Thoughts

I've been listening to my Joyce Meyer podcast on my runs....as usual.  "How Your Mind Affects the World Around You" was the topic.  Joyce speaks on thinking right on purpose.  Making a point to intentionally set up right thinking.  She gives the example of setting up one's mind in the morning with godly thinking.   Purposely thinking things like, "I will be kind today because the fruit of the Spirit is kindness," or "I know God is with me, therefore I will not fear."  Positive, deliberate, concrete thoughts.

So many times I find myself going down the twisty-turny roads of anger, annoyance and resentment. Thoughts like, "if they think I'm going to .....", or "that person is doing....." And stomping down the path of offense I go.  And as my thoughts wander, so my behavior and words start to mirror the landscape of my mind.

Well, like I said I have been listening to this podcast and endeavoring to  put it into practice.  I do it when I wake up, I try to remember during the day, as I'm driving, before I go into work....My big "thinking road" I try to stay on is the love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13.  That kind of covers it all.  Some other purpose thoughts I direct my mind to are, "I will not get frustrated over little things.,"  "I will not overeat,"  "I will not be critical, judgmental or complaining."

Last night at work the Lord stopped in to visit during break.  I was kind of feeling like my attitude was a little rough around the edges.  But He showed me that I was having success as well with my thinking.  Quite a few times during the night, I heard the "Love Chapter" of 1 Corinthians ring through my head.  And that was victory!!  My behavior may not have been where I wanted it to be, but it was a start.  It all begins with the thinking.  What joy is mine knowing that I am learning.  And what a wonderful God to point it out to me, to celebrate the victory with me.  How awesome is He. Our Father looks at the seemingly smallest of things we get right, and magnifies and rejoices of them. And He wants us to join in!!

Lord, thank You for who You are.  You are the one who celebrates our victories and remembers our sin not more.  Lord, continue to help us grow in lining up our thoughts with You.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7  Love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  Love does not demand its own way.  Love is not irritable , and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.  It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wind out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance.

Romans 12:2  Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you iinto a new person by changing the way your think.  Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is.