Power Thoughts: 12 Strategies to Win the Battle of the Mind Read Online Free PDF Page B

we could see if we would simply be positive and creative.
    Train your brain to trust and believe God and to think positive thoughts that are based on His Word. Determine that you will think as Joshua and Caleb did, not as the ten negative spies who never got to enjoy the Promised Land. Choose to see the power available to you through God if you trust Him more than your circumstances. Always remember that nothing is impossible with God!

    Think about It
    In what specific situation do you need to believe God is greater than your difficulties?
     
     
    Positive Thinking Encourages Positive Responses
    The way we think affects the way we speak, and the way we speak affects the way others respond to us. If you think and speak negatively, you are likely to hear a negative response. The opposite is also true. Positive thoughts and positive speech encourage positive responses.
    For example, let’s say you are an overnight guest in someone’s home. Your host says to you just before bedtime, “It’s supposed to be cold tonight, but there are probably enough covers on the bed. You don’t think you’ll need an extra blanket, do you?” Think about it. You would probably respond something like this, “No. Whatever is on the bed should be fine.”
    Now, consider this scenario. Your host says to you, “It’s supposed to be cold tonight, so you’ll probably want an extra blanket, won’t you?” Most people in that situation would answer, “Yes.”
    I’m sure you can recall many situations in your life in which the way you communicated to someone influenced his or her response to you. I recently heard myself ask a clerk at a checkout counter, “You don’t have a tissue behind the counter, do you?” Of course, she quickly said, “No.” Maybe, if I had asked the question in a positive way, she would have been more diligent to look for one.
    The most common type of negativism that draws negative responses from others is what I call the “flat-world attitude.” This happens when a statement is not true, but people believe it based on hearsay, past experience, or what is considered “common knowledge.” Let me explain.

    Christopher Columbus believed the world was round. Therefore, he reasoned, if he set sail, he would eventually reach land—previously undiscovered territory—or end up back where he started. The people around Columbus thought the world was flat, so when “scholars” and “experts” examined his plans, they said his idea was impossible. Because they believed the world was flat, they assumed he would surely sail off the edge of it and disappear. But Columbus was right. He didn’t fall off the edge of the world, but proved it was round and ended up discovering America in 1492.
    During the early 1900s, an impressive array of scientific wizards scoffed at the idea of an airplane. They said, “It is an opium-induced fantasy—a crackpot idea.” Really? Orville and Wilbur Wright didn’t think so, and have gone down in history as the “first in flight.” With similar skepticism toward airplanes, Marshal Ferdinand Foch said in 1911, “Airplanes are interesting toys, but they have no military value.” Foch later became supreme commander of the Allied forces during World War I. Though airplanes were not widely used in the early days of the war, they became increasingly important and Foch and others discovered that they were valuable after all.
    Thomas Edison tried to persuade Henry Ford to abandon his fledgling idea of a motor car because he was convinced that it would never work. He said, “Come and work for me and do something really worthwhile.” Although Edison was a great inventor it sounds as if he was only positive about what he could do and rather pessimistic about other people’s ideas. Next time you get in a car to go somewhere, be glad Ford didn’t allow Edison’s negative outlook on automobiles to influence him. Let this example remind you to never let a pessimistic person talk you out of