This is the secret revealed by all those who changed their lives: the exchange of a weak and flawed mentality for a strong and assertive one.
We are formed by the body, soul (the source of feelings) and spirit (the intellect, the ability to think).
It is the spirit of a person that determine the way his life is conducted and it reflects whether a person means well or not, whether he is sincere or false, whether he is downcast and discouraged or confident and fierce.
That’s probably why many look for advice or motivational speeches as an incentive to do something capable of changing their lives.
Regardless of what the problem is, whether it’s the financial area that doesn’t make progress, the marriage that hangs by a thread, the child that only brings heartache, the health that goes from bad to worse, many people want to make a change. However, the human tendency is to wait for a ‘hero’ to rescue them from the pitiful situation and carry them to the highest point of achievement and security.
The person is suffering and is waiting for an answer but doesn’t think; ‘I’m the one who has to bring about my change’, because that requires a change of mentality.
There was a time when all the people of Israel were hidden in caves, they feared their enemies and, as much as they wanted something different, they surrendered to the situation and waited for something to happen. Until someone different caught God’s attention: the smallest of the poorest family – Gideon.
When the angel spoke to him, Gideon had the complaint on the tip of his tongue, but when the angel said ‘go, do something, I am with you’, he didn’t have an answer for that, but an excuse. He wanted a solution, but he wanted it to come from somewhere else and that’s typical of human beings.
Gideon had the necessary strength to deliver Israel from the hands of the Midianites, but he only thought about the oppression of the enemies, his inferiority and his incapacity in the face of the situation. So, before changing the condition Israel was in, he needed to change his mentality.
Until today, there is only one truth: when we exchange our spirit for the Spirit of God, that is, when our human thoughts are exchanged for His thoughts, our attitudes change and, consequently, our lives too.
The Holy Spirit is not a theory and just knowing His existence is not enough. Upon receiving Him, it is possible to exchange the downcast, frightened, depressed, doubtful, weak, proud, angry or vengeful spirit for the joyful, high, kind, confident, courageous, strong, righteous and straight. It is this exchange, carried out after a sincere surrender at the Altar, that transforms ordinary people into true winners.
