If your house's foundation is right
(your faith in God), and your cornerstone is right (Jesus Christ),
and your bricks are right (quality time with your spouse, children
and close family), then you can start living in your house. You
will be ready to weather any storm, because your house would be
strong enough to endure. Now you can start looking after yourself,
the Temple of God. You need to make sure that you are in the best
shape you can possibly be in, in order to be able to do what God
wants you to do. I am going to talk a bit more about how to look
after yourself in the next few weeks.
I spoke last week about getting
your house in order. God is a God of order and cleanliness and
therefore we need to look after ourselves and grow in Christ to be
the best we can be.
First of all we need to get our
thought life in order. We need to start thinking about what we are
thinking about. We cannot allow random thoughts to come in and mess
up our neat house. I always thought that we don't have any control
over what comes into our minds, but we do! This is such an intense
subject, I can continue for weeks on this, but the point I would
like to make now, is that thoughts can influence your whole
life.
"Above all else, guard your
heart, for it affects everything you do." Proverbs 4:23
I would like to repeat it; it
affects everything you do. That is why it is
so crucially important that you don't allow any thought to simply
slip in. You need to focus on what is good and pure, you need to
practice it.
The other day I was upset over
something and I had to go to that person and clear the air. Now I
could only see the person in a weeks' time, so I practiced what I
wanted to say to her all the time in my head and every time I got
upset all over again and it ruined my day. I then forced myself to
stop. I realized that it is not going to help to rehearse what I
was going to say for the whole week and be upset all the time. It
was stealing my joy. I then purposefully stopped myself every time
I wanted to think about it. I forced myself to be in the moment and
to enjoy the here and now. I will think about the situation again
when I see her. And you know what, it worked. I wasn't upset for
the rest of the week and cleared the air the next. We have power
over our thoughts and we need to exercise it.
Another good idea is to memorize
Scripture and to verbally say it out loud every time your thoughts
drift in the wrong direction. Something in the order of "Thank you
Jesus for being here with me. Thank you that I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me. Thank you that You created me in
Your image and that I am wonderfully made. Today is the day that
You have made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. Therefore I look
forward to this day and all that You have in store for me."
The Lord wants to bless you and He
wants you to obtain victory over your thoughts. In your thought
life lies the key to unlocking a lot of potential in your life. And
of course the devil knows this and wants to soil your mind with his
evil thoughts. But ignore him and focus on God and on what goes on
in the heavenlies. Therein lies great power.
"Let heaven fill your thoughts.
Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died
when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God."
Colossians 3:2
Lord, thank you for giving us the
victory through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you that we can walk
through this life with You and that You will give us the strength
to control our thought life. Amen