Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week (37 page)

You need Brittany’s attitude:
If nobody else is celebrating me right now, I’m celebrating myself. If nobody is asking me out to dinner, I’m dressing up and taking myself out to dinner. If nobody is sending me a birthday gift, watch out. I’m buying myself a present.

If you’ve lost your happiness, your joy, your fire, and your enthusiasm, maybe it’s because no one is celebrating you, cheering you on, or encouraging you. So do as David did in the Bible and encourage yourself. Draw that line in the sand and say, “That’s it. This is a new day. I am done living negatively, discouraged, and with no enthusiasm. I know this is the day the Lord has made. I’m choosing to live this day with faith and with expectancy.”

You may have gone through a setback, but prepare for a comeback. God did not bring you this far to leave you where you are. He has you in the palm of His hand. He had the solution before you ever had that problem. He already has a way out. God knows the end from the beginning. Everything you’re facing right now is subject to change. That means one touch of God’s favor can turn any situation around. You’ve got to dare to do like David. Shake off that spirit of
discouragement and say, “I may be knocked down, but I’m not staying down. I’m rising back up and going again.”

Encourage yourself so that you can find happiness in every day. When the negative voices start up and say, “Well, the economy is bad. Aren’t you afraid?”

Say, “No, I know God is my provider. He supplies all of my needs.”

“Well, gas is high.”

“Yes, but God is well able to take care of me.”

“Well, your child is not doing right.”

“That’s true, but I know he’s subject to change.”

“Well, you were laid off. I heard you lost your job. Aren’t you frustrated?”

“Not at all. I know God is about to open up another door. I know He has something better in store for me.”

“Well, you look like you’re not feeling well. Somebody said you received a bad report from the doctor.”

“Yes, I did, but I know God is in complete control. He said that nothing would snatch me out of His hand. So I believe I will live out every second He’s planned for me.”

That’s what it means to encourage yourself. Get up every morning thinking about the goodness of God. Replay in your mind the victories that He’s given you in the past. Don’t remember the negative. Change the channel and remember all the times God has brought you through.

If you don’t have an Encouragement File, start one. When you’re tempted to get down, go get those letters out. Let them lift your spirit. And don’t wait for others to compliment you. Compliment yourself. Learn to celebrate who God made you to be.

It’s up to you to keep yourself encouraged. Don’t put pressure on your friends and family to encourage you all the time. You can draw strength from the inside. When you learn to encourage yourself, that’s your faith at work. By encouraging yourself, you will enjoy your life more and you will overcome every obstacle. You will restore your happiness and your joy. You will help every desire, every promise put in you come to pass.

Even when you do get knocked down and suffer a setback, just as God did for David in the Bible, He will make sure you not only come back but that you come back better off than you were before.

T
here are all kinds of thoughts and all kinds of voices we can tune in to just like with a radio station. There are hundreds of different frequencies in the air right now all around you. If you had a receiver, you could tune in to station after station. In the same way, you can tune out a station. You’ve been in your car when a song or a talk show that you don’t like comes on the radio. It’s no big deal. You don’t make yourself listen to it. You don’t sit there and endure it. You just push a button and switch over to a different station. The same principle works with your thinking.

All through the day there are thoughts coming into your mind. Many of these are negative and discouraging thoughts like
You’ll never be healthy. You’ll never accomplish your dreams. You’ll never be married. You’ll never overcome your problems.

Many people are unaware that you don’t have to stay on that station. Just because a thought comes doesn’t mean you have to dwell on it. If that thought is negative, discouraging, or depressing, you simply need to tune out that frequency and find a different station or channel.

There’s a channel I recommend called the “Voice of Victory.” It originates from God’s Word. It says, “You have a bright future.” It says, “You are blessed. You are healthy. You are forgiven. You have favor. You can overcome any obstacle. You can accomplish your dreams.”

If you want to live in victory, in happiness and joy, stay tuned to the right channel. You can’t go around all day thinking things
like
I can’t stand my job and I’m so overweight and I’m never getting out of debt
.

Thinking those thoughts is draining your energy, your joy, your happiness, and your zeal. You are losing all the good things God has put in. You would be amazed at how much better you would feel if you got up each day and went on the offensive instead of being passive and entertaining every negative thought that comes to your mind. Think positive thoughts on purpose. Get up in the morning and make a declaration of faith. Say out loud to yourself, “This will be a great day. God is directing my steps. His favor is surrounding me like a shield. I’m excited about this day.”

When you do that, you will be stronger and happier, and you will see God’s favor in a greater way. Pay attention to what you’re thinking. Some people have been tuned in to the Worry Channel so long they could be lifetime members. They could own stock in that channel they are so full of worries.

“I’m just worried about my child, worried about my health, worried about my finances.”

There is a better way to live. When those negative thoughts come, you have to make a choice to not dwell on them. Instead, use the arrival of negative thoughts as a reminder to thank God that He’s at work. Just switch the channel and thank Him for changing things in your favor.

When somebody does you wrong, there’s a voice inside that says,
Get even. Hold a grudge. Never speak to them again.
If you dwell on those thoughts, they will poison your life. But there’s another mind frequency you can tune in to. It says,
God is my vindicator. He’ll make my wrongs right. What was meant for my harm, He’ll use to my advantage.

