My thoughts can scatter just as fast as dandelion seeds. I can be full of joy and confidence one minute and doubting and anxious the next. Anyone with me? I mean I can go from zero to sixty with my thought life so fast that sometimes I make my husband dizzy. I’m that talented. We can be talking about something our kids did that we got to watch or how proud we are of how they are growing, and ten seconds later I am stirring the taco meat and totally distraught over how we will afford college for three kids.
I know that whatever I plant, is what I will reap. The thoughts I allow in my mind will direct my feelings and then my actions. When I don’t like my actions, chances are I can trace them back to a thought pattern. I’ve started teaching this to my kids even though I don’t have it completely worked out myself yet. Time is of the essence; I wish I had learned about my thought life as a kid.
Our family verse this month is Ephesians 4:22&23 from the NLT, “throw off your own sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your actions and attitudes.” Our thoughts really do get corrupted. There are so many strategies that Satan uses to corrupt our thoughts. He knows that if he can derail our thoughts, our actions will follow. He uses everything he can to distract us and cause confusion. He knows our bent on comparison, so one of his favorite tools is to get us to copy what everyone else is doing instead of thinking for ourselves.
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.
Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2 NLT
I need God to change the way I think. So many of my thoughts just flow with the circumstances around me. I need to direct my thoughts to God before I get swept away. That’s the problem, we don’t learn to test out thoughts and see if they line up with God’s, we just accept them. That means that we aren’t really deciding on our courses of action, we are just letting our feelings lead us. I don’t want to be a river that follows the path of least resistance. I am meant to be a trail blazer, following the narrow path. I need a guy to sit in my brain, like one of those cute Dr. Seuss characters, and when a thought pops out he loos at it and decides if it stays or goes. He either puts it up to be kept or it goes straight to the trash chute. Good news! If you need one of those guys in your brain too, you are in luck! that's what the Holy Spirit does for us. we just need to invite Him:
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23&24
God is happy to test our thoughts, then He can transform us into a new person by changing the way we think. Once we turn over our thoughts to Him, He can lead and direct us in the way everlasting. He can direct our thoughts to things that last and then our feet can follow. We get the discernment to act on things that matter instead of spending our time fretting over things that don’t.
I’m struggling and practicing, failing and trying again to change my thoughts patterns and then my actions and reactions. I know that it’s a repeat process. I am praying scripture because I know that the victory lies in the truth, and prayer sets the truth free in my life.
I have four prayers that I’d love to share with you. Praying these scriptures over our thoughts and individual days will unlock some truth in our thought patterns. As we meditate and pray through these truths, we’ll form new habits.
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