“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7 (NIV)
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
“The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” Psalm 119:30 (NIV)
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”2 Cor 10:5
Have you ever considered where you focus your thoughts? For that matter, have you ever tried to focus your thoughts? Our thoughts may ramble all over the place, but we do have the ability to direct them. As a student, you were directed to “concentrate” on the teacher’s lesson, drawing your attention to the main points. Parents probably adjured you several times to, “Listen to me! Think about this!” Were you successful in refocusing your mind?
How successful you were probably depended on the environment, your attitude and values, and your physical state. I remember a man who regularly attended church services while I was growing up. Like so many, he generally sat in the same pew, by the same people, and consistently fell asleep about midway through the sermon. You see, there he was with a physical, medical, or attitude issue – willing to attend church but not allowing the Lord to speak to him through the ministry. However, my values were also skewed to spend the time wondering and checking when he would fall asleep each week. In both cases, our focus was off.
Bible wisdom addresses our thoughts many times because they are so important. Spiritual battles are won and lost in our minds, and false beliefs are planted there. These false beliefs lead us to wrong actions and, ultimately, build evil strongholds that keep us from our abundant life in Christ Jesus. Right thinking, as Solomon pointed out so many times in the wisdom book of Proverbs, brings life.
Like a good soldier, we must train our minds to recognize and cast down the lies (2 Corinthians 10:5). Then, we change our perspectives by filling our thoughts with things that are spiritually good because they line up with the Lord’s ways of mercy, kindness, joy, faithfulness, forgiveness, endurance, perseverance, Godly leadership, and so forth. Philippians 4:8 encourages us to find praiseworthy, noble, and admirable things and appreciate them by thinking about them. This is the way to finding the peace of God that will guard our hearts from the fiery darts in life.
Taking out the bad to receive the good involves change. We may need to change who and what we listen to, what we say, or what we allow our eyes to see. As we grow to be more like Jesus Christ to the world, we may need to discard certain behaviors and ways we talk, the entertainment we choose, the news we watch, and the negative friendships that drain us. We need to focus our attention elsewhere. Seek relationships with others who exhibit victory in the areas you desire to grow. Ask the Lord to be Your filter in protecting your eyes and ears. Practice setting a guard about your mouth to speak words that build up instead of tearing down. Those words become self-talk, either good or bad for us. The Lord will help you create a new environment to strengthen you and focus your thoughts on things that truly matter.
As adapted from THE BONDAGE BREAKER and STOMPING OUT THE DARKNESS by Dr. Neil T. Anderson and Dr. Dave Park
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