WARNING: What I am about to share with you will change your life, if you take it to heart. Buckle up. Eliminate distraction and give yourself five minutes to read (or listen) with care, seeking to understand and then soar with the power meant to be yours.
“we are taking every thought captive
to make it obedient to Christ"
Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth.
Our thoughts are critical to our well being, therefore we simply must value good thinking! Just as Paul warned the Romans not to copy the world's behaviors and attitudes, so his next words are just as poignant for me, for you:
"let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think."2
Show us, God, what it means for you to transform us by changing the way we think!
Take every thought captive. Since it is in the Bible, that means it is possible--possible only through good intention and personal action and God's spirit at work within us. Turns out, we do not have to be a victim to our thinking; we can get a hold of it. But one thing I have noted - your attention please? - just to decide to think about better things, to stop thinking about deleterious or prurient things does not make it happen.
God’s words can be used to replace our fallen thinking. To purpose not to think certain thoughts is next to impossible, but to replace the errant thoughts with virtuous thoughts is doable.
David, beloved shepherd, psalmist and king wrote,
‘I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.’3
What thoughts plague you? Worry about the future? Change your worries about tomorrow by trusting God with your today. These are uncertain times, uncertain days, to be sure. Financial pressures are immense, producing unparalleled anxiety. Jesus understood all of this - one day, looking at those he loved:
‘Do not be anxious for tomorrow for tomorrow has cares enough of its own.’4 ‘Sure Lord, how do I stop being anxious?’ Trust me, he says. ‘Trust me with all your heart, and do not trust your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge me, and I will direct your paths.’5
If God's eye is on the sparrow, rest assured he is watching out for you.6 Rest in that . . . rest in him, and live today. Why? Because this is the day the Lord has made. Let’s rejoice and be glad in it!7 Choosing to rejoice means we are choosing joy. And we know the joy of the Lord is our strength.8
Do you know that feeling when your heart is filled with joy? Why, it seems your heart is soaring, that it has wings to fly! In order to feel it more often, in order to give yourself to it, you must deal with patterns of thinking that rob you of God’s refreshed thinking for you, thoughts that keep you from experiencing joy.
First, seek God. And the rest will come.9 Ask him to give you pure, new thoughts; he will. Go ahead ... think on these things.
Why not change your life today by choosing great thoughts? Memorize this:
This is the day the Lord has made. Let's rejoice and be glad in it!
I ain't lying when I tell you that saying those words first thing in the morning puts a smile on my face and on God's face too . . . I enter the day with a great attitude, started because I chose to THINK WELL.
Christine
1 2 Corinthians 10.5
2 Romans 12.2.
3 Psalm 119.11
4 Matthew 6.34
5 Proverbs 3.5-6, personalized 6
6 Matthew 10.29
7 Psalm 118.24
8 Nehemiah 8.10
9 Matthew 6.33
top of page
Search
bottom of page
Comments