Okay then, so let's give you some simple keys. First one is take responsibility for your personal spiritual atmosphere. You've got to take responsibility and own it, it's yours. I'm not going to make it. I can help you. We provide an environment where you're nurtured, but you've got to actually choose to be responsible. Now in 2 Corinthians 5:20 it says now we are ambassadors of Christ. An ambassador is a person who represents someone, and speaks and acts on their behalf. Now if we're going to speak to you about ministry, and flowing in the power of God, and releasing the power of God, you first have to stand up and say, I'm responsible for my own spiritual life, and the atmosphere around me. I will start to do something about it, so stop blaming someone else. Stop saying that's just me, I'm that kind of person. NO! You're a born again person, with capacity to change, a new creature is inside you waiting to come out, with the right kind of things to get out.
But you've got to own that. If you are passive, then you chose to be, and if you're going to get out of it, you've got to choose not to be, to change, to change. You've got to do something specific, or you'll never change, see? So reject the old mindsets, reject the passive mindset. No longer will I stand back and just observe. I will be part of the solution. I will be involved. I will do something. Need to do that. Okay, so number one, you've got to take responsibility, so if it's going to change in this year, if you're going to be a different person, non-passive - a lot of teenagers get very passive. A lot of adults get very passive. I was incredibly passive. Males in our home were incredibly passive. I've had to have a major renovation, still underway. Every year there's something new - break out of that passivity. I'd just become passive and switch off, disengage, IQ would drop about 30 points [Laughter] waiting for someone to do something. Now I don't do that.
Okay, number two, and this is an interesting one. You have to manage your inner world. You have to take responsibility to manage your inner world. Proverbs 23 and Verse 7, as a man thinks in his heart, so he is. You've got to actually deal quickly with the junk. I'm not going to go into all the how to's of that right now, we've got other places we can do that, but you need to deal quickly with negative thoughts and feelings. You've got to acknowledge them, and resolve them quickly, in other words don't let stuff sit there. If you let stuff sit in your heart, it will become a doorway for demonic oppression, and a demonic atmosphere to sit on your life. A lot of people are depressed because they're angry, so if you've got guilt feelings resolve it quick. If there's real guilt just confess it, put it right. If it's not real guilt then reject that thing, reject it. See, you've got to reject being guilty. Jesus doesn't have a guilt trip. Religion does. Jesus has got no guilt trip. See, if you've got those kind of - if you're feeling angry or hurt, just acknowledge it and deal with it quickly. Don't go grr, grrr all day, bang, bang, bang, bang. You just - things will go bad for you all day, and you'll have a bad atmosphere. Ever been near an angry person? Don't they just alter the spiritual atmosphere? Most people just shut down and flee. Best thing you could do is confront it, and subdue it. Aah, that'd be good to do that, wouldn't it aye, instead of putting up with it and saying wah-wah. Got to try and keep him happy. No, you don't have to keep him happy at all. I told someone here - but they're angry at me. I said they're allowed to be angry, as long as they let it go today, see?
Talk to people. You can subdue anger. You subdue anger, by telling the person their behaviour is totally unacceptable, please stop this behaviour. They can be held to account for their behaviour, or just talk quietly and softly to them, ask them what their problems are, help them quiet down, and be focussed on a solution, instead of just venting anger. But you can do something, but passivity, not an option. Not an option, no passivity around here. Okay then, so offences and - all those things, if you've got negative stuff, deal with it quickly, just deal with it quickly. Here's the next thing then, having done that - okay, now develop - now this is an interesting one; develop stronger expressions with your body. Now a lot of people - I'll talk about vocal expressions shortly, but stronger expressions with your body. Now one of the things I've found about passivity, it creeps all over you, and then your body just won't co-operate in any kind of way. It just doesn't want to do anything, and we need to make it. We need to take dominion over our body.