many walk around daily griping and complaining about how things are not going our way. We make excuses as to why we can’t change things and we focus on our problems more and more. In doing so, we watch as those problems become bigger and bigger. Why are they growing in size? The answer is because we have not disciplined ourselves to focus on Jesus.

Focusing on Jesus is a discipline. It is not something that the Lord gifted some with and not others. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that we should fix our eyes upon Jesus because He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. “Fix” your eyes – what does it mean to do so? It means to focus with great determination in not only the effort to obtain the goal but the faith that it will happen. As believers, our goal is to bring glory to Christ. We must at all times work with determination towards this goal and with the faith that God will bring glory to Himself through our efforts. This starts with a change in attitude. When we change our attitude to reflect fixing our eyes on Jesus, then we will not have a dreary outlook on life, but instead a sense of life and peace. (Romans 8:6). Take it from an ex-complaining pro – complaining does no good for the soul. It only brings us momentary satisfaction. However, our heart desires more than momentary satisfaction. Our heart desires life and peace. Grumbling and complaining is of the flesh and should not even be a part of a believer’s life. When we do so, we do not set our minds up for a good attitude and usually only see the things we are complaining about and not what the Lord has planned for us to see.

So how do we change our bad attitude to a good one? For myself, it came to a point that I had to discipline myself not to complain. I replaced the desire to complain with the desire to praise. Every time I started to complain about something or someone I would think of how many ways I can praise the Lord for the situation. In every situation there is a praise that can be found - a blessing that has been given directly from our Father above. Sometimes it takes some soul searching to find it, but it’s always there. Train your mind to think on these verses by memorizing them today – Philippians 4:4 & 8

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! . . . Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

As you can tell from these verses, if we are meditating on the true, noble, just, pure, lovely, good report, virtue and praiseworthy things in our lives, then there is no room for complaints.

I am convinced that every day the Lord wants to show me more of Himself. I am also convinced that if I have a bad attitude it will hinder Him revealing Himself to me. Ultimately, our attitude toward life can hinder our relationship with the Lord and our productivity in bringing Christ glory. No different than the person who we have worked with in the past who wasn’t a team player.

Delight in the Lord by disciplining yourself towards praise and the things of the Spirit. For as Romans 8:5 tells us, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Set your mind on the things of the Spirit by living according to the Spirit and you will see that your attitude will continuously be one of praise.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I admit that my attitude stinks!! I commit today to remember to praise You in all things. I come to You with an open heart to say that I am ready for you to transform my complaining to praising. It is only through You that I can accomplish such things. Transform me into being more like Christ. Amen.