Where do thoughts come from?

Last night I had two totally unrealistic dreams. In one I was golfing with two balls tied together and scored no matter which one went in the cup. The other was at a funeral and the director was scolding me and my sister for not having flowers. He then described what each color and type of flower represented to prove his point. 

Now awake, I wonder where such nonsense comes from. My dad used to joke that dreams depended on what we ate for supper. Someone else told me that if you remember them, they have something to do with unresolved problems. I gave away my golf clubs a long time ago, and have never planned a funeral that left out flowers. Nor did I watch weird shows on television or read related books. Over-tired? Maybe.

Yesterday’s devotional reading was about knowing and deeply thinking about what God says. That does not fit either. However, Piper does quote verses like these:

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. (1 Corinthians 14:20)
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16)
Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. (2 Timothy 2:7)

Piper says that the Lord gives wisdom about the things He says in His Word, but he also quotes this verse:

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)

It makes me wonder if my silly dreams are included in “all things” being from Jesus. Could He be saying that the golf dream means I’m trying to play life with twice as much on my to-do list than is necessary? Or that I don’t add joyful thoughts (flowers) to the sad things of life? I must stretch my thinking to come up with metaphors like that. Even if they are accurate, the Lord is able to tell me so with greater clarity.

Piper does say that Jesus is the ground and goal of all thought, or at least He should be. It does not take a great deal of discernment to see that evil or childish thinking is not from Him. I could waste a lot of time and energy with such things as rehearsing how to get even with someone, or having imaginary conversations with people, or in worrying, or in being anxious about getting everything done for today. Far better to rest in God’s thoughts… 

PRAY: and to do that, Jesus, I need to spend time with You, reading and meditating on what You say, submitting to it with all my heart — and my mind. If those odd dreams were actual metaphors from You, then here are two things I need to think about:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:4–9)

Out of my mind…

 
Two people told me they will not drive two particular highways because they are afraid of the speed and traffic on those roads. We drove both of them that same day without fear and it made me think about the way fear can keep me from doing some things, like para-sailing and mountain skiing.

However, the Bible says: “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7) While I could excuse some fears about dangerous behavior, today’s devotional points to the power of thoughts. Fear might keep me from doing something foolish, but it can also keep me from enjoying the blessings of God. This passage comes to mind:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4–7)

Rejoicing in the Lord, living right before others, and praying about everything with thanksgiving is a formula for peaceful hearts. The very next verse show that having a peaceful heart is also related to how I think and how I let those thoughts govern what I do:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8–9)

Jesus said this about having a pure heart: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8) yet He also said:

You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:34)

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. (Mark 7:21–23)

Clearly He connects what I think about with how I live. He even exposed hypocrisy by saying, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” (Matthew 15:8) He knew that our sinfulness can think evil but we can hide it by godly talk and even the appearance of goodness.

Many times, Jesus and the NT writers pointed to how we think. For example, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.” (Romans 12:17) In other words, think about doing good. It does affect my words and actions.

However, I realize the challenge of having good thoughts. I’ve often prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24) Besides asking God to show me stinking thinking, He gives this instruction about the battle for good thoughts:

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (2 Corinthians 10:3–6)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

PRAY: Thank You Jesus for giving me Your mind and your Word so I can dwell on good thoughts. Recognizing contrary thoughts can be subtle, like James 2 illustrates regarding prejudice, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, You can help me give thought to my ways (Proverbs 21:29) but also give thought to my thoughts. Enable them to be true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and about what is worthy of praise, that You are glorified in my mind as well as in words and actions. Amen.

A Bucket List?

One of the traits of a person whose main spiritual gift is teaching is the strong belief that thinking right is vital to living right. That is, the mind is the primary battleground. For me, this means many of my favorite Scripture passages are about thoughts and my thought life.

For example, Jesus stressed the importance of what goes on inside for it will eventually come out in words and actions (see Matthew 15). Also, Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Another one is a prayer. I am concerned with my own thoughts and want to have a godly mind, so pray this now and then. However, I tell people that if you pray these verses and mean what you say, you must duck! God will answer it!

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24)

Tozer backs me up. He says that our thoughts are “decorations inside the sanctuary where we live” and “pretty much decide the mood and weather and climate inside your heart.”

I agree that God considers my thoughts as part of me, even as the place where temptation starts. I’m not to let them be a “wilderness in which every kind of unclean beast roams and bird flies” but a place where good things dwell. Some of those good things are in these verses . . .

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:4–9)

Joy. Reasonableness (or gentleness). No worries. Prayer. Thanksgiving. God’s indescribable peace. Truth. Honorable. Just or fair. Pure. Lovely. Commendable. Excellence. Praise-worthy. What God has taught me. Godliness I see in others. Doing these things. Enjoying His presence.

This is not supposed to be a bucket list for some future day, but a continual practice of the mind and replacements for all the junk that tries to collect inside my head every day.

^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, I’m so thankful that salvation includes being given Your mind. Without it, this would be totally impossible. Even with it, I continually need grace and alertness to battle the stuff that wants to distract and lead me into sin. Grant me all that I need to think Your thoughts today!

Peace in any situation

Several years ago, we lived in a house with a south-facing backyard and very good soil. My garden was amazing. However, that summer’s high temperatures often brought severe hail storms. I worried about losing that incredible crop of vegetables. Finally, I decided that this garden really belonged to God, not me. I prayed, “Lord, it is Yours. If You want to hail on it, that is up to You.”

