The Power of Attitude

The Power of Attitude

By Apostle Felix

54  And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?
55  Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
56  And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?
57  And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.
58  And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelieve. 

Matthew 13: 54 – 58

Some people have said that attitude is everything. There can be some truth in that in the sense that attitude has the ability and power to control someone’s feelings toward another person. A wrong attitude has the potential to project wrong feelings, hence wrong responses. What is an attitude? According to John Maxwell, an attitude is an inner feeling expressed through behaviour. It is an internalized feeling based on what one knows about a person or place and is expressed through behaviour. Therefore, an attitude can be a slave master or a servant. It can be a friend or a worst enemy. In many stances, attitude is shaped and molded by past experiences of life. Positive experiences are prone to form positive attitudes, and negative experiences will form negative attitudes. Every time when one demonstrates a certain unpleasant attitude, should endeavor to investigate the information or past experience that has formed it.

When Jesus entered His hometown, Nazareth and met people that had known Him since childhood, He received resistance from His own people. They naturalized Jesus because they knew His background and family. They had similar experiences with Him. They played together, lived in the same neighborhood. So they had an attitude towards Jesus based on the information of the past they had about Jesus. They despised Him and rejected His message. The attitude they took against Jesus limited the power Jesus had to heal. Jesus would not heal the sick, not because He had no power to do so. He could have healed every sick person in His hometown if the people had a positive attitude of Him. The limiter was the people’s attitude, not Jesus’s ability. Jesus has the power to do all things if the people believe in Him.

37  For with God nothing shall be impossible.
38  And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. 

Luke 1: 37, 38

Mary had an attitude that distinguished her from the rest of the girls in her hometown. Mary was not chosen by God based on her physical beauty or her own righteousness. There were other girls, probably more beautiful that Mary. I believe, God chose her to carry the promised seed because she had an attitude that will demonstrate maturity in handling matters of that spiritual importance.

15,  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Genesis 3: 15

She believed and accepted God’s proposal to bear such a risky responsibility of carrying a baby for nine months without a father. The attitude was outstanding. And so was Joseph’s attitude. Upon hearing Mary’s condition, he decided to break off the marriage engagement privately to avoid public shame. That attitude should be celebrated. He did not go harassing her or go around in the village to announce to everyone what Mary had done. Only a person of positive attitude would want to settle matters amicably.

An attitude is key to experiencing the possibility power of God. In the Bible, God called men and women, and some had negative attitudes due to past experiences. One of them was Moses. He did not want to go back to Egypt because of the past failure that had formed and shaped his attitude. He saw the mission of going to Egypt to deliver Israel as an impossibility because he tried forty years before and failed. He reasoned with God based on his inabilities, not on God’s ability. He actually told God that he could not speak, therefore God should find someone else to send to Egypt. That had to do with attitude. God was not sending Moses back to Egypt to go and deliver Israel by his speaking abilities. He was not sending Moses to be a motivational speaker with great oratory skills. No, He was sending back to demonstrate the power of God for the deliverance of Israel. This was because, Jesus went to the cross in weakness and rose from the dead in power.

10  Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
11  And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 

Exodus 3: 10, 11

Moses had attitude issues, just like many of us today. We have heard and read what the Lord is capable of doing but yet continue doubting Him. God had introduced Himself as the I AM THAT I AM, but still Moses was looking to himself.

14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Exodus 3: 14

The problem Moses had was to believe that God is able. His feelings were so influenced by his past failures so much that he filtered God’s words through his past life. I don’t know what you have been struggling with to believe God for. Oftentimes, it is that dream that looks so big and intimidating that has made you to curl into a cave of defeat. I would encourage you to build up your inner man with the word of God so that the word will be able to influence your judgements. The word influenced attitude is a possibility attitude. It believes God for the impossibility. It refuses to naturalize the power of God but believes that God is able to do exceeding and abundantly above all what one can ever ask or imagine, according to the power working within, Ephesians 3: 20.