GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT!

I’m sure you know people who are always thinking negative thoughts even when they hear good news. In fact, one of them might be you. Not only does this affect your way of life, but it leads to feeling tired, anxious, discouraged, depressed, fearful, frustrated, and low self-image.

Here’s a story I read and want to share with you. The writer says, I know the feeling. For many years, I was in bondage to negative thinking. How can this be? Aren’t God’s people supposed to live victoriously because Jesus has overcome the world? Although I knew that mentally, somehow that message didn’t reach my heart. Then, one day it hit me: The thoughts you dwell on determine the world you live in. Wouldn’t it be nice if your old ways of thinking were wiped out when you accepted Jesus as your Savior? But that doesn’t happen.

You may still have mental strongholds of critical voices from the past, anxiety about your present circumstances, and/or fear of what is yet to come. This explains how it is possible for God’s people to be in just as much bondage as people of the world. The negative thoughts you keep stored up in your memory will affect each day you live.

As a child of God, you were not meant to live under mental oppression. 2 Corinthians 10:5 gives you guidance for overcoming this issue: “We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.” This means negative self-talk is not meant to roam freely in your mind where it can wreck your life; you are called to actively take those thoughts as prisoners by the power of God’s word.

But that takes work, patience and yes, it takes time. But the effort is worth it because…The thoughts you dwell on determine the world you live in. Just imagine if all Christians would take this one instruction to heart and put it into practice. We would bear Spiritual fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The world would see something different about us and want to know our secret. That would open the door for us to tell them about Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith! God delivered me. And He can deliver you too. This challenge is about seeking the Lord for a heart/mind change. I suggest that you start keeping a journal to document what the Lord is teaching you in this process.

Remember again: The thoughts you dwell on determine the world you live in. Ensure that the world you are living in is consistent with the abundant life that Jesus has for you! Be blessed with health, healing, and wholeness – by Kimberly Taylor

I agree with Kimberly that whatever we fill our minds with will color our thinking all day long. While being born again does not wipe our memory clean of all negative thoughts, they can be removed by replacing them with positive thoughts. It seems that the believers in Philippi were having the same problem, so the Apostle Paul told them: “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. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9).

So, instead of starting each day with social media, Facebook, Google News, CNN, MSNBC, or FOX News begin with God’s Word. Rather than turning on the radio for latest pop music, listen to Christian Radio. Also, what magazines or newspapers do you read each morning before reading you Daily Devotion? Whatever you fill you mind with through your eyes and ears, it will echo in your cranium all day.

There’s an old saying that goes: “You are what you eat.” The same is true of information. “You are what You read or automatically accept what you hear as true.” King Solomon tells us there are people who pick out an item on the menu based on price, not on taste or nutritional value. (Proverbs 23:7). God won’t change this for you, but He will give you the power you need to change it yourself. – Dr. Robert R Seyda