My Thirty Day Faith Dare – Day Ten

Mind Management – Dare to Guard Your Thoughts and Fill Your Mind with Good

Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ.

Today’s Truth: Philippians 4:8 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 on these things.

Today’s Dare: Guard Your Thoughts and Fill Your Mind with Good

From The 4:8 Principle, Tommy Newberry says, “The battle you wage against in your human nature is an invisible one that will be won or lost in the mind. Minute by minute, hour by hour, in the hidden workshop of your mind you are constructing thoughts of good or evil, depression or joy, success or failure. You are writing your own life story as a human being with each subtle and soundless thought you think.”

Today’s truth is speaking to me…
In a recent Bible study one of the women said that in order to control her thoughts, she immediately had to replace one rejected negative thought with a positive one. It’s like pulling a weed in your garden and immediately replacing it with a favorite flower.

We are bombarded by an internal critic that loves to tell us negative things all day long. It is up to use to CHOOSE to guard your thoughts and fill your mind with the Lord. Oh, it’s true, it takes practice and a LOT of prayer and falling on God’s assistance, but be of good faith – it can be done!

In Dr. Caroline Leaf’s book “Who Switched Off My Brain?”, she tells us that every thought can become toxic, and physically/ emotionally/ spiritually dangerous. She calls it “toxic thinking”, and it can actually change our brain – amazing. But think about it (no pun intended), how often do you feel happy/sad/stressed, all because of a thought, or a past memory, or when thinking about something that is going to occur? Not only that, but every action we take begins with a thought. So we must be very intentional and focused on what we think each moment. And what better way than to focus on Christ? Hebrews 12:2 – “…fixing our eyes on Jesus…” Here the word for fixing is aphorao, and it means to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something. Our choice, our job, our responsibility is to actively turn our eyes/thoughts away from other things and onto Christ, and on what He has called us to think about (Philippians 4:8).

I think of what God says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, where we are called to take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…” The word captive is aichmalotizo, which means to lead away captive, or capture one’s mind, captivate”. We must lead our thoughts away from the paths of unrighteousness, to our captivating Savior.

God is asking me to…
Turn my brain over to Him, and allow Him to help me keep my thoughts on Him.

Lord and Savior, true and kind, be the Master of my mind;
Bless and guide and strengthen still
All my powers of thought and will.
While I ply the scholar’s task,
Jesus Christ be near, I ask;
Help the memory, clear the brain,
Knowledge still to seek and gain.
Bishop H.G. C. Moule – Church of England Bishop

My challenge is to…

Each day I am given multiple opportunities to think unhealthy, unedifying, unholy, just plain old “un” thoughts. I can let my mind drift into areas where it should not go: fantasy, acts of revenge, thoughts of what I coulda/shoulda said to someone else, thoughts of what could have been, thoughts wrapped up in me-me-me. My challenge is to corral those renegade thoughts by the power of the Holy Spirit, and to present them to God and ask Him to change them to thoughts of His will, for His glory. Just my everyday thoughts can turn towards Him as I speak to him continually throughout the day. I need to set my mind on Him.

Think about it!!!