What Were You Thinking?

What were you thinking?!!  Have you ever asked your husband, kids or anybody else that question out of frustration? 

That question has more gravity than we give credit to. Our thoughts, in most cases, will eventually lead to actions. For example, at one point our husband’s had a thought of, “Hmmm, I want to marry this girl!” They prepared, bought a ring and with spoken word, asked us to marry them. The end result was our wedding day. Thoughts —> Spoken Words —> Actions.

So on any given day, where are your thoughts? How do you handle the hard things, the things that make you uncomfortable or angry? Where does your mind go?

If you have a tendency to get stuck meditating more on the difficulties in life rather than the positives, then this blog is for you! Take current events for example. Globally we are swimming in negative media reports. It’s hard not to dwell on what’s happening. But when you do choose to dwell there, you might as well be walking in tar. It’s such a common thing that happens all to easy and the result is confusion, sadness, anger and frustration. Our end feelings began as thoughts as we processed troubling information. We may or may not have spoken about the “news” we saw on tv, heard on the radio, read online, etc. But the final outcome of hopelessness and powerlessness is the result of focusing on the negative.

We did not come from fish. We are created beings; created in God’s own image. God is spirit. That is where our connection to Him lies - in our spirit. That’s where we communicate to Him - in the spirit. Our mind and heart are physical and responsible for our earthly thoughts and feelings. Although God understands our feelings, that is NOT where we connect to Him. That needs to be a foundational understanding. We connect to God through our spirits as deep calls out to deep (Psalm 42:7), which is a heavenly realm. Satan is the ruler of this world and perpetually derails us through our thoughts and feelings, which is the earthly realm. So which realm are you partnering your thoughts with?

Matthew 6:24-25 You can not serve both God AND man, therefore I say to you - TAKE NO THOUGHT for your life

Jesus said TAKE NO THOUGHT! Duh - we serve our THOUGHTS!

Isaiah 55 says to forsake our thoughts and take God’s thoughts!

Specifically Isaiah 55:8says "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Further, 2 Corinthians 10:5 commands us to “Cast DOWN thoughts! 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.” As believers in Christ, we are instructed HOW TO THINK!

Stinkin’ thinkin’ does NOT line up with what God tells us to do with our thoughts!

In fact, our difficult situations will NEVER change and we WILL remain in the wilderness going around and around the same mountain until we switch our focus from fleshly, feeling, earthly, WRONG thinking to heavenly, spirit-driven, RIGHT thinking!”

Is it hard? OF COURSE it’s hard - even seemingly impossible when your circumstances are horrible or even dire!

We are blessed because God is FOR us in ALL situations and His business is the IMPOSSIBLE!  Our problems are NOT the BIGGEST things in our lives. They can “seem” enormous and they also have a tendency to suck the very breath out of us the more we focus on them. But remember, Jesus told us the “THIEF comes to steal, kill and destroy but JESUS came to give us abundant life! (John 10:10). When we are swimming in our thoughts dwelling about our difficulty, are we living in abundant life? NO! Is our peace being stolen? YES! 

Our thoughts and meditations of doubt, fear and negativity feed our problems. We very quickly can make them the biggest thing in our lives consuming every ounce of energy we have leaving us high and dry to focus any positive attention on much else. 

All too often we allow stinkin’ thinkin’ to overtake us in times of testing. Earthly thoughts and meditations are like termites, if we don’t tent and gas the house with God’s way of thinking, our home’s structure is liable to crumble. 

Now, let me describe in one adjective what a problem looks like in the heavenly realm - in the spirit: SMALL! 

In every situation, no matter how bad, Jesus is ALWAYS bigger than our problems. In fact, He is the BIGGEST thing in our lives - if we allow Him to be!. God gave us thoughts and feelings for a reason but certainly NOT to stay focused on the negative ones and become buried alive in the struggle. 

Let’s look at the difference between the way we think and deal with life in our own limited strength as opposed to aligning our thoughts with Christ. No matter what, our thoughts will ALWAYS fall into one of two responses: world vs spirit.

Unexpected situation: Someone cuts you off while driving
World: Either thought or spoken: “Oh my gosh, that guy just cut me off! What a jerk! Wow! —>  irritated, annoyed, angry; peace stolen.
Spirit: Lord, thank you for protecting my car. Continue to teach me patience and forgiveness and help me to drive with kindness for others. If that guy doesn’t know Jesus, save him and teach him to be other centered and a kind hearted driver —>  peace restored.

