It is an all-out battle

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. (2 Corinthians 10:3-4)

Have you ever noticed that there is a war going on in your mind almost all of the time? It is a battle between faith and fear, trust and doubt, unrest and peace. Most of life's battles are actually won or lost on this very battlefield. When we learn to use God's word as a weapon, we learn how to battle well and win! One important thing we must realize - Satan is trying to shape our lives one thought at a time - this is how we are given over to deception.

What is your strongest thought today? You will actually move toward your strongest thoughts. Believe it or not, the life we have today is a reflection of the life we are thinking. It is more than 'positive vibes', though. Whatever we allow into our minds is what will eventually come out of our lives in words and deeds. Negative, worrying thoughts don't produce uplifting, positive outcomes! If our strongest thoughts are taking us down alleyways of worry and anxiety, it is silly to think the actions produced will reflect anything other than mistrust and hopelessness.

Some thoughts move us forward in a positive manner, while others hold us back, anchoring us to some past sin or negative outcome. Did you know the more you think something, forming a thought process around it, the easier and easier it gets to think that way again? If we form the right pathway of thought, we won't be as tempted to stray! Lies believed just makes us a prisoner to those lies. Truth believed will set us free to live as we should. 

Demolish the thoughts that set themselves up AGAINST God's truth. Learn to use the sword of the Word. It actually is our best defense AND offense against the enemy of our souls. Remember, every lie has some element of truth, or we wouldn't believe it. Wrong thoughts can be replaced, producing better actions in the long run. BUT...we must recognize the lies, forsake those thought patterns by replacing them with the truth in God's word, and allow those new thoughts to become our STRONGEST thoughts. Truth is a person - Christ. Just sayin!

What's in your 'mind wallet'?

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature. 

(Marcus Aurelius)

I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works. (Psalm 77:11-12)

Whatever it is we choose to think upon the most will eventually manifest itself in our words and actions down the road. We may not consider the influence of those thoughts until we find ourselves acting in some way contrary to the way we should have acted, but when we truthfully consider what led to the 'not so great actions', we cannot neglect to see how our thought life influenced them. The 'recollection' of memories is not always a bad thing, nor is the consideration of certain truths and wise counsel, but when we dwell too long upon stuff God tells us to avoid, we are going to see negative actions emerge.

The quality of our thoughts matters probably much more than the quantity of things we put in our minds right now. Our present day's mantra isn't to get 'quality' knowledge as much as it is to just 'get knowledge'. The many ways we 'feed' our minds these days is astronomical compared to how we obtained knowledge a hundred years ago, or even fifty years ago. We have 'X', Facebook, all manner of news media online, and sites like 'Wikipedia' that can produce what some find as 'instant information' right at their fingertips. Back in the day, we had to go to the library, drag out the encyclopedias and actually 'hunt down' information. The 'quantity' of information we allow into our brains today without even realizing we are being influenced by it might just blow your mind if you were to truly consider what you 'take in' over the course of a day.

Get God's Word in first, prayerfully considering all that he gives you in those 'bite size chunks' of his truth and then test all the other 'stuff' you hear, read, or see. Chances are the 'truth' you think might be true that we find in all these other sources is just a bit 'tainted' by whatever entity puts it forth. Recall God's deeds, his goodness, the guidance he assures us we will have in him and ask him to help you reject all 'truth' that really isn't wise to ponder or dwell upon. Our minds aren't meant to be clogged up with all manner of 'negative' thoughts. They are meant to help us contemplate the greatness and goodness of our God. Just sayin!

So, that's what you were thinking!

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8)

Fix your thoughts - this certainly is a telling statement as our thoughts have a way of getting away from us in rather short order, don't they? What we think about matters. What we ruminate upon over and over again will eventually cause us to make the right choices, or it will lead us further down the road of wrong choices. We cannot afford to be 'unaware' or 'willy-nilly' in our thought life. We need our thought life to be disciplined and determined.

While this is not an all-inclusive list of what we are to think upon, it is certainly a "telling" list that could help us see what we have been thinking upon and whether those thoughts are doing us more harm than good. Positive, true, and honorable words and actions actually stem from positive, true, and honorable thoughts. God is faithful to us - we are to be faithful to him. How many times do we choose a path that doesn't reveal much faithfulness on our part? If it is more frequent than not, we might just do well to consider what has occupied the space between our ears!

Our heart is filled with all manner of emotions - to trust our emotions to guide us is kind of silly because emotions can be positive or negative, uplifting or browbeating, wholesome or defiling. We cannot trust our emotions to be our guide. Mix bad thoughts with bad emotions and you will set a course for wrong actions. This is why Paul reminds us to set our minds on things that are honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. If we want to make 'excellent' choices it starts with 'excellent' thoughts. Emotions should never be our reason for doing anything - they will lead us astray quicker than we can blink an eye!

Whatever we do today, let it begin with taking every thought captive. That might mean we 'stop' thinking upon something we know isn't honoring to God and 'begin' thinking upon something that will not only bring him honor but will uplift us and set us on a straight course for our day. We don't accidentally think right thoughts - we have to purposefully choose to change our thinking. We can do this with Christ's help, but until we ask for his help, we may flounder a while in our negative and defiling way of thinking. Just sayin!

Who's vying for that spot?

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8)

Have you ever taken notice of how easy it is to get your mind working in the wrong direction? It doesn't take much effort to drift down that bunny-trail without a care in the world, until all of a sudden you see how 'deep' it is! God tells us to 'fix' our thoughts - not like fixing your car, but to 'consider attentively'. When our minds go down the bunny-trail, there isn't a whole lot of 'attention' being paid to where we are headed. In fact, we are a bit aimless in those thoughts. We allow them to dictate the journey rather than us determining the journey.

We are to give our minds 'attentively' (on purpose, with determination) to think about who Jesus is and what he has done. What did he do while he was here on earth? What is he doing now that he is at the right hand of God the Father? How did he go about his work? Who mattered to him? What didn't faze him? In other words, we are to meditate upon who and what he is. These are indeed thoughts that are excellent and worthy of praise! If we are feeling a bit down, it is likely that our thoughts are not fixed on Jesus because he doesn't go down that bunny-hole!

True and honorable thoughts. That might take us a bit of effort, huh? It is easy to imagine what isn't 'fully true' because the truth can sometimes expose what we don't want exposed. It is easiest to get caught up in thoughts that call into question someone else's fault or faux pas and not ours. Remember this - to 'fix' upon something, there has to be determined motion toward it. Fix your thoughts upon truth and you will find yourself seeking truth, weeding out deception of all kinds in your thoughts, and looking toward what is honorable, right, pure, lovely, and ultimately admirable. 

We have a bird feeder that is 'well-attended' by the neighborhood flocks. They try to 'fix' upon the edge of the tray that holds the seed because that is how they get nourished. When there are ten birds all vying for the same spot in line on the perch, it is amazing to watch their behavior. They crawl on each other, flap their wings to stay on the perch, and generally cause more chaos than 'attentive feeding'. When there are so many thoughts vying for our attention, it easy to allow the chaos to be our focus and not Christ. Fix on him and you will find your thoughts nourish your soul, spirit, and heart a whole lot more! Just sayin!