What's On Your Mind?

Dig deep. Analyze your thoughts for a moment. Do you really believe that our Heavenly Father is worried about the things you and I worry about? I’m not asking if God cares about what you care about. I’m not asking if He wants you to live or not live a happy life. I’m not asking if you believe that He cares for His children. I’m asking if you believe that our Heavenly Father worries about what you and I worry about.  It leads to the million dollar question: If HE isn't worried about it, why should we worry about it? The Scriptures teach us in 1 Peter 5:7, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." But it’s not always so easy to get ourselves out of our own thinking, is it?!

Have you ever noticed how our minds can motivate or defeat almost every action throughout the day? Instead of looking at the problems in our lives (sin, health concerns, financial struggles, heartaches, sickness, pressures, hurts,) let's begin looking at the solutions (love, forgiveness, blessings, healings, deliverance, redemption) which are found in Christ Jesus!

What is really on your mind? What kind of things have been occupying your thoughts the last week or two? Let me ask you this... if you could take catalogue of the thoughts you've been thinking over the past few weeks, what kind of thoughts were they? Be honest with yourself. Were they mostly negative, self-defeating, self-blaming, finger pointing in nature, perhaps focused on problems and cares of this world?

About a hundred years ago or more, a man looked at the morning newspaper, much to his surprise and horror, read his name in the obituary column! The newspapers had reported the death of the wrong person by mistake. His first response was shock. Am I really still here? This doesn’t look like heaven? Where is God? His thoughts spiraled in confusion. What’s going on here, he asked himself?! When he regained his composure, his second thought was to find out what people had said about him. The obituary read, “Dynamite King Dies.” And also “He was the merchant of death.”  

 

This man was the inventor of dynamite and when he read the words “merchant of death,” he thought to himself a specific question, “Is this how I am going to be remembered? Is this all I’ve really done?”  He got in touch with his feelings, digging deep as we say, and he began to refocus his thoughts. He sought God’s help daily. He began to realize that he had not invested his focus and mental efforts like he really wanted. Multiple times per day he sought God’s will for his life. He later said it was the “Olympics of my mind,” to refocus his thoughts. Every day he made a specific goal and every day he pushed aside negative thinking, naysayers, and Debbie-downers. The man learned that by THINKING in the right way, he was able to accomplish great things within his personal life. He accomplished great things for others too. Impossible things!

 From that day on, he started working toward peace. That was it…peace. Simple, right? Peace.

 His name was Alfred Nobel and he is remembered today by the great Nobel Prize.

Just as Alfred Nobel got in touch with his heart and his thoughts, we should step back, turn to God, and do the same.

Colossians 3:2, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."  To set your affection on something in the Greek means to exercise the mind. Let your mental Olympics begin! For every negative and damaging thought – quote a Scripture. For every bad thought – say a Bible promise. You get the idea. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it!

I would like to inspire you to a ‘new way’ of thinking -- stop thinking about and looking at the glitches in your life, and begin looking at the solutions that God has provided for you as His child! Start re-training your thoughts today. If it's a healing you need, then begin to research the scriptures to learn what God's Word has to say about healing. If it's finances you need, then begin to research the Word and see what it has to say about your finances and God's provision for you. Bitterness? Seek verses on forgiveness and overcoming.

Let’s get our minds off the problem, and more focused on Him!

Look UP my friends!

Your mind is a garden…Your thoughts are the seeds.

You can grow flowers…Or you can grow weeds!