How do we know if we are thinking the right thing?

We cannot control the fact that we think.  Thinking is very much a normal part of the functioning of our being.  However, we can control what thoughts that we entertain and dwell upon.  We also have the power to reject thoughts and take authority over them and cast them out of our minds.  But how can we tell if we are thinking or mediating on the right thing.  It says in Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV) "3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You."  So when we fix our mind on the thoughts that originate on the impulses of the Holy Spirit, the ultimate result of that thinking will be the peace of God.  So if we want to test if our thinking is right or not, we ask ourselves if it's producing the peace of God in our life.

What thoughts do we let shape us?

Here is something that I would like for you to write down some where: "Thoughts are a force that shape our life."  They are a spiritual force that shape us.  What we habitually think about is very important.  Because what a person habitually thinks about is going to be the path that their life takes.  It says in Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV) [Portion] “7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…”  Here is another phrase that I want you to write down: "We become what we think about".  What we continually think about is what we become.  You see the Bible is a collection of God's thoughts.  If we will take God's thoughts and make them our thoughts, then we will grow more and more into the image of Jesus Christ.  We will also start to experience more of his presence in our life.

Blessed Thanksgiving!

We as God's children will gather around our dining room tables this Thanksgiving holiday in celebration with thankfulness for how God has provided for us over this past year.  This attitude of thankfulness should be expressed all the time and every day.  But on this national holiday we emphasize this thanks to God, as we should.  We think of this text in Colossians 2:7 (NLT) "7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness."  We know that God is our source of everything in our life.  So it should be that as we gather together this Thanksgiving that we give thanks to the source of our life for everything that he has provided for us.  Perhaps all that we believe for is not fully manifested in our life.  We should still give thanks to God for the good that he has done and for that which he will do.  Blessed Thanksgiving!

People should see Christ in us

If we are a believer in Jesus Christ, then people should see Jesus Christ in us.  In other words, if we have been born again of spirit and water, then we have received the Holy Spirit on the inside of our spirit.  This means that we are a child of God.  As a child of God we have to ask ourselves do people see Christ in us?  It says in Romans 12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."  You see, our behavior will follow our thinking.  If we think wrong thoughts and have wrong mindsets then the decisions we make and our behavior will reflect that wrong thinking.  However, if we let what we are thinking be changed by the word of God that we read and hear, then our thoughts will start to line up with the thinking of God himself.  It will start us on a path that will ultimately prove out that God's thinking and word works. Because we will manifest more of the blessing of God in our life.  In other words, we will start to look more and more like Jesus Christ.

Our life is a reflection of the choices that we make

There is one thing that is inescapable in our life:  Our life is a reflection of the choices that we make.  So it would behoove us to choose wisely.  There are choices that are wise and then there are choices that are foolish.  So we should be asking ourselves are we making wise choices.  Choices that are wise are going to lead to more happiness and joy in our life.  Wise choices are going to lead to more success and fulfillment in our life.  They are going to lead to more prosperity in our life.  It says in Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NKJV) “19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.””  When we choose our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus we are choosing life.  We are choosing wisely.  When we choose the Word of God as the preeminent authority in our life, we are making a wise choice for life, success and the fulfillment we so desire after.

The Lord can restore us despite any mistakes we have made

As children of God, it is so nice to know that the Lord can restore us despite any mistakes that we have made.  Sometimes in life we can be our own worst critic.  Bringing up to ourselves the past mistakes that we have made and dwelling on them.  Perhaps we have difficulty even forgiving ourselves for some mistake that we made in the past.  The good news is that Jesus already paid the price for any of our sins past, present and in the future.  Now that does not give us the license to sin, but it provides us the grace that we need to be forgiven our past mistakes and his power to have that which has been lost in our life restored.  All we need to do is ask for forgiveness and then do what God tells us to do.  I think of the story of Job in the bible.  The story starts out so well. Job was doing so good.  But then he started to get into fear.  He made a mistake, and it opened the door to the devil in his life.  But the good news is that when you read chapter 42, Job has everything restored in his life.  Not only was he restored, but God gave him double.  That's the good news that our Heavenly Father wants to share with us.  God has a tendency to restore double or more.

We can always have the blessing of God at work in our life

Everything in life involves a choice and a choice requires a decision.  So we ask ourselves are we making a choice and decision for God?  In the Bible the Lord expressed it this way in Deuteronomy 30:19 (NLT) “19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!”.  So the Lord places a choice before us as believers.  We can either choose life or death, or we can choose blessings or curses.  It always comes done to us.  Our Heavenly Father wants us to choose His blessing in our life.  We choose his blessing when we make a decision to be obedient to the Lord.  We can be assured that if we place our trust in the Lord and are obedient to him His blessing is always going to show up on and in our life; and that blessing is going to produce an increased measure of peace, joy and abundance.

Live a fail-safe lifestyle

As God's children our faith can fail without the love of God.  Remember what the Lord Jesus told Peter in Luke 22:32 (NLT) "32 But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”"  So evidently our faith can fail, otherwise Jesus wouldn't have had to pray for Peter that his faith wouldn't fail.  But the one thing that we can base our lifestyle on that will not fail is the love of God.  To live this fail-safe lifestyle, we must walk in the love of God.  To get just a glimpse of this love that our Heavenly Father walks in that we are also admonished to walk in we look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NKJV) ” 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails…”  I also like how NLT translates 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.  It says,  “4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”  This gives us just a glimpse of what our love walk should look like.  If we will walk in the love of God, we will be more successful then we have ever imagined, and our faith won't fail..

Do we fulfill the royal law?

As children of God, we are citizens of the kingdom of God.  In this kingdom there is something that is known as the royal law.  My question to you is are you fulfilling the royal law?  It says in James 1:25 (NKJV)”25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”  So in this preeminent law of liberty is  blessing.  In other words, if we will do the the perfect law of liberty we have a guarantee from our Heavenly Father that we will be blessed.  Then what is this law of liberty?  The perfect law of liberty was proclaimed by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  It's recorded in Matthew 22:37-40 (NKJV) "37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”"