This prayer was without resentment or sarcasm. I meant it because I trusted God to do what was best. That garden was a faith test, one of many in my life.  

Today is a faith test for me and for my husband. He will have surgery on his face to remove a small cancer, or at least we hope it is small. As he says, he does not know how much face will be removed. After a couple restless nights of wrestling, He is trusting God and calm. Two days from now brings reconstructive surgery to replace and repair it. Today’s procedure happens in an office downtown in our city.

As for me, I am trusting God with his surgery, but also having a test about my own body. One of my cataract removals (June 12) resulted in a problem; vision in the left eye became blurry. Last week, I had one night of war about it, then remembered that my body belongs to God. Lord, this is Your eye and You can do whatever You want with it. No sarcasm or bargaining. I trust God to do what He wills.

Yesterday, my eye doctor told me another test would determine what is happening and what treatment might be needed. This eye test happens today also. It takes ten minutes and does not require an appointment — once my local eye doctor realized it needs to happen in the same downtown building as my hubby’s surgery! I can just walk in. Coincidence? I don’t think so. It is more like assurance from God who is sovereign.

I don’t know what will happen to either of us, but the Lord does not want us to fret about it. He arranged Sunday’s sermon to be on the same passage of Scripture as today’s devotional reading . . .

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:4–9)

God’s peace does surpass all understanding. For one thing, it shows up when least expected. The first time it happened to me was during days of severe back pain. I could hardly move. I prayed, not remembering my prayer now, but remembering how God flooded me with peace and joy. The pain did not go away, but His peace was so incredible that I didn’t think about my back at all.

Since then, I’ve noticed that this amazing sense of ‘all is well’ is not about circumstances but about surrender. Most people would advise those in pain or in other troubling situations to not give in, to fight it, to take charge. But Jesus says ‘yield’ and give it to Him. Every time I do that, His peace replaces my anxiety. Some Bible versions say this is ‘beyond comprehension’ — and it is.

The other thing that has happened this week is that I am truly enjoying what I can see and not whining about what I cannot see. Anyone who knows me would say that also “surpasses all understanding.” I can do ‘poor me’ with ease, but the Holy Spirit has given me a gratitude that surprises me and for which I am grateful. I am content without trying to be content. With or without good vision, I have Jesus and Jesus is enough.

^^^^^^^

Oh Lord Jesus Christ, You are enough. You promise to keep in perfect peace those who trust in You and You do keep that promise. I’m grateful that my hubby not only is trusting You but sharing his faith with the multitude of medical people involved in what he is experiencing. May You use that for Your glory. May You also use my situation to bring praise to Your Name. You are Lord over all; may that be known to those who need to realize it and to see Your power to bring peace to Your people! Amen.

Battling wrong thoughts . . .

“ . . . You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (Psalm 23:5)

Once when troubled by stinkin’ thinkin’, I asked my pastor what to do. He said, “Just because a bird flies over you, you don’t need to let it build a nest in your hair . . . ”

In other words, unhelpful and sinful thoughts will come to the door, but we don’t need to let them in. The way our brains work, we can deflect them by thinking something else. Learning how to do that is part of the Christian experience. The Bible tells us how to replace those thoughts. . .

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:4–9)

Put Jesus in the middle of my thoughts. Instead of worrying, tell God and ask Him to take care of things. He will give amazing peace, and when that peace is threatened, deliberately choose better things to think about. Persist. Practice. Thinking godly thoughts is possible to those who have the mind of Christ.

What I feed my mind is important too. Thinking pure and lovely thoughts is far more difficult if I watch violence and sinful activities on television or read books filled with impure actions and words.

Also, there are many other wonderful things to consider. For instance, enjoy creation and think about it. The psalmist praised God as he looked “at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place” (Psalm 8:3) and Solomon gives good advice when he tells my lazy mind to, “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” (Proverbs 6:6) Taking thought about the lessons of creation could occupy anyone’s mind for a long time!

Another weapon against stinkin’ thinkin’ is remembering and being thankful for all that God has done, and how I do not deserve any of it. “Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.” (1 Samuel 12:24)

When I struggle, it helps to read Hebrews. It was written to Christians who were suffering various trials and persecutions for their new faith and tempted to return to the old covenant. They are reminded that Jesus is superior. The old covenant was temporary, a shadow of the true, and preparation for the salvation to be found in Christ alone. To battle their wrong desire to turn back, they were told . . .

Consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself . . . Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. (Hebrews 3:1–6)

Those first two words are my greatest weapon against the wrong thinking that can pester me and fill my mind —“Consider Jesus . . .”

Sometimes I consider His grace in leaving heaven to come here and die for sinners like me. Sometimes I consider all that He has done in my life. Sometimes I consider how He suffered and trusted His Father in the suffering when He had the power to make it go away.

For every battle I fight, Jesus fought a greater battle, like mine only more intense, more fierce. And He survived because “He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:23)

He is also my kind and caring Shepherd who knows when I am troubled by those buzzing thoughts. He knows when I need the touch of His rod and staff and the soothing balm of His anointing oil. The Lord is my Shepherd . . .  I shall not want anything, including peace of mind.