Unexpected situation: A job is lost
World: “How are we going to make it, what are we going to do?” —> Automatic fear and worry; peace stolen.
Spirit: Lord, You do not close one door without opening a better one. Thank You that You have a plan and purpose for my life that is GOOD (Jer 29:11) You say Your ways are not my ways and Your thoughts are not my thoughts (Is 55:8) so please help me to trust You in this. You also tell me I am more important than the birds of the air that You provide for (Matt 6:26). Strengthen my faith. You love me with an ever lasting love. Let me walk in peace and trust for Your perfect provision and timing —> peace restored

Unexpected situation: Husband has been very grouchy, rude, unhelpful and difficult
World: (thought OR spoken in the midst of listening to feelings) “I am SO sick of this! Seriously!  He treats work people better than his own family! He doesn’t help around the house and he leaves me with everything!” —> Division, frustration, blame, finger pointing, distance.
TRUTH: We are powerless to change others. Our power lies in how we respond to others when what they are doing is not good for us. It is common and so easy to focus our thoughts and feelings on what someone is NOT doing for us. This is a worldly view which is self serving, leads to division, ultimately leads to destruction of relationship and is directly opposite to what God tells us to do. God says to turn away from evil and do good; to search for peace and work to maintain it - Psalm 34:14.
Spirit: Lord, I am so tired. I married this man for better OR for worse and THIS is part of the WORST right now. Don’t let me rely on my negative feelings to guide me through this. I know he is mentally spent. He is physically tired also. You have created us differently. You know my needs and you know his. Give me strength to endure, courage to communicate, wisdom in how and when to approach my husband and let it be with respect, love and understanding. Let me see him as a GIFT to my life - to see him the way You see him. Help me to do my marriage YOUR way. 

SUSTAINABILITY: Continue to speak God’s promises (pertinent scriptures) over the situations. The more you speak this out loud over your circumstances, the truth will resonate in your spirit as you are aligning your mediations with God’s, which will change how your mind thinks. This is supernatural and faith in action. God will honor your efforts every time. If we focus on what WE CAN do, God takes care of what we CAN’T do. And be introspective! Do we just want to complain about it or do we want it to change?!! God says to do ALL things without grumbling and complaining (Phil 2:14)!  The more we do things that God says NOT to do, the less He can do!  The more we respond the way God tells us to, the MORE God has to work with!  He does NOT operate or work against Himself! God is always waiting for us to get so tired of trying that we give up. It’s in that moment that God can step in. God needs to be the pilot and us the copilot not the other way around. 

Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. NLT Romans 12:2

Who are you partnering with spiritually? If you go about your day to day living, focused on getting the kids to school,driving to practices, running errands, going to work, etc and your mind consistently dwells in the “have to’s” or time frames; the phone conversation or text that rubbed you the wrong way, you are focusing on your worldly circumstances - which are generally ruled by satan. Let’s remember satan is the ruler of THIS world (the earth). God is the ruler of the Heavenlies. If Jesus lives within us, we have automatically been grafted into the Heavenlies and thereby have been given every resource needed to overcome any hurdle this world throws at us! But we need to be diligent in focusing our thoughts on God’s strength and His ways to walk us through. We are limited but God is unlimited.

Our daily life is FULL of distractions!  I live in a suburb north of Los Angeles. There is always traffic in my city. Sometimes getting in my car and dealing with drivers who are lost, slow or both can be my downfall. I’m just being honest. When I allow these moments to overtake me, my focus on God flies right out the window along with a few choice words. It’s an area of weakness I am aware of and asking God to help me with. In 2 Corinthians 11:3 Paul states “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” This scripture couldn’t be more true! God says to mediate on those things which are pure, noble, and of good report and the peace of God will be with you (Phil 4:8-9). On the contrary, our peace disappears the second we choose to focus on how “others” have wronged us.

How do we think about our days, our situations, people, family, etc? The more we begin to learn God’s truth and ways of thinking, the bigger He becomes in us and the smaller the attacks against us will appear to be. 

As with most things in life, thought patterns all boil down to CHOICE. Do we choose to see our circumstances with worldly eyes, dealing with life by what the world says? Or do we choose to learn how to see our circumstances through God’s eyes? If Jesus is our Lord and Savior, then NOTHING is bigger than Jesus! Nothing. The question is, just how big do we want Him to be within us? 

Father I pray the blood of Jesus over every reader right now. I ask for supernatural intervention into the way we think. Let our desire be to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Let us seek peace in all circumstances. Open our eyes and show us how YOU see us, our loved ones and others who may come against us. Your word has every answer for every situation. You did not create us to exist without You. Be BIG in us Lord. Let us walk humbly before You with a spirit of gratitude. Let goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives. Teach us how to be instruments of unity; to be healers, not hinderances. You understand our human frailties. Forgive us when we fail and whisper to us that You are right there with us and will back us up. When all is said and done, Lord, it’s not between us and them, it’s between us and You only. Search us, O God, and know our hearts; test us and know thoughts. Point out anything in us that offends You and lead us along the path of everlasting life (Ps 139:23-24). In Jesus name, amen

Song of the Day:

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