What's On Your Mind?

“...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things...practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
 - Philippians 4:8, 9b

Every year the mud martins came – pretty little birds who would build their muddy nest in the safety of our front porch. We welcomed them because they were fun to watch, but any time we attempted to walk out our front door, they dive bombed us with military fervor. Pretty little birds with a pretty impressive attack mode.

When it comes to our thoughts, there's great wisdom in the old saying that you can't stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from building a nest in your hair. Often thoughts can seem to bombard us out of thin air, and before we know it, we find ourselves, sometimes even subconsciously, letting them “build a nest in our hair” by dwelling on that which is unhealthy, unhelpful, and unholy.

 

Do you ever find this to be true in your life? Your day starts out fairly smoothly, but then somehow - totally undetected - some lie begins to sneak into your thoughts, clouding the Truth in your heart, and slowly turning your mind towards that which is negative, fearful, selfish, just ugly...And before you know it, your perspective on life is completely tainted by that insidious lie's shadow, causing your actions (usually regrettable) to follow suit. It's been rightly said, “Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character.” What we allow ourselves to think on, we will do, and what we do, we will become.

Any time I find myself covered with the splattered mud of my selfishness (or any number of sins), I can always trace my actions back to my mind's believing in some sort of lie that my sin nature, the world or Satan has thrown at me. Every sin is rooted in wrong thinking – just as, conversely, every godly act is rooted in right thinking. When we find ourselves slowly sinking into a mental pit of stinky thoughts (jealousy, worry, selfishness, insecurity, anger, idolatry, etc.), we are believing some sort of lie that has been sown into our minds. And we can be sure that if we continue to brood on it, the inevitable result is sin – which, if we have God's Spirit dwelling in us through faith in Christ, will always destroy our peace.

So how do we conquer "the life of the mind"? God knows that, since the Garden of Eden, we humans have been easy targets for the swaying of our minds toward the dark and untrue (and we've been watching the results of wrong thinking wreak havoc on human history ever since). So, out of the Father's tender love, He commands us to get control of our thought life by continually redirecting our minds to that which is:

true

honorable

just

pure

lovely

commendable

excellent

and praiseworthy

 

– essentially, turning our minds toward Jesus and His Word, which embodies all these qualities.

 

To do this, we must trust Him. God's Word promises,

 "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,

all whose thoughts are fixed on you!"

-Isaiah 26:3

 

Do you trust in the Lord? Does your heart rest in the fickle fact that you have enough money in the bank, your last health check-up was good, you've got a ring on your finger, or you're just feeling generally well-liked at the moment...

 

Or does your heart truly, moment-by-moment, peacefully rest in the unchangeable fact that - no matter what - the Lord is

sovereign,

faithful, 

all-powerful,

merciful,

loving,

patient,

forgiving,

gracious,

and will work all things together for the good of those who love Him?

 

People (including ourselves) will fail us. Our health will fail us. Whatever we are leaning on to maintain our false sense of security will ultimately fail us.

 

Only Jesus is fully trustworthy and will never fail us.

 

When we discipline ourselves to think on this Truth (and a huge tool to help us do that is memorizing Scripture), we are much more likely to fulfill the next verse's command: to put these things into practice.

 

As we think God's thoughts, which are clearly laid out for us in His Word, and should be in our hearts through memorization, we are forever changed as His Spirit redeems our minds. We begin to see life from God's perspective, and we can then live out the kind of walk He desires. And as obedience leads to deeper intimacy with Jesus, we are promised that “the God of peace will be with [us].”

Are you lacking peace in your life today? Do you want more intimacy with God?

 

First check your thoughts – what is your mind's “default setting”? What do you think on when you're just “spacing out”? If it's not Jesus and all His beauty spilling forth through Scripture and His grace around us, then ask the Lord to help you learn to trust Him and learn His Word (see links below) - so that, even if you're bombarded daily with all manner of thoughts, you will find your mind always returning to its safe haven, always being restored and grounded, settled and ultimately wrapped in peace and not fear, as you learn to dwell on Jesus and His powerful Word, which alone is

 true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and praiseworthy.

Father God, please give me the grace to capture every thought that is not from You and replace it with Your Truth, as I seek to write it on my heart. My mind desperately needs to be renewed by Your Spirit through Your Word every day. Thank you that no lie from the Enemy, world or my own sinful nature can stand up to the purifying light of Truth found in Your Word. Amen.

[P.S. To learn more about God and how to have His peace, click http://www.cru.org/how-to-know-god/would-you-like-to-know-god-personally.html
P.S.S. www.fighterverses.com is an excellent tool for Scripture memory! Find someone to be your partner in memorizing God's Word to hold you accountable - it'll make all the difference.]