Basic Discipleship Phase 4 Session 3

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Satan is subtle and crafty. If he can't corrupt one's doctrine, he'll work to corrupt his attitude not to mention his morals and character. Satan never lets up his pressure against the children of God.

This study is about attitude. Most believers do not seem to view attitude as a very important matter, especially in themselves. They seem to think that if they have a head full of great Bible knowledge and considerable competence in various skills then that's enough. No! It's not enough. Countless thousands have ended their mortal time as nothing more than unrealized potential. A poor attitude rendered them impotent and made them odious to bystanders, believers and non-believers alike.

Help your disciple see the value of a good attitude, a right heart. See it yourself. Make sure that in this regard you are a good example for him. Remember that someone has well said that more is caught than is taught. You are the mentor here. Your disciple will see your spirit. May his view be a good one!

The next session will be a companion to this one. We've come to the polishing and finalizing stage of these discipleship studies. Soon the course will be over. All along our goal has been that your disciple will end this training with the ability to stand alone and determined to become what you are, a Discipleship Minister. We have just over two months to reach that goal. Study your disciple carefully. What does he need most? Chances are very high that his greatest need at this point is in his spirit and attitude. It's easier to teach doctrine than it is to teach attitude and character. That is why this final phase is devoted mostly to mentality, to how your disciple views himself and life, for how he thinks is going to control how he behaves.

Stay close to your disciple. Satan knows what's going on here and is against it. No doubt he will come up with some means to frustrate this whole effort. Be alert. Use your spiritual resources. Teach your disciple to do the same. Keep in mind what we studied back in Phase 2.

Be sure that your disciple receives the next assignment. It is titled The Spirit of Your Life.

From this list of adjectives, which ones can be readily used to describe attitudes?

Good. Generous. Lazy. Friendly. Lovely. Hateful. Arrogant. Humble. Sorry. Cooperative. Uncooperative. Positive. Negative. Bad. Industrious. Pious. Sulky. Devious. Healthy. Unhealthy. Strong. Poor. Bitter. Gracious. Windy. Cloudy. Bright. Upbeat. Pessimistic. Optimistic. Impatient. Patient. Forgiving. Unforgiving. Haughty. Hard. Tender. Loving. Cruel. Jealous. Overprotective. Defensive. Offensive. Stubborn. Critical. Judgmental. Cantankerous. Pharisaical. Gentle. Kind. Caring. Selfish. Narrow. Broad. Touchy. Unselfish. Greedy. Suspicious. Open. Closed. Fearful. Angry. Careless. Attractive. Unattractive. Meek. Shallow. Mean. Self‑righteous. Fickle. Unpredictable. Hostile. Proud. Testy. Wholesome. Unwholesome. Dark. Upbeat. Cold. Warm. Ugly. Sweet. Objective. Unreasonable. High & mighty.

Yes. Every word in this list can be used to describe attitudes. Can you add to this list?

Each of the adjectives listed here (including those on your personal list) can be arranged under two simple headings: Good and Bad. Please arrange them as such in the following columns.

Good		Bad
Good	Generous	Lazy	Hateful
Friendly	Lovely	Arrogant	Sorry
Humble	Cooperative	Uncooperative	Negative
Industrious	Healthy	Bad	Pious
Strong	Gracious	Sulky	Devious
Bright	Upbeat	Unhealthy	Poor
Optimistic	Patient	Bitter	Windy
Forgiving	Tender	Cloudy	Pessimistic
Loving	Gentle	Impatient	Unforgiving
Kind	Caring	Haughty	Hard
Broad	Unselfish	Cruel	Jealous
Open	Attractive	Overprotective	Defensive
Meek	Wholesome	Offensive	Stubborn
Warm	Sweet	Critical	Judgmental
Objective		Selfish	Cantankerous
		Pharisaical	Narrow
		Touchy	Greedy
		Suspicious	Closed
		Fearful	Angry
		Careless	Unattractive
		Shallow	Mean
		Self-righteous	Fickle
		Unpredictable	Hostile
		Proud	Testy
		Unwholesome	Dark
		Unreasonable	Ugly
		Cold	High & mighty

Do you have a true friend, one who will be truly honest with you? Perhaps your mate? Your parent? Your child? A co-worker? Some other friend? Are you willing to ask this person to choose the adjectives which best describe your attitude? Will you pledge to yourself and to your friend that you will not be offended at his/her honesty?

