Author: debo

Do you know that your thought life can affect your heart? I hope you have been reminded how important it is to think thoughts that line up with God’s Word. We have to capture thoughts immediately that are against what God’s plan is for our lives. The Bible says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” That’s in Proverbs 23:7, and it shows that our thought life can affect your heart. What we think about, often becomes who we are. What we think about is what we begin to talk about, and what we talk about is what we begin to do. The progression goes from thought, to words, to action. What is very cool about the power that God has given us, is that we can use that positively for our good. The enemy always perverts what God created. The enemy tries to destroy our lives, often by our own words, that are a result of negative thoughts that become planted in our mind. The power of life and death is in our tongue. Power for life then in is taking our thoughts and aligning them with God’s thoughts. That’s the renewal process, or making good our mind, which leads to speaking God’s thoughts, and then seeing them manifest in our life. I really want you to learn to control your thought life, because it is easy just to go down the negative path. Don’t let random, ungodly or negative thoughts settle in your mind. Determine to capture them immediately. Let your thoughts become positive words that bless your life and those around you. Remember, our tongue has the power of life and death. As the Bible says, “He who keeps his tongue, keeps his life”. To keep your tongue, you need to keep your thoughts. So my encouraging word for you is to center your mind on things above. Instead of being carnally or worldly minded, which leads to death, be spiritually minded with your mind centered and focused on Christ, and live a life of peace and rest.

One of my favorite things to do is to encourage people with specific scriptures that pertain to their situation. As a teenager, when I was first exposed to the full gospel message, I heard a lady from the pulpit give someone a specific scripture in a church service. It was like a word of knowledge just for a certain person or a group of people in the congregation. I can remember thinking I wanted to be able to do that. Well, guess what? If we hide God’s Word in our heart, God will bring His Word to our remembrance when we need the. You can encourage someone with the very words of God. It doesn’t even have to be super-spiritual! Out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak, so what you put in, is what will come out. Let me give you an example. My second daughter was once studying for a major scholastic exam. She called me discouraged that she might not do well, and right away, God’s Word started rising up in my heart. I started reminding her about what God’s Word says about her.
It says, that she has the mind of Christ.
It says, that she can do all things through Christ who strengthens her.
It says, that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
It says, that He will bring back to her remembrance all the things that she has learned.
It says, that she hasn’t been given a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind.
It says, that the diligent will prosper.
It says, that she is more than a conqueror, and that God will give her the desires of her heart.
So in a few simple moments, she went from being a little fearful, to being encouraged. What we think about really matters. If we continue to focus on the negative, we will get what we expect. The Bible says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Or as a woman thinks in her heart, so is she. So what do you choose to think about? Let’s think God’s thoughts about our life, and encourage someone else with what God thinks about them.

II Cor 10:3-5 are 3 scriptures that are so powerful when understanding what we have to do with our thought life. There is a progression that takes place in this scripture. See if you can notice what it is. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds. Casting down every imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. The progression is this, thoughts turn into imaginations, and imaginations can become strongholds. The key to having a healthy thought life is to deal with issues when they are in the thought stage. Since we can’t keep thoughts from coming, the moment they enter our mind is the moment we have to deal with them. If we entertain them for a while, they can move from a random thought into something we imagine ourselves doing. It goes from black and white to a full color wide screen! Sin can actually be conceived when at that point. Verse three is such a big key in understanding how we deal with what is going on in our mind. It is where the biggest battle takes place for most Christians, and as verse 3 of II Corinthians 10 says, even though we are flesh, we don’t fight with weapons of flesh….our weapons are mighty in God. He has given us keys and tools to overcome, and we must choose to operate in them to live in the victory that Jesus purchased for us. We begin by taking every thought captive. That means we can’t be lackadaisical about what we think about. We have to have a purpose driven thought life. Just like we wouldn’t allow a mouse to run through our house, we would set up a trap and get that varmint out of there. We need to do the same with our mind. When even a small negative thought comes through, set up a trap, get it out of there. And do it right away. Capture that thought, so it won’t move on to the next stage of imagination or become a stronghold.

