Stinkin’ Thinkin’

“Just think of happy thoughts and you’ll fly.”

Peter Pan

Think happy thoughts and you can do amazing things, like fly. If only it were that easy. Could you imagine how simple life would be if we could just think good things, and good things would result?

Our thoughts matter. God gave us complex brains with the ability to think. Sometimes thoughts can be good, and happy, and positive. Or, thoughts can be negative, harmful, destructive, and painful.

Scientific research has revealed we have 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. I have no clue how such data is gathered. No matter the number, we think a lot. We are averaging 500 to 2,500 thoughts per hour. Wow!

This leads me to the question, “What are we thinking about?” There are plenty of mundane, every day things that need considered. What to eat, cook, clean, wear, watch, play, and so many other tiny decisions we make daily. These seemingly unimportant choices do matter, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry.

I’m wondering about the negative stuff that comes in our heads. The lies that we believe. We’ve lived with them for so long, we make room for them. The lies in our head are more comfortable than the truth. Especially the truth from God’s Word.

Lies can come from all sorts of places. Our own fears feed them. Lies have been spoken over us from parents, grandparents, and so many others in our lives. People we’ve trusted, looked up to, believed. We tucked those words away and told ourselves, “They’re right. I am ________”. The lies ultimately come from our enemy, Satan. Jesus calls the Devil, the Father of Lies.

“He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44b, NIV)

Satan knows he can’t take our riches away from us in Christ Jesus, but he can make us believe we have none. It’s sad that even our enemy knows what we have in Christ, and so many times we are walking around spiritually poor because we think we’ve got nothing. Those of us in Jesus have every single thing we need, and then some.

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32, ESV)

^“Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.” (1 Timothy 6:17, NLT)

How do you know if it’s a lie? Simple, lies do not line up with the Word of God.

God will never tell you to hurt yourself. NEVER!!

God will never call you stupid, ugly, or dumb. NEVER!!

God will never tell you to hurt someone else. NEVER!!

God will never tell you that you are worthless, useless, nothing. NEVER!!

God will never tell you something that goes against His word. NEVER!!

“Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.” (1 John 1:5, HCSB)

God loves you!

God chose you!

God made you perfectly imperfect!

God wants you set free from the lies!

God has a beautiful plan for you!

Let’s fight back from the enemies lies. The word of God is our weapon, because it’s the truth. If you’ve never read a Bible, you’ve probably got one sitting in your home somewhere. If not, get a Bible App and start in The Word today. God’s word is alive!

^“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12, NIV)

Jesus Christ is the only one who can truly set us free from lies. Sure, I can practice positive thinking, and meditation, and all kinds of things that may help temporarily, but I want freedom. Jesus came to set captive people free.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,” (Luke 4:18, NIV)

I was taught many years ago how to take my thoughts captive. There is freedom in Jesus, precious Jesus! He is so good! It’s time to tell the devil to take a hike. The next time the ugly thought comes in, tell it “No!” Picture Jesus holding a stop sign. I know it sounds strange but it really helped me, since I am a visual person. That thought has to come under Christ’s submission. You get all kinds of benefits as a Christ Follower, and one of them is He will fight for you, so let Him.

⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ 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 Corinthians 10:4-5, NIV)

This all sounds simple, and it is, but some battles in our mind are big ones. We need help. Get at least one person praying in agreement for your freedom. Stay in The Word every single day. Write down verses that speak specifically to your situation and place them all around your house. Pray those verses out loud. Play worship music and sing praises to God.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our savior we receive the Holy spirit, who will teach us, and remind us of everything Jesus has said (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit does a lot and you can ask for wisdom on your thoughts to know which are truth and which ones are lies. You can read more about the Holy Spirit here Living Water

Now that we know how to take our thoughts captive, let’s look at what we should be thinking on.

“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)

We need to fill our mind with good things. It matters what we read, watch, and listen to. Let’s fill our minds with the truth of God’s Word.

Love you all,

Meghan

 

Dear Lord,

Help those who have believed the lies for far too long. Reveal the truth of your Word to them. That you love them and sent Jesus to set all of us free from sin and all bondage. I pray some chains of affliction are loosed today. Remind those of us in Christ you have richly given us everything we need. May we all think on excellent, praiseworthy things. You can do anything Lord, change mindsets. Bring healing.

In Jesus name,

Amen