This exercise by your friend is deliberately on the next page so that your friend will not see how you view your own self. Do not influence or put undue pressure on your friend by allowing him to first see your ideas of your self. Tell him you want the truth as he sees it.

3. Are you willing to be specific regarding your attitude and in deliberately working to improve it?

5. Will you ask him to bring to your attention, without fear of reprisal, incidents of bad attitude?

6. How do you feel about and react to others who have attitude characteristics very similar to yours?

7. Do you really think you can be effectively used of God (with co-workers, neighbors, family and friends) with the attitude that you currently have?

9. Have you thought on the reality that many circumstances around you are beyond your power to change, but the fact that your attitude is within your power to change?

10. Have you realized that you alone are the only mortal who can change your attitude?

Webster defines altitude as simply a high place. Just how high do you want to go in the work of the Lord? Just how effectively do you want to be used of Him? Your altitude with God will be determined by your attitude. To see this truth directly for yourself directly from God's word, look up the following scriptures, then write the reference under the appropriate heading.

Remember that Proverbs 21:4 says, "An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin." Pride seems to symbolize all that is bad in an attitude and a prideful, bad attitude ultimately always reduces and brings one down, down, down. Pride is a spiritual cancer that attacks from within. It seems to be the basic root from which all other evils sprout. It always seems to be at the core of trouble. Pride is one of man's worst enemies, if not the worst.

The antithesis of pride is humility. If pride is man's worst enemy in the flesh, humility is God's best provision and friend for man in his daily battle with the flesh. A great passage to commit to memory is the last part of 1 Peter 5:5. "God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble."

It is quiet clear from the scriptures that your attitude is going to direct your altitude in life, especially in a spiritual sense. A bad attitude ultimately brings one down in every area of life while a good attitude is an asset across life's spectrum.

Another descriptive for a bad attitude is negative mindset. An offence, a tragedy, a disappointment and many other factors can cause one to turn sour and become negative. Some seem to be more pessimistic by nature than others, always finding fault and seeing all that is wrong rather than that which is good. They hold grudges and are unwilling to truly forgive and put things behind them. They set themselves up as the standard and begin to judge others by their own standard sometimes to the point of imposing their standard on others. Most of these become more bitter and cynical with the years. Many times they find themselves unwelcome and isolated. Some of them become known as bullies, legalists and Pharisees and turn away many from the way of the Lord and they often wonder why.

To help you see the impact of negative mindset on one's spiritual altitude please match the following concepts with the appropriate scriptures.

1. When Solomon's heart (attitude) turned, he & his kingdom started down ( 3) Proverbs 18:19

2. Profession coupled with a negative mindset (heart) equals hypocrisy ( 4) Matthew 5:23-24

3. When a brother's heart turns negative, it is hard to deal with him ( 5) Hebrews 12:15

4. If the heart of your brother turns negative toward you, take initiative to reconcile ( 1) 1 Kings 11:3,9

5. A bitter heart will "trouble you" and impact those around you ( 2) Isaiah 29:13

7. Negative mindset produces personal spiritual problems ( 8) Proverbs 15:17

8. Negative mindset produces mental and emotional problems (10) Proverbs 16:28

9. Negative mindset produces physical problems, particularly in the bones ( 6) Proverbs 14:10

10. A bad attitude destroys personal relationships such as marriages & friendships ( 7) 1 John 4:20-21

Dear disciple, do you really want to be a good and effective servant of our God? If so, you must bring your attitude into submission to the Lord. It must become humble, positive and good. If your attitude is rotten, how much scripture and truth you know and how many other skills you have will not matter. The "truth" you know must be offered "in love" (Ephesians 4:15) and love is an attitude.

You are getting close to the end of this discipleship training program. The intent of these studies is to bring you to a place of effectiveness with others. The worst thing you could do with what you are learning is to do nothing with it. Remember our key discipleship verse? It's on the front of your notebook. "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). God expects you to take what you learn and use it to develop others. He will not take kindly to your sitting on it. He has clearly stated that, "unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more" (Luke 12:48). So far you have learned that you have a personal and precious God who desires daily fellowship with you. You have learned something about the resources that He has provided for your spiritual welfare and details about His church of which you are a part. You've looked at many wonderful, foundational doctrinal truths. That's all great but if you ignore your attitude, Satan will use it to undermine you and take away any true usefulness you might ever have in the work of our Lord. Don't let him do it! Become a part of the process. Don't be a taker all of your life; become a giver. Let God use you and lift you to great heights in His service...not for your honor and glory, but for His!