Renew your mind is what Romans 12:2 tells us to do. One of the synonyms for renew is to “make good”. I like the thought of “making good” your mind. There are lots of ways that thoughts come to our mind. There can be “out of the blue” thoughts, “something triggers your mind” thoughts, even smells and sights can bring up thoughts in your mind. Recognizing where thoughts come from is one of the most pivotal ingredients to making our mind good. Obviously there are two forces in the world, one good from God and one that is evil from the enemy. So there are God thoughts, and there are thoughts inspired by the enemy. So, when a thought from the enemy settles in your mind, you can make it good, by removing it, and renewing your mind to what God’s Word says. We take the wrong thought out and replace it with the right thought, in other words, take out the old thought and replace it with a new thought. We take out the bad thought, and “make it good”. One of the key words in Romans 12: 2 is the word transformed. In Greek it is metamorpho, which is the root word for metamorphosis. We think of caterpillars to butterflies. One thing becomes something totally different. What was once on a lower level, now takes wings and flies! The same thing can happen with our thoughts. We can choose to think on a higher plane. We take a lower thought, and replace it with a higher thought! Romans 8:6 says that to be carnally minded (or earthly minded) is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. To think on those things which keep our hearts and minds on Christ Jesus, we “make good” or renew our mind to His Word.

I’m sure you are familiar with the scripture in Joshua 1:8 that says for us to meditate on the Word day and night, observe to do what is written, and then we will make our way prosperous, and the we will have good success. Just in case you think that meditation is some recent invention, it was God’s idea from very long ago. Our thought life or what we meditate on appears to be really important to our future success, from this one scripture alone. What we choose to think on has great power in our lives, because thoughts become actions, and our actions demonstrate what we believe. When we become a doer of what we believe, change and growth results. So what do you believe? Are you taking time to meditate, or think on God’s Word? There is great power in the written (logos) and the spoken (rhema) Word of God. Meditation on God’s Word does the opposite of what worry does. Worry believes the worst, pictures the worst, expects the worst, and often gets the worst. Meditation believes the best (The Word), pictures the best, expects the best, and gets the best! So if you have a tendency to be a worrier, start doing this. Whenever thoughts of worry come to your mind, capture them, and replace them by meditating on God’s Word.

Instead of thoughts of going under, remember God is Jehovah Jireh, your provider, and meditate on scriptures like “my God will supply all my needs by His riches in glory”.

Instead of thoughts of catching some sickness, remember God is Jehovah Rapha, your healer and that by his stripes you were healed.

Instead of whatever you can worry about, think of what God says about the subject. His Word is what is The Truth.

Think about and believe the truth. Meditate on and act on The Truth. Positive changes and good success will surely take place in you.

Yesterday we ended with this thought: take control of your thought life by capturing the wrong thought and replacing it with a God thought. Let me show you how it works. I’m make it really general so you can put whatever you might be struggling with in the blank to make it personal.

When you start thinking this negative thoughts:
I will never overcome my habit of ______________
Every time I’ve tried before and I have failed
It’s impossible, I don’t have enough will power
I will never break through this barrier to success
My life will always be this way, I’ll always be defeated

Turn those thoughts around immediately, and begin filling your mind with these “God” thoughts:
I am well able to overcome the habit of __________
This time, I have the strength of God on my side
Nothing is impossible with God, He gives me strength
Jesus broke down every wall, so I will break through this wall.
My life will be forever changed for the better, I’m more than a conqueror
As you begin to say what God says about you, strength and power will be released into your life, because of the power there is in lining your thoughts up with God’s thoughts. It will affect how you think first, then how you speak, and ultimately how you live! That’s encouraging!

Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. This week I am encouraging you in the area of renewing our mind. Our minds can be renewed day by day by making our thoughts obedient to Christ. Our body needs to be brought into obedience to do God’s will by daily making choices to do what is right. Both our soul and our body are controlled by thoughts, which turn to actions. So this week, we’re talking about getting our thoughts to line up with God’s thoughts. Right thoughts lead to right words, and right words change your actions, which can change your life. Here’s your dailyeword!

Good mental fitness involves making our thoughts line up with the Word of God, and that can seem like a daunting challenge. Renewing our mind takes daily practice. Each day we choose what we put into our bodies for food, sometimes it is good and sometimes it is way bad! What happens over the long haul in our body is that what goes in does affect not only our appearance, but our health. Because we don’t see our thought life, it seems like it is easier to let things slide. We can be thinking thoughts that are very contrary to what God thinks about us, and can do it day upon day, week upon week, year upon year without realizing that damage is taking place. But damage is happening. So stop the damage today and make a change.

Thoughts lead to imaginations and imaginations lead to strongholds as it talks about in II Corinthians 10:4-6. Thoughts are much easier to deal with than strongholds. So we have to learn to nip wrong thoughts in the bud. Don’t let them hang around even for a minute. As soon as they find a way into your thoughts, determine if they are not of God, that you will capture them immediately. Take control of your thought life by capturing the wrong thoughts and replacing them with a thought that lines up with God’s Word.

Reconciled, with right standing. When we realize and understand what that means, we will be able to take the place of rest. Our attempts to perform right are no longer needed. Because of the covenant of blood through the cross, we can receive the unconditional love, mercy and grace of God, and enter into God’s place of rest. Enter into rest. How often do we push ourselves physically beyond our natural limits. I think we probably do it all too much. Think about those words, enter into rest. Sometimes to enter into something new, we have to exit the highway that we are on. To enter into a restful place, a place of Sabbath, a place of peace, we have to press the off button, or take our foot off of the accelerator. We live in a fast paced world. But God continues to operate at the same speed all the time. We can think that if we take time to rest, we will just get behind. But in reality, our bodies were made for rest. A third of the daily allotment of hours should be in times of physical sleep. Taking time to wind down and give our bodies a break is God’s idea. He started it at the beginning, and he knew our tendency to want to perform at optimum speed would need to be tempered. When we listen to the voice of our creator, and realize He is way smarter than us, we will follow His pattern and plan. We have right standing. We are reconciled. We don’t have to out perform our neighbor. We just have to do what we are called to do and enter into more and more of the rest that God wants for us to experience .

So many people don’t get enough rest. Our bodies need rest and God knew that even from the very beginning. God wasn’t tired when he rested after creating the world, but He knew that we need time to refresh our bodies, reflect and just be still. Ps 46:10 tells us to be still and know that I am God. It is important that we are still. We have to quiet our minds, and then quiet our bodies, and just “be” every once in a while. God’s idea of resting in the Old Testament was to rest one day a week. People who lived in the Old Testament times would prepare ahead so that one day would be totally without work. We have stores now that are open 24 hours, and you can get anything online 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Amazing isn’t it. We live in a world that never sleeps or shuts down. We have to follow the plan God had for us. Taking a break isn’t just beneficial, it is necessary. I’ve always said when I start a project that I don’t have an off button. We need to push the off button every once in a while. That’s why we need to develop a pattern of not only sleeping well, but finding quiet in your life. That kind of rest is just as important. So next time you feel like you “have to” do something, why not try just resting in stillness. Let the spirit of God minister to your heart, and be re-energized for the next thing you do. I hope you can find some quiet space, and get refreshed to live out your life’s calling for God.

Rest is being still, doing nothing, to be quiet and to reflect. After God created the world and said it was very good, the Bible said that God rested. Not because He was worn out and needed a break, but because He had just created something amazing and wanted to be still and reflect on what was made. Living this life on the earth, so often we go from one thing to another without even taking a moment to reflect on what we just did. In churches we do this so often. We have a great conference, or an amazing season of worship and we just move on without stopping to rest and rejoice in the great things that we accomplished. Let’s change that. If we want to avoid the post victory blues, we have to get good at taking time to rest in the presence, before starting something else. The benefits are plentiful. We not only get a moment to thank God for what was accomplished, but we get some time to see what our vision should be for the future. That refocus moment can keep us from living in the past, and keep us on the right path for the future. Just because we have always done something one way doesn’t mean that it needs to be done that way in the future. Maybe there is a different, or maybe even a better way. When we take that Sabbath moment, we are saying to God that we want to be still in His presence so that he can give us new direction. In the midst of the resting place, we can also be refreshed and rejuvenated for what is next. So for you to experience more rest in God this year, let’s keep this time line in focus. We get vision or direction, we do what we are called to do, we stop, get rested, then we get refocused for the next thing we are called to do. This helps avoid burn out, and keeps the vision fresh before us. So take time to rest, be still, do nothing, and reflect. God’s dreams for your life can come into clearer focus for you.