Is It Beneficial to Identify Positive Attributes in Others?

We are all aware of what happens when important issues are not addressed and solutions found. Delaying to take action to find solutions is fertile ground for a crisis to evolve. A crisis can be avoided by seeking help from God and expressing gratitude for what he provides.

Rare is the situation where it is impossible to express gratitude. I  realize that resentment and fear can so dominate a relationship or a situation that the expressions of gratitude seem beyond utterance. Yet the desire for peace and acceptance seldom escapes our consciousness.

Consider the other person’s positive attributes and tell them what you observe. Permit mutual love for God to create a sense of gratitude within you. This can be the beginning of a relationship of peace for each person. God gives insight, hope and peace to those who love him.            

__________ 

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called… And be thankful.

~Colossians 3:15 Revised Standard Version

__________

Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform to hear this and other 2-minute features 3 days every week.

Is a Crisis Preventable?

Procrastination may eventually create a crisis in significant areas of a relationship. If important issues are neglected and unresolved, they can be responsible for creating a crisis. Failure to adjust to personal differences leads to misunderstandings and miscommunications in relationships.

Efforts to discuss issues may digress into anger if differences in personalities, beliefs, and feelings are allowed to dominate and potentially cause tension. If just thinking about certain issues arouse acute anxiety, postpone discussing these issues until after Thanksgiving celebrations. 

By focusing on mutual feelings of gratitude, tension and irritability can be averted. God’s word encourages us to “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.” Isaiah 26:3 promises to “keep in perfect peace those who trust in him.” So do not delay in asking God for wisdom and peace.  

                    

__________ 

Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together.

~Ephesians 4:3 Good News Bible

__________

Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform to hear this and other 2-minute features 3 days every week.

How Does Procrastination Change Your Identity?

Procrastination has been characterized as the art of delay, which means to successfully put off doing a task until later or never. Biblical history credits God’s people with delaying to do what they knew was God’s will. Adam and Eve delayed confessing their sin to God until it could not be avoided.

Procrastination is defined as passive resistance rather than open rebellion. Passive resistance knows a task needs to be done, but it sabotages that commitment through delays caused by anxiety or by deliberate resistance.

Overcoming procrastination will change your identity as you permit God to redeem you with his unconditional love. Remember, God sent Jesus to redeem you from the irresponsibility of sin and its penalty. He chose you to be at work in his world to do what is set before you to do. If you cooperate with God, you will definitely be blessed with confidence.  

__________ 

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life sets [you] free from the law of sin and death.

~Romans 8:1 New International Version

__________

Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform to hear this and other 2-minute features 3 days every week. 

How Does Anxiety Weigh a Person Down?

Procrastination can become a habit comparable to an addiction when it takes control of a person’s life. A wheelchair-bound movie director, dependent on an oxygen tank for breathing, continued smoking against his doctor’s advice. He promised his family to quit smoking but would not keep his promise.

Procrastinating gives rise to others losing confidence in you to keep your word to do what is right. David in Psalm 39:2 said, “My suffering grew worse and I was overcome with anxiety.” David’s delay caused his burden to grow heavier.

Proverbs 12:25 affirms, “Anxiety inside in a man’s heart weighs him down.” But is there a better way? The answer is, yes! 

Ask God for courage to act immediately, and step up to the plate to do what is right. Believe you’re worthy of God’s help, and he will empower you to overcome procrastination. Trust in God to keep his promises.    

_________ 

When I am afraid, I will put my confidence in you, [O Lord]. Yes, I will trust the promises of God. And since I am trusting in [you, my God], what can mere man do to me?

~Psalm 56:3-4 The Living Bible

__________

Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform to hear this and other 2-minute features 3 days every week. 

________________________________

You are invited to listen as I will be the guest on "Vital Issues in the Christian Home" tomorrow morning (Thursday, November 14) from 10:30-11:30 Central Time on KHCB radio at 105.7 FM in the Houston area. To stream it live or for a listing of sister stations in TX, OK, LA, AR, and FL, please go to www.khcb.org.

Can Negative Effects of Procrastination and Anxiety Be Defeated?

While anxiety is helpful at appropriate levels, it can be harmful if allowed to build where it sabotages daily objectives. Anxiety can serve as motivation to study for exams or to complete a task for recognition at work. Anxiety prompts individuals to take seriously the important issues of life.

A negative example is that of a young man who related how he had avoided calling a friend to apologize for comments that had produced hurt feelings as well as an ongoing conflict between them. Embarrassment, combined with shame and guilt, produced the anxiety that fueled his procrastination.

God’s word can defeat the negative effects of procrastination and anxiety. Listen to Philippians 4:6: “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Procrastination can be defeated by asking God for help and by thanking him for his guidance.  

_________ 

Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

Psalm 55:22 New Living Translation

_________

Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform to hear this and other 2-minute features 3 days every week. 

________________________________

 You are invited to listen as I will be the guest on "Vital Issues in the Christian Home" this week on Thursday morning, November 14 from 10:30-11:30 Central Time on KHCB radio at 105.7 FM in the Houston area. To stream it live or for a listing of sister stations in TX, OK, LA, AR, and FL, please go to www.khcb.org.

Is There an Answer for the Anxiety Created by Deception?

Habitual procrastination will ultimately produce a negative identity. Procrastination promotes a negative identity which cannot be hidden from yourself. It’s also embarrassing because you cannot deny the guilt and shame caused by deception and broken promises.

With many individuals anxiety is responsible for delays in getting started on a given task. Ivan Goncharov, the Russian novelist, wrote that anxiety provoked complaints which quickly evolved into weariness and indifference known as procrastination.

The solution for anxiety associated with procrastination is to pull yourself together and begin the task to be completed. Simply trust that God cares for you and will enable and strengthen you to do what’s before you if you sincerely desire to change your attitude. Permit the Holy Spirit to change your thoughts and attitudes and replace the anxiety with courage.  

_________ 

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

~Ephesians 6:10-11 Revised Standard Version

_________

Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform to hear this and other 2-minute features 3 days every week. 

________________________________

You are invited to listen as I will be the guest on "Vital Issues in the Christian Home" next week on Thursday morning, November 14 from 10:30-11:30 Central Time on KHCB radio at 105.7 FM in the Houston area. To stream it live or for a listing of sister stations in TX, OK, LA, AR, and FL, please go to www.khcb.org.

What Makes Apathy So Debilitating?

The danger of procrastination is that it can evolve into apathy. Apathy can be described as a lack of emotional caring about whether life is good or bad. Apathy can produce a lack of passion for life. 

When a person has passion for life, there is motivation for what has to be done.

The first step in turning procrastination into achievement is to change your attitude. God desires for you to achieve and be successful, so take ownership of what’s causing you to procrastinate. By your taking ownership, God is in a position to heal you spiritually and emotionally.

God designed you to achieve and care about your future. He never intended for you to be apathetic and uncaring. Listen to God’s word from Galatians 6:9: “So let us not become tired of doing good, for if we do not give up, a time will come when we will reap a harvest of blessings.” This attitude and the resulting action open the door for a new life filled with achievement.  

__________ 

Love sincerely. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Love one another tenderly as fellow Christians. Outdo one another in showing respect.

~Romans 12:9-10 Beck – New Testament in the Language of Today

__________

You can also read this and other programs at AttitudesAnswers.blogspot.com. Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform