shadow

Stinkin’ Thinkin’: Fix My Eyes

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

Life and peace? Yes, please!

All around us things clamor for our attention, making peace a seemingly elusive concept just out of our reach at times. Paul tells the Romans a mind set on the Spirit leads to life and peace. That sounds great, but how do we do that? How do we take our minds off of our flesh and set them on the Spirit?

Stick around this week and see what God’s word has to say about it …

 

Fix My Eyes

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith … so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 

Hebrews 12:1-3, NASB

trackThe demands of life are endless—as are the distractions. Coming at us from every direction, things scream for our attention. Many of them need our attention, but many do not. It’s no wonder that we can get sidetracked and focus our sights on the wrong things.

Many days that which screams at me the loudest gets my attention. Sadly, it’s often my fleshly, sinful self. How do I get my eyes off my flesh and set on Jesus? The struggle is real on this one.

When runners show up to a race, they don’t show up with weights strapped to their arms and legs or hanging from their necks. Instead, arriving with the goal in mind of crossing the finish line, they shed anything that can slow them down.

Like weights strapped to us, our sin distracts and weighs us down. Whether we realize it or not, you and I are running a God-ordained race day in and day out. Your course looks different from mine, but our finish line is the same: to stand in the presence of our Lord and Savior.

As we lace up our running shoes and hit the course that the Lord has set before us each day, it’s imperative we shed the sin that weighs us down and fix our eyes on Jesus.

For many of us, our thought lives can add significant weight to our bodies. Living with sinful thoughts as constant companions, our witness for Christ and ability to run our race is hindered.

I pray that each of us would be especially cognizant of the effects our thoughts have on us and with humility, we would take every thought captive and submit our minds to Christ. And with an attitude of praise and thanksgiving, we would experience the peace of God regardless of our circumstances.

Let us fill our minds with more of Him and less of the world as we keep our eyes fixed squarely on Him. Running with endurance, the race that He, the author and perfecter of our faith has set before us.

Running the race,

Traci

Stinkin’ Thinkin’: Food for Thought

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

Life and peace? Yes, please!

All around us things clamor for our attention, making peace a seemingly elusive concept just out of our reach at times. Paul tells the Romans a mind set on the Spirit leads to life and peace. That sounds great, but how do we do that? How do we take our minds off of our flesh and set them on the Spirit?

Stick around this week and see what God’s word has to say about it …

 

Food for Thought

And now, 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, NLT

open bible 2During a recent conversation with a friend, she spoke of the horrible anxiety she was having due to horrific global events. Images from news stories were occupying her thoughts, and the resulting anxiety was waking her in the middle of the night.

I can sympathize all too well with my friend. If I’m not using discernment about what I allow to fill my mind, I can see the results in my thoughts and in the lack of peace I feel in my soul.

So, I should just stop thinking about that stuff and think about happy things, right?

Well, yes, sort of. Thought control is important, and the idea certainly isn’t new—seeing that Paul encouraged the Philippians to fix their thoughts on things that were excellent and worthy of praise.

But just as healthy food fuels our bodies, the content we allow in our minds fuels our thoughts.

While some people are naturally just positive thinkers, the Greek meaning of praise, is to be “ascribed to God, in respect of His glory.” So Paul isn’t recommending some watered-down “look on the bright side” theology here; he is encouraging the Philippians to fill their minds with more Jesus!

The truth is that it’s downright difficult to focus our thoughts on “what is true and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable” if we are aren’t filling it with such things. The music we listen to, the books we read, and the movies we watch all influence what we think. In turn, the thoughts that we allow to fill our minds reveal themselves in the words we speak as well as in our actions.

If we’re struggling with our thought lives, the answer is more Jesus. More time in His word. More praise music in our homes. More focus on Him and less focus on what the world is offering.

Fixing my thoughts,

Traci

Stinkin’ Thinkin’: No Nests Allowed

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

Life and peace? Yes, please!

All around us things clamor for our attention, making peace a seemingly elusive concept just out of our reach at times. Paul tells the Romans a mind set on the Spirit leads to life and peace. That sounds great, but how do we do that? How do we take our minds off of our flesh and set them on the Spirit?

Stick around this week and see what God’s word has to say about it …

 

No Nests Allowed

… and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV

birdnestI was catching up with my friend on the phone one morning when she got a call from her father-in-law. Since he rarely calls her, she decided to take it. I hung up the phone and sat myself in the floor to help my little guy with a puzzle when the thought hit me right out of absolutely nowhere: he was calling with bad news. Clearly, that was the only “logical” reason for him to be calling. Why else would he call? In less than 10 seconds, I went from doing a Disney puzzle with my two year old to mentally trying to make childcare arrangements. Why did I need childcare arrangements? Because I might need to travel to be with my friend who may have just found out that she was a widow with three young kids. Y’all, my mind can actually do that in such a short period of time. I’m not proud of that.

Each of us have tens of thousands of thoughts that enter our minds each day, and since we’re among friends, we can be honest: some of them are less than pleasing to the Lord.

Maybe you don’t put yourself through imaginary emotional turmoil like I did, but our minds go places they just shouldn’t go. Maybe for you, you have created a safe haven in your mind for thoughts rooted in anger or lust? Maybe you harbor thoughts rooted in jealousy? Maybe you struggle with worry also? I’ve heard it said that you can’t keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest. Sister, we have to keep that bird from building a nest!

We may be slower to submit our thought life to God because our thoughts are private. For many of us, we don’t even recognize many of our thoughts as sinful because they have been with us for as long as we can remember. They feel natural to us. Comfortable even. I don’t even realize I’m worrying most of the time!

While our thoughts may be hidden from others, nothing is hidden from God. They lie naked and exposed before Him.

As followers of Christ, submitting our minds to Him is essential. Are you willing to invite Him to take control?

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Psalm 139:23-24, NLT

Taking thoughts captive,

Traci