Our Thoughts
Our Thoughts: Thoughts are the main objects of our contemplations or ponderings. As children of God we should meditate upon Him daily. When we meditate on God it will keep our thoughts clean, upbeat and encouraged. Ephesians 4:17 encourages us not to keep vanity in our minds. Our minds are to think on things that are true. Things that are justified and not transgressing. When we are uncertain of what to do the Word will direct us to what’s true, just and honest. This doesn’t only apply to when you are in church but it applies to our everyday life. When we occupy our thoughts with the Word, God promises to keep us in perfect peace, Isaiah 26:3.
Have A Plan: In our everyday life we make plans and set goals for things we would like to accomplish. When we have a plan, we work towards them and strive to be successful. So it is with our Christian walk: we need to plan; we have to plan how we are going to grow spiritual and natural so our lives will be fulfilled in both areas. We have to make a plan, be consistent and do it! Seek God for direction (i.e., how and when). God made us to succeed but we need a plan to complete the job: set aside time for God. Don’t wait for a storm or a situation to arise for us to seek God. When we have a plan it will keep our spiritual sensor awake. Our spiritual sensors: thirst and hunger for the word should be kept alive.
Rebuild (renew the altar): Rebuild is to make anew; to tear down and start over When Asa heard the word of the prophet, Oded, he tore down the idols and renewed the altar of the Lord (2Chronicles15:8).
To start the rebuilding process we have to first accept the truth. The truth will lead us to remove any hindrance; the hindrance sometimes maybe something or someone very close to us. Are we willing to cut off someone we love if we realize she is a hindrance? Asa had to remove his mother from the throne because she was the cause of the transgression - could we do the same?
Rebuilding may cause us to lose friends or those close to us in the process but once the altar is renewed then comes revival. Renewal takes sacrifice: how much are we willing to give up so we can be closer drawn to God?
It’s not always easy to control what we think about. Our thoughts can become so captivating that it controls what we say and do. It can determine the level of trust that we place on others and even God. There are many times we may say, ‘I had that thought’ or ‘I thought about it today’; but how do we really process our thoughts. Do we stop process our thoughts carefully or just react to our thoughts and begin to worry about it?
Here are five steps we can take to control out thoughts:
1.Thought Capture:
In this stage we become aware of what you are thinking. We look at the emotions we feel while thinking about a certain thing. By capturing the reason why you feel the way you do when you think about a particular thing is the first step in understanding your thought.
2. Thought Evaluation:
This stage prepares us to decide what we will do with this thought. Once you have capture your thought and understand that it causes you to feel and act certain ways you now need to evaluate what you want to do with this thought. You can ask yourself, “Do I want to continue feeling this way?” and determine if you will continue to think about the subject or not.
3. Thought Challenging:
You now need to replace your thought with something else. If you have chosen that you do not want to feel the negative feelings associated with a particular thought or thoughts you can control it by thinking about something else. By replacing your thought with something else you control your reactions and what goes on in your mind
4. Thought Changing:
Be determine and change the process
5. Thought Prevention:
Remember what the thought did to you the last time and stop that kind of thought - don’t have that thought anymore
When negative thoughts come follow the above steps and you’ll soon see that you can take charge of them.
-Bishop Richard C. Gayle