I would beg for peace, I would beg for joy, I would beg for happiness but it would not come. I have learned something profound. When a thought pops into my mind, I do not need to allow it to remain there or think that particular thought. I can learn how to control my thoughts. I can immediately replace a thought with another thought. For most of my life, I never realized this. I now learned that I CAN control my thoughts. What a surprising fact!
A peaceful life comes from a peaceful mind. EVERYTHING STARTS IN MY MIND. The way I think determines the way I feel, which determines the way I act. If I want to change how I behave, I need to change my thinking. If I want to change how I feel, I need to change my thinking. The problem is....it isn't easy to change my thinking. It isn't easy to control my thoughts. God gives me the power to do this though. I had to learn this. God says that I have the "mind of Jesus" (1 Corinthians 2:16). Once I learned that I had the power, I then had to learn which thoughts should remain in my mind. God instructs me how to think! How cool is that? In Philippians 4:8, God says "whatever is true, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy, think of these things!" I now needed to remind myself that whatever God instructs me to do, He always gives me the power to do it. Therefore, I have no excuse (Romans 1:20b) and instead I just need to choose to do this. But how do I know what is true, right, pure, lovely, etc.? God explained that I have to renew my mind/attitude daily by reading His Word (Bible) (Ephesians 4:23, Romans 12:2). This is how I know how to think properly. When I think peaceful thoughts, my life is peaceful. What a concept!
Then I hear people trying to convince me that "they just cannot help it" (thinking, feeling or acting a certain way). God commands us not to allow ourselves to be agitated or our hearts to be troubled or afraid (John 14:27). I pondered this and asked myself that if I was at home in the midst of having a fit about something, ranting and raving, and my pastor knocked on my door, you bet I would immediately be able to control myself and answer my door without him knowing that anything was wrong. How could I do that? By learning to control myself and no longer be troubled at that moment. We can ALL do this but we just choose not to.
Fearful thoughts are provoked by wrong thinking. Worrying is provoked by fear. Worrying is fearing that we won't get what we want with something or someone. Notice that everything starts with our thinking. Think about what you're thinking about! The "mind of Jesus" is not filled with a bunch of garbage from the devil. As Joyce Meyer reminds me....."get rid of my stinkin thinkin" and I will live a life of peace, joy, and and happiness!
I commit to speaking this aloud as often as possible:
"I always think what is true, loyal, real, right, good, proper, noble and highly moral, pure, clean, faultless, lovely, beautiful, enjoyable, admirable and having high regard for, excellent, unusually good, praiseworthy and showing reverence for."
(thinking and speaking in agreement with God's will)
A peaceful life comes from a peaceful mind. EVERYTHING STARTS IN MY MIND. The way I think determines the way I feel, which determines the way I act. If I want to change how I behave, I need to change my thinking. If I want to change how I feel, I need to change my thinking. The problem is....it isn't easy to change my thinking. It isn't easy to control my thoughts. God gives me the power to do this though. I had to learn this. God says that I have the "mind of Jesus" (1 Corinthians 2:16). Once I learned that I had the power, I then had to learn which thoughts should remain in my mind. God instructs me how to think! How cool is that? In Philippians 4:8, God says "whatever is true, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy, think of these things!" I now needed to remind myself that whatever God instructs me to do, He always gives me the power to do it. Therefore, I have no excuse (Romans 1:20b) and instead I just need to choose to do this. But how do I know what is true, right, pure, lovely, etc.? God explained that I have to renew my mind/attitude daily by reading His Word (Bible) (Ephesians 4:23, Romans 12:2). This is how I know how to think properly. When I think peaceful thoughts, my life is peaceful. What a concept!
Then I hear people trying to convince me that "they just cannot help it" (thinking, feeling or acting a certain way). God commands us not to allow ourselves to be agitated or our hearts to be troubled or afraid (John 14:27). I pondered this and asked myself that if I was at home in the midst of having a fit about something, ranting and raving, and my pastor knocked on my door, you bet I would immediately be able to control myself and answer my door without him knowing that anything was wrong. How could I do that? By learning to control myself and no longer be troubled at that moment. We can ALL do this but we just choose not to.
Fearful thoughts are provoked by wrong thinking. Worrying is provoked by fear. Worrying is fearing that we won't get what we want with something or someone. Notice that everything starts with our thinking. Think about what you're thinking about! The "mind of Jesus" is not filled with a bunch of garbage from the devil. As Joyce Meyer reminds me....."get rid of my stinkin thinkin" and I will live a life of peace, joy, and and happiness!
I commit to speaking this aloud as often as possible:
"I always think what is true, loyal, real, right, good, proper, noble and highly moral, pure, clean, faultless, lovely, beautiful, enjoyable, admirable and having high regard for, excellent, unusually good, praiseworthy and showing reverence for."
(thinking and speaking in agreement with God's will)