“Damage Control: Thought Train”
By Zach Wood
Philippians 4:8 NLT
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.
We often go to great lengths to protect ourselves against unexpected happenings in life. We purchase insurance for our homes, vehicles, life, health and other things. We invest in retirement accounts so that we have money to sustain us after we retire. Many people will choose to add protection plans to electronic devices they buy. People often will add extended warranties to their vehicles just in case something goes wrong after the manufacturer basic warranty.
We spend so much time making sure our purchases and investments are protected. We feel a sense of peace knowing that we have taken time to take care of protecting things we own. However, I cannot help but wonder why we put so much effort into protecting these things, but so little effort into protecting our mind and heart from what Satan does to our minds.
It is not only important for us to focus on positive thoughts when life gets tough, but it also vital that we put effort into protecting our mind and heart from the negative thoughts that Satan throws at us. I want to share some powerful words I recently read in a devotional by Jess Basson from the YouVersion app:
“Unfortunately, too many of us live our lives sitting on the wrong train of thoughts. We believe lies about ourselves - ugly, stupid, failure, inadequate, worthless - and we ride that train all day. We believe lies about our circumstances - hopeless, out of control, inevitable - and we just sit back and end up at the same destination every day. With the power of God’s Word, we can choose the train of thought we will ride each day. When our negative, fearful or angry thoughts invite us on board, we have the power to intentionally stop thinking them and think new thoughts based on God’s Word.”
So often we are riding a daily train which feeds us terrible lies of Satan and we just accept them. We find ourselves so beaten down by the words we feel define us. But, they don’t! They don’t define us at all! What is crazy is that I experienced an afternoon last week where I was struggling with very negative thoughts about myself. I believed lies that Satan was throwing at me. I was very emotional and just thought I was no good and wouldn’t amount to anything. The enemy had a grip on my mind and heart. I had to shake that loose with the powerful promises of God!
Friends, do not let Satan fill your mind and heart and throw you on the thought train of negativity about who you are. Don’t let Him fill your mind with terrible thoughts of who you are. Let God’s Word fill you and focus on who He says you are. We need damage control in our mind and heart with God’s Word. Our thought train needs to be positive and filled with the positive thoughts God wants us to have. We need to focus on fixing our thoughts on positive things.
Which train are you riding? The positive or negative?
By Zach Wood
Philippians 4:8 NLT
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.
We often go to great lengths to protect ourselves against unexpected happenings in life. We purchase insurance for our homes, vehicles, life, health and other things. We invest in retirement accounts so that we have money to sustain us after we retire. Many people will choose to add protection plans to electronic devices they buy. People often will add extended warranties to their vehicles just in case something goes wrong after the manufacturer basic warranty.
We spend so much time making sure our purchases and investments are protected. We feel a sense of peace knowing that we have taken time to take care of protecting things we own. However, I cannot help but wonder why we put so much effort into protecting these things, but so little effort into protecting our mind and heart from what Satan does to our minds.
It is not only important for us to focus on positive thoughts when life gets tough, but it also vital that we put effort into protecting our mind and heart from the negative thoughts that Satan throws at us. I want to share some powerful words I recently read in a devotional by Jess Basson from the YouVersion app:
“Unfortunately, too many of us live our lives sitting on the wrong train of thoughts. We believe lies about ourselves - ugly, stupid, failure, inadequate, worthless - and we ride that train all day. We believe lies about our circumstances - hopeless, out of control, inevitable - and we just sit back and end up at the same destination every day. With the power of God’s Word, we can choose the train of thought we will ride each day. When our negative, fearful or angry thoughts invite us on board, we have the power to intentionally stop thinking them and think new thoughts based on God’s Word.”
So often we are riding a daily train which feeds us terrible lies of Satan and we just accept them. We find ourselves so beaten down by the words we feel define us. But, they don’t! They don’t define us at all! What is crazy is that I experienced an afternoon last week where I was struggling with very negative thoughts about myself. I believed lies that Satan was throwing at me. I was very emotional and just thought I was no good and wouldn’t amount to anything. The enemy had a grip on my mind and heart. I had to shake that loose with the powerful promises of God!
Friends, do not let Satan fill your mind and heart and throw you on the thought train of negativity about who you are. Don’t let Him fill your mind with terrible thoughts of who you are. Let God’s Word fill you and focus on who He says you are. We need damage control in our mind and heart with God’s Word. Our thought train needs to be positive and filled with the positive thoughts God wants us to have. We need to focus on fixing our thoughts on positive things.
Which train are you riding? The positive or negative?
