What are you thinking?

I was reminded again this week that our thoughts can have a profound effect on our actions and then on our habits. I found these words to be helpful in assessing how much of an impact they can have on us:

"Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." - Frank Outlaw.

When Jesus responded to a question about the greatest commandment, we mustn't overlook that he included loving God with all our minds as a key part of our faith. He said,

 Matthew 22:37 - Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

How are your thoughts at the moment? Are you able to keep them under the control of the Holy Spirit?

Living in Grace

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Being mindful of God

What do the words 'being mindful' mean for you? 

In their simplest form they speak to me of having something 'fill' up your mind, or allowing someone to come to the forefront of your thoughts. When you are mindful of something/someone you are thinking of them a lot. This is what Mary describes when she sings her Magnificat - she is overwhelmed that God has been thinking of her:

"...for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant." - Luke 1:48

Not only is God mindful of us, but he also invites us to be mindful of him. This is what the season of Advent helps us to be conscious of - we allow our thoughts and hearts to be filled with the things of Jesus. We TAKE NOTICE of what is happening in the Spiritual realm and try to tune into what the Lord is saying to us.

What is occupying your thoughts at the moment?

“Be happy in the moment, that's enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.”
― Mother Teresa

Living in Grace

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Thinking leads to actions

"Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts." - Soren Kiekergaard

Proverbs 23:7 - "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he."

It is so true that the more we dwell and think on certain things we slowly start to act more inline with those thoughts and ideas.

So, what are you thinking about at the moment?

Is it changing your actions?

Living in Grace

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Thinking with your heart

Is it possible to think with your heart? My gut response is NO, but Jesus seems to think so.

"Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?" - Luke 5:22

So, what does Jesus and Luke mean? Don't we usually 'think' things in our minds? Well, it is perhaps because of the close link between our thought pattern and our actions that Jesus points this out. Our actions begin in our hearts, then go to our minds and finally come out in the open. Jesus cuts to the root cause of all our actions - the 'thoughts of our hearts.'

Is this why Paul went on to say these words:

^"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you." - Romans 12:2 (Living Bible)

Living in Grace
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It crossed my mind

"The thought crossed my mind!"

When we say this we can almost picture that "thought" popping into our minds and then floating into the distance. Sometimes we need to allow that thought to lodge in our minds and to act on it. If we allow too many thoughts to cross our minds, without holding onto them, then we run the risk of just 'thinking' about things and not acting.

So, if you have a constructive/helpful thought cross your mind today, then please act on it - it may just bless someone else's life.

Psalm 10:4 - "In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God."

Isaiah 55:9 -  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Living in Grace
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What are you thinking?

Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard reminds us that whatever consumes our thoughts will influence our lives. 

"Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts."

Solomon also realised this many years before Kierkegaard, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." (Proverbs 23:7, KJV)

What has been dominating your thoughts of late? Is there a chance that we have allowed our thoughts to be hijacked by something unhelpful or ungodly? Meditating on God's Word is a great start in allowing our minds to be influenced by things that are pure, right and just. 

Why don't you take a few moments to read and pray over these words from Psalm 91:

 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”

³ Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹ If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”

Living in Grace

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Think on these things...

Our minds can often run away with all kinds of weird thoughts - sometimes these can take us away from the presence and peace of Christ. St. Paul encourages us to think about some good things - these that would draw us back into the 'life-giving' presence of Jesus.

Philippians 4: 8 – “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”

As you read this scripture, what thoughts are you hoping will fill your mind? Let's ask the Spirit to foster these godly thoughts and not negative ones.

Be blessed this weekend.

Living in Grace

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