thoughts

Focus on the Solution

“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” – 2 Corinthians 1:21,22 Today, we conclude our series on understanding the significance of our daily thoughts. A tune-up of our present thoughts is always in order because they can dictate our future! What we consume and think about is an excellent indicator of what our future can become. Our last focus is to “Turn our thoughts onto the solution, not the problem.” We may come up with short-term solutions to problems, but over the long term, the solution for your life is Christ in you. The Christ-centered solution is to work hard on yourself, more than anything else in the world. First-century Christians were not called Christians. They were called

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Tending the Garden of Your Mind

“Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.” – Matthew 13:7 I will always remember my Grandpa Persley, who lived with us years ago and turned our backyard into a lovely and fruitful garden. In essence, he took boards and created a big sandbox and fertilized it regularly with composted topsoil to help the garden grow, and boy, did it ever! He had tomatoes and all kinds of other veggies until he and my grandma moved to Springfield. Guess what happened then? Unfortunately, as well-tended as it had been, no one else in our household had the time or the interest to keep that garden healthy, so within three or four weeks, it was completely overrun by weeds. In fact, so swift was the destruction that it made a lasting impression on me.  Your mind is just like that garden. Not only must you tend to

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Small Changes Reap Great Rewards

“Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” – Matthew 7:17,18 Today, I want to share a powerful promise: if you change just one small thing in your thinking, it will reap great rewards in your life over the course of years!  When I was in high school and college, we used to go out on boats a lot, especially during the summer months. I remember one vessel we were on had this thing called a fly bridge, which was an area on top of the ship from which it could be maneuvered. Although there was a beautiful chrome steering wheel up there, there was a reason it stayed perpetually bright and shiny. Instead of sailing the boat using the wheel, the captain actually navigated using a little jenky

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Knowing the Unsearchable Mind of the Lord

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?’ ” – Romans 11:33,34 In his famous essay “As a Man Thinketh,” James Allen made an incredible statement that has become familiar to many of us. He said, “Men imagine that a thought can be kept secret, but it cannot. It rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance.” You see, if you nurture a certain type of thinking, it will not remain hidden; the more you dwell on something, the more it will make itself apparent in every aspect of your life. If your thoughts are negative and filled with unforgiveness, bitterness, putting yourself down and feeling shame, your relationships will have negative outcomes. Thankfully, positive change is entirely possible and

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I Know What I Can Change

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might,” – Ecclesiastes 9:10a I ask myself Who is in charge of the world? Many of us are starting to ask that same question. With COVID and big pharma, and now a looming war, nuclear prospects, and even before that, weird happenings all over the global network, it begs the question. If there’s some weird conspiracy theory to control the world, if some group is taking over, there’s one thing I know: There’s not a lot I can do about it.  Do you know what I can change? Do you know what you can change? I can change what I say to people in the world around me. I can change my habits. I can change my thoughts. I can change the way I treat people. I can change the things I consume. If I do life with Jesus,

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