JESUS IS THE GREATEST POSITIVE THINKING MAN WHO EVER LIVED

My daughter calls me Positive Thinking Man, and she is right. I do my best to maintain a positive attitude and to look at the world through eyes of possibility and love. Nevertheless, I have to admit positive thinking is always a work in progress.

Thinking positive is easy when I sail in fair winds and following seas, but it's much harder when I have to sail through storms of negative and limiting thoughts to arrive at my destination. That's when positive thinking gets tested.

Good times don't reveal whether you are a positive thinker.

When the storms of life batter your dreams and you are not sure if you will survive, at that moment you discover whether you are a positive thinker.

If you can stay positive when you are in harm's way, you can wear your positive medals with pride.

Positive thinking is not cheerful thinking and many times positive thinking does not feel good.

Positive thinking doesn't have anything to do with emotions. You might feel numb or even feel bad as you press forward with a positive attitude.

Positive thinking is a mental committent to keep on keeping on no matter what you face or how great the odds. You will not quit, and God willing, you will prevail.

When I sailed around the world on my catamaran, I found myself in harm's way on multiple occasions with winds blowing at fifty knots. I can't say I enjoy storms at sea, but I can affirm I always prevailed in the storms of my mind.

I am not recommending you put yourself in harm's way, but I have to admit that every adventure I ever had happened while I was in harm's way.

When I sailed through a winter gale 300 miles north of New Zealand on the way to New Caledonia, I put myself in harm's way, I had an adventure, and positive thinking helped me prevail.

When I sailed through Pirate Alley between Somalia and Yemen, I put myself in harm's way, I had an adventure, and positive thinking helped me prevail.

When I sailed up the Red Sea against seven hundred miles of headwinds, I put myself in harm's way, I had an adventure, and positive thinking helped me prevail.

When I sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Gibraltar to the Caribbean, I put myself in harm's way, I had an adventure, and positive thinking helped me prevail.

So, I admit it. In the biggest challenges I have faced, I am a positive thinker, and I will move heaven and earth to prevail.

Although I like the Positive Thinking Man moniker bestowed on me by my daughter, I know that I am not the greatest.

Jesus is the greatest positive thinker who ever lived, and he is the original Positive Thinking Man.

Jesus was positive to the core.

YOU DON'T GET WHAT YOU WANT - YOU GET WHAT YOU EXPECT

Jesus created a world ruled by positive expectations.

You don't get what you want. You get what you expect.

It doesn't matter if your expectations are positive or negative, You still get what you expect.

The Bible makes three extremely important statements about the way things work in the moral universe, and you need to understand those statements and make them a part of your daily life.

If you understand and adopt these three principles, you will experience radical transformation.

1. As you believe, so shall it be done unto you.
2. You have not, because you ask not.
3. Don't be afraid, just believe.

AS YOU BELIEVE, SO SHALL IT BE DONE UNTO YOU

Jesus said that faith is essential to making your life into what you want it to be. He said, "As you believe, so it shall be done unto you."

What is it about faith that makes it so important?

1. Faith changes your vision.

When you have faith, you see possibilities that other people cannot appreciate.

While others stumble around in spiritual darkness, you see where you are going, and you have clarity of purpose.

2. Faith shifts your focus.

You radically shift your focus in a new direction, and that focus expands into your life.

Instead of limited and short-sighted dreams, you have the privilege of experiencing God's dream for your life.

3. Faith takes the handcuffs off God.

God doesn't push and shove his way into your life. He enters your heart and mind by invitation only. You must ask him to come in.

Once you ask him into your heart, the handcuffs come off God, and He starts working miracles.

4. Faith gives you positive expectations.

Your expectations change about who you are and what you can do with your life.

Your old way of thinking and feeling are gone, and for the first time in your life, you actually expect good things to happen.

5. Faith starts you moving.

Faith is not faith until you take the first step.

Once you start moving forward, faith instantly comes into your life.

Your don't need to see far into the distance. You only need enough faith to take the next step.

The inertia of your old life dissipates as the power of positive faith rolls through your heart and mind.

6. Faith makes you congruent.

Your head, heart, and will now want the same thing and move together in the same direction.

For the first time in your life, you are in agreement with yourself and in agreement with God. You become part of God's unstoppable plan.

7. Faith gives you courage.

God is your Defender, the Captain of your fate, and the Master of your soul. He is your Guide and shows you where to take the next step.

God knows your life from start to finish, and it won't be over until He says it's over. You have nothing to fear.

