Many times I have listened to sermons of well-known, successful ministers and wondered, how did they get to where they are and what was it about them that caused their success.  Not always was their preaching spectacular, and the content not always extraordinary.  Their speech and grammar not always perfect, but something about them touched you.

The developing of good attitudes I believe is one of the most powerful, influential elements that a minister can possess.

Attitudes about: Himself; God; The Ministry; Self-discipline; Weaknesses of others; Their own mistakes; Their work habits; Money; Giving; Receiving; Adversity.

There are certain attitudes that will bring you to success. However there are attitudes that can be devastating and destroy all the labor that you have invested or attempt.

Our attitudes always need to be examined on a regular basis.  Many times we need to make attitude adjustments.  Just as a ship at sea may have to make directional adjustments after a storm, sometimes we must make attitude adjustments after the storms of life.  In making these adjustments comes healing and course direction.  It’s sad but disappointment can cause us to be bitter, and become defensive.  We are in the business of people and if we are not carefull be can become scarred, bruised, and crushed.  These things stop our progress and keep us from reaching higher in our achievements.

I’ve helped many young preachers by giving them recommendations to other pastors I know, a couple of times I’ve asked the pastors how the young preacher did and they would tell how the people enjoyed them but they said they would never invite them back again.  They said they were good but they had a bad attitude.  They acted as if the church owed them something.  They were unfriendly after the service, and when given the offering acted as if I wasn’t good enough.

No matter how talented and anointed you may be if you have an attitude it will stop your progress in the ministry and destroy your ability to go forward.

The secret of success in the ministry is not in how gifted you are in speech, how well you are versed in the Word of God, or even the greatest story teller from the pulpit.  If you are not really loving and caring for the people and their needs then you will never really be successful in the ministry.  To many preachers are self-centered.  These attitudes may not be obvious to yourself, but others see them.

I once read about the law of 250; that is, someone said that every person in the world has a direct or indirect influence on at least 250 people.  With this in mind one bad attitude is contagious.  Two hundred and fifty people will pick up on your attitude and pass it on.  To many times we totally destroy our future because of one bad reaction, one public display of anger.

You ask what is attitude;  it is the way you look at things, attitude can be both positive and negative.  It is how you look and think about life. What you think about God.  It is said that it is your interpretation and value you place on others around you.

If you develop bad attitudes toward people, even towards yourself (these attitude originate in your background) then no matter how intelligent, gifted, or how much you love God then Satan will use this to destroy you.  He wants you to feel inferior, insecure, insignificant, or even arrogant and know-it-all.

You see your background can be the source of developing bad attitudes.  A strict and structured upbringing can make you critical, cynical and even hostile to those that have a liberal background.  A background of poverty can cause you to resent those who are raised in a wealthy situation.   Yet on the other hand if you were raised in a wealthy surrounding and had the best of education then you might feel superior to others that did not have the opportunities that you had.

Don’t find yourself becoming picky and fault finding.  You see a bad attitude can grow in any environment.