That’s the Voice of Victory. When you make a mistake one voice says,
You blew it. You’ll never be blessed. Don’t expect anything good.
Another voice says,
I’m forgiven. God’s mercy is bigger than any mistake. My best days are still ahead.
It all depends on what voice you choose to tune in to. Our thoughts set the direction for our lives. What station or channel are you tuned in to?

I’m just an average person. I’m just ordinary. I’ll never do anything great.

No, you’re on the wrong channel. If you’ll switch over to the Voice of Victory, you’ll hear,
I am one of a kind. I’m a masterpiece. I have seeds of greatness. I will leave my mark on this generation.

Pay attention to your thoughts. Make sure you’re tuned in to the right channel. Maybe you’re driving through a nice neighborhood and you see a beautiful home and that thought tells you,
I will never own a nice house like that. I will never get ahead. I’m so in debt. Nobody in my family is really successful.

Change the channel. You’ve got to guard your mind. If you believe those lies long enough, your own thinking will keep you from God’s best. Just switch over to the Voice of Victory in your thoughts:
God, You said if I keep You first, You will give me the desires of my heart. You said no good thing will You withhold when I walk uprightly. You said in due season I would reap if I didn’t give up, so I want to thank You that my due season is on its way. I know my time is coming.

That is what it means to be tuned in to the Voice of Victory.

Some people are so trained to expect the negative that when a thought comes telling them something discouraging about themselves or their future, they just swallow it hook, line, and sinker. It drags them down and they go around defeated.

But then there are others who train themselves to latch on to positive, hopeful thoughts. They can have a thousand negative thoughts bombarding their minds, but then one positive thought comes—one little phrase that says,
Everything will be all right—
and they weed through all those other thoughts and choose to latch on to the one faith-filled thought.

That’s the way to be, so disciplined in your thoughts that you can weed out discouragement and grab hold of encouragement. You have to train your ears to do that.

We have two shih tzu dogs, Daisy and Spirit, who are amazing pets. Spirit has supersensitive hearing. She is so tuned in to her surroundings,
she can hear people coming to the front door long before they get there. She’ll start barking ten or fifteen seconds before they ring the doorbell. She has trained herself to hear what she wants to hear.

Spirit loves cheese, and she can hear when we’re opening a bag of it, even if she’s out in the yard. Spirit immediately comes running into the kitchen, sits at our feet, and waits for her piece of cheese.

When the whole family is in the kitchen, there are all kinds of noises, all kinds of sounds. Jonathan is pouring cereal. Alexandra is opening chips. I’m using the blender. Victoria is wrapping up food. Spirit sits as calm as can be; she never even flinches. But the moment anyone touches the cheese, she goes on alert.

Her attitude is:
It’s my time now. I am ready for my snack.

There have been times when I have tried to sneak a piece of cheese out of the refrigerator without her hearing it. I’ve told my children, “Watch this.” I’ll open the refrigerator. I don’t even pull the cheese out. I leave it there so it won’t make any noise. Very quietly and delicately I open that ziplock bag. Spirit is in another room, thirty feet away, sleeping, but you cannot fool that dog. She either has supernatural revelation or she has superdog hearing.

It is impossible to keep her away. Why is that? She has trained herself to hear what’s important to her. She doesn’t care if I get the bread out. She doesn’t care if I open the chips or unwrap the lettuce. Everything else goes in one ear and out the other. All she’s concerned about is the cheese, and she is keenly aware of that sound.

What sound are you tuned in to? Some people have a habit of tuning in to the negative. They’re drawn to it, almost like they feed off it. If a thought comes that says,
It’s a lousy day
, they just take the bait. “Oh, yeah, it is a lousy day.”

They wake up and the thought comes,
You’re depressed today
.

“Oh, yeah, I am depressed.”

Don’t let that be you. You’ve got to retrain your ears. You’re hearing the wrong things. Tune out the negative and start listening for faith-filled thoughts. When you wake up after you ignore all the negative thoughts,
eventually you will hear, “This is the day the Lord has made. This will be a great day.”

If you trained yourself to hear the bad, you can train yourself to hear the good. Next time a negative thought comes just say, “No thanks, that’s not for me.”

Well, it’s not getting any better. You’ve reached your limits.

“No thanks. I’m not dwelling on that.”

You’ve made too many mistakes.

“No thanks. I hear another sound. It says I’m forgiven.”

You’re never getting well. It’s over.

“No thanks. I believe I hear something else. It says God is restoring health to me.”

You’re never paying off that house.

“No thanks. That’s not for me. I will lend and not borrow.”

You may have to weed through a thousand negative thoughts until you hear another positive sound. The Voice of Victory channel saying, “You can do all things through Christ. Your best days are ahead. This situation is about to turn around.”

Latch on to the good. When you hear those faith-filled thoughts, act like Spirit our dog and come running. “That’s for me. I believe. I receive. I’m well able.” Play those thoughts over and over. The battle is taking place in your mind.

Let the negative thoughts bounce off you like water off a duck’s back. Just like Spirit sat there unfazed by the sound of the chips and the cereal and the bread. Dismiss those thoughts that are not productive and positive.

Eventually you will hear the right sound. Something will open up positive thoughts like
I’m talented.
It will be just like an alarm going off in your spirit. Rise up and say, “Yes, I’ll take that one. I am talented.”

The thought will come up,
I am blessed.