YOU HAVE NOT BECAUSE YOU ASK NOT

Why does God want me to ask him for good things?

Why does the Bible say, “You have not, because you ask not?”

1. Asking reminds me that God is the source of all good things.

All of my talents and abilities come directly from him.

The God who made the world and everything in it has unlimited resources to supply all my needs.

2. Asking reminds me that God is my Father, and He wants to give me good things.

God is not stingy with his children or miserly in dispensing his blessings. He delights in giving his children what they need, and He wants to fill their cups until they overflow.

3. Asking reminds me that my relationship with God is based on love rather than on groveling and fear.

When God looks at me, He looks through eyes of love.

There is no dark side to God. From start to finish, He wants the best for me.

4. Asking reminds me that my relationship with God is up close and personal.

The Father is never far. He is always present, and I am to take my relationship with him in a personal way. I am on speaking terms with God.

5. Asking reminds me that I get what I expect.

Positive expectations are a form of faith.

When I talk to God, I ask expectantly.

I don’t get what I want. Instead, I get what I expect.

Jesus came to change my expectations, and when I change my expectations, I change my life.

6. Asking takes the handcuffs off God and allows him to start working miracles in my life.

God isn’t pushy. He gave me a free will, but He can’t work miracles without me giving permission.

I must say yes to God and open my heart and mind to the power of his love so that He can make me into a new person.

7. Asking opens my heart and mind to the new things that God wants to do in my life.

Asking means my heart and mind are open to what God has to say. It's a clear indication that the communication channels are open between me and God.

Asking is the first step in getting into agreement with his purpose and plan.

This is the only life I will ever have, and the best way to get things right the first time is to have an open heart and mind.

8. Asking connects me directly with God.

Direct communication with God is the way things are designed to work in God's Kingdom of love.

Until I talk to God, I don't know his dream for my life.

Without asking, the connection cannot happen. That’s why the Bible says, “You have not, because you ask not.”

9. Asking makes spiritual growth possible.

God wants me to grow up spiritually.

Although I am one of his children, He doesn’t want me to remain as a child.

God isn’t looking for an extended spiritual adolescence; He wants me to grow up and become mature with a heart full of excellence and love.

10. When I ask expectantly, I start moving in a positive direction.

I act as if God has already given me what I need.

Asking starts me moving and doing my part so that God can do his part.

After I do my part, God does his.

DON'T BE AFRAID - JUST BELIEVE

More than 2000 years ago, a man named Jairus came to Jesus with an urgent request. He said, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”

While Jesus was on the way to the house of Jairus, some men came and said, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the teacher any more?”

Overhearing and ignoring their message, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

When Jesus arrived at the house, Jesus saw a commotion with mourners crying and wailing loudly. Jesus said, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” The mourners laughed at him.

Jesus entered the child’s room, took her by the hand, and healed her.

Jesus gave us the pattern for dealing with the challenges that we face.

First, when we overhear naysayers and negative thinkers reciting their litany of limitations, we are to ignore their message.

Don’t listen to people shackled by disbelief who want to drag you down to their level. Nothing good comes from listening to negative thinking.

Second, no matter what happens, we are not to give in to fear.

Faith and fear are mutually exclusive. You must choose one or the other. Which will it be? Faith or fear?

Jesus said that all things are possible to him who believes.

Are you going to listen to the voice of fear, or to what Jesus says?

All things are possible when you ignore fear’s limiting voice.

Third, we are to believe and place our faith in God who is the source of our life. It’s never over until God says it’s over.

Leave the punctuation of your life up to God.

Until God puts a period on your adventure with him, faith must rule your days.

Impossible is not in God’s vocabulary, and it shouldn’t be in yours.

Fourth, don’t let the laughter and mocking of disbelievers discourage you or stop you in your tracks.

If you do that, you will be listening to the wrong thing. Instead, listen to God’s voice of possibility and love.

God has a purpose and plan for your life that is better than anything you can imagine. There is no limit to how good your life can become when you open your heart and mind to the power of his love.

Your destiny is to have the last laugh, and that laugh will last for eternity.

Fifth, get in agreement with God and let him work things out.

God loves to work miracles in the lives of his children.

Ask for a miracle every minute of every day.

Jesus said, “Ask, and you will receive. Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

YOU CAN BECOME A POSITIVE PERSON

If you are ready to put yourself in harm's way and live God's dream for your life, take these three positive principles with you on your journey.

1. As you believe, so shall it be done unto you.
2. You have not, because you ask not.
3. Don't be afraid, just believe.

If you want to become a positive person, nobody can stop you.