Who's In Charge Of Your Thoughts?

by Donna L. Watkins

God help my thoughts! They stray from me, setting off on the wildest journeys ... They come to me for a fleeting moment, and then away they flee.  No chains, no locks can hold them back; no threats of punishment can restrain them ... They slip from my grasp like tails of eels; they swoop hither and thither like swallows in flight. Dear, chaste Christ, who can see into every heart and read every mind, take hold of my thoughts.  Bring my thoughts back to me, and clasp me to yourself. -- Celtic Prayer, "A Scholar's Wish"

Oh, how I can relate to that passage and used to feel helpless and hopeless as my thoughts turned a perfectly good day into one of despair.

© Donna L. Watkins - Tulip and Unique Tree Trunk
Downtown Greenville, SC, Along the Reedy River

As we work on renewing our minds, we must be careful not to add to our mind things that feed our soul (flesh), rather than our spirit.  Our flesh gets pretty comfortable with being in control and isn't easily swayed to allowing the spirit to rule, so we have to be diligent about making the choice.  How do we do that?

2 Cor. 10:5 says, "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" [who is The Word of God - Jn 1:1, 14].

Here we have instruction on how to deal with our thoughts.  We put up a STOP sign and say NO with all of our God-given free will.  We are not to ask God to do it.  He has told us to do it.  We choose to dwell on the Truth of God, not idle and worthless chatter from our minds.  Rom. 8:6 - "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."

Our minds will respond to being spirit-led if we meditate on The Word and renew it.  When you first start it seems impossible, but it gets easier and you will get a real thrill out of it when you see how much power is within you to think what the mind of Christ thinks.  I Cor. 2:16 says "we have the mind of Christ."

Isaiah 54:17 says that "No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you ..."

So often we feel like we're being bombarded with thoughts from the devil, but most of the time our own thoughts condemn us enough that the devil doesn't have to bother.  God no longer condemns us (Rom. 8:1 - "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus"), so we should follow His example.

Stop beating yourself up!  It's a root to autoimmune diseases (the body attacking itself).  Look in the mirror each day and say to yourself, "God loves me and I love me too!"  It will feel odd for awhile but it can make a big change in the way you see yourself.

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