many more of them you need as the Spirit’s gifts. One of the common sins of so many Christians today is self-pity. We indulge our minds. God has worked a miracle in giving us such magnificent minds which af fect our emotions. Either you con trol your mind or your mind will control you (II Cor. 10:1-5). It’s usually true that whenever the mind and the will are in conflict, the mind will win. The same thing works for good feelings. The melancholy who trusts God and experiences the fill ing of the Holy Spirit, is thankful. Instead of praying, “Oh, God, please make me a better man,” it would be much better to pray positively, “Dear Lord, thank you that you’re in my life, and that you can make me a better man.” The trouble is that some people would like to be depressed. How assuring it is to know that God is able to take the negative and replace it with the positive! Only through Him can you find that confidence that “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.” This comes from the filling of the Spirit. He brings faith, self-control, meek ness, and all of the other gifts avail able to a committed individual. One melancholy came to me in all of his misery and anxiety. I shared with him the fact that he was wast ing a lot of time in self-pity and self- analysis. My suggestion was that he ought to yield himself to the Spirit of God, sharing his faith with oth ers. He looked at me and said, “But they’ll reject it.” What a negative outlook! After talking to him about this, his further objection was, “Well, I’m not sure they really de serve it.” His problem was that he made his decisions on the basis of what seemed right to him. The fact is, what seems right to us is imma terial. What the Bible says is truth! Happy is the child of God who is committed to it and who is yielded to the power of the Spirit of God. 16
Moses was very realistic when he said, “I don’t think the people will believe me. I don’t know much about theology. I don’t have much talent.” Many a child of God has been useless because he uses his judgment and not the Lord’s. Moses yielded to God and was one of the greatest human leaders the world has known. You do this and you’ll have a victorious Christian life. Submit your thought life to God. Only then will you be an effective witness for His glory and grace. Jesus Christ is able to give you a positive approach to life. I know one rather analytically per fectionist individual who can always find some loopholes in my ideas. Not being a perfectionist, I dream up ideas and toss them out to these mel ancholy individuals who can always find things wrong with them. If I can answer their questions then the ideas may be sound and worth fur ther development. But one who has only negative thought patterns will be wiped out before they begin. This melancholy friend of mine, after knocking all of the suggestions, will turn around and testify, “But if God’s in it, it’ll work!” And that’s the answer. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. One of the characteristics of the Spirit-filled life is faith. If there’s anything you and I need, it’s faith and goodness. Goodness means that the melancholy person won’t be find ing things wrong with everyone else. If you keep putting criticism, bitter ness and hostility in your mind, ul timately it’s going to erupt in either misery, ulcers or a nervous break down. The Bible urges us that if we live in the Spirit, we should also walk in the Spirit. Let’s not be de sirous of vain glory, provoking one another or envying one another. We should rather be concerned about them. Be positive in your life, com mitting your way to the Lord. Think about Him and you'll always pray with thanksgiving.
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