Why You Need to Guard Your Thoughts
Do you ever struggle with thoughts that feel like they’re on the spin cycle of your washing machine? Some negative discouraging and self-defeating sentence that plays again and again?
Even though we know how influential our thoughts are over every part of our lives … it’s a challenge to stay focused on true, honorable, right, pure, and lovely things. Whew!
I know the battle well. I’m guessing you do too!
So…
Welcome Debra Curto today from My Weakness His Strength, she will encourage and inspire you with helpful suggestions of ways to replace stinkin’ thinkin’ with the truth.
Why You Need to Guard Your Thoughts
Where do your thoughts go when you have a free moment to think, or while you are doing a monotonous task that doesn’t take much thought, like washing the car, doing dishes, or folding laundry?
Although many of those thoughts you and I will never share with another person, they are all known to God. Nothing is kept from our Maker, He knows us better than we know ourselves.
So, I’m learning the importance of guarding my thoughts. If I don’t want to let just anything float around in there, I need to be very careful about what I think.
“We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NCV)
A good question to ask myself is, “do I want to share this thought with Jesus?”
If not, I need to dump it. And every time it re-enters my mind dump it again. I’m hoping soon I will identify unsharable thoughts quickly and eventually with God’s help I won’t have those thoughts at all.
But it’s hard, isn’t it?
I’m believing with prayer and God’s help I can do it.
One of the first things I need His help with is knowing what thoughts have value and which ones are harmful. I need to know how to measure every thought against the truth of God’s Word to know if it is good or not.
And if it’s not, it needs to go!
Satan is suggestive. He loves to get our thoughts off God and he will use anything to do that.
It is a daily battle but God is faithful and willing to help. Our best weapons here are the Belt of Truth and the Sword of the Spirit—the Word of God.
“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.” Philippians 4:8 (NLT)
The truth is, you and I really do get to choose.
When I remember that it’s my mind, my thoughts, and my choice whether to keep a thought or dump it … well, that changes everything.
I’m making a list of things I would rather think about, and when my mind wanders I want to look at my list and change my thoughts.
The first items on my list need to be scripture verses. Truths I can memorize to fill my heart and mind with things that are important because Jesus said what’s in our hearts will come out of our mouths and show in our actions.
“For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” Mark 7:21–23 (NLT)
“Always remember what is written in the Book of the Teachings. Study it day and night to be sure to obey everything that is written there. If you do this, you will be wise and successful in everything.” Joshua 1:8 (NCV)
I decided recently to make a sincere effort to think on the Lord. Specifically, to give praise and thanksgiving to Him anytime and every time my mind was not otherwise usefully occupied.
Then I had to go in for an MRI on my head.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had an MRI – I’ve had several. The one on the head was the loudest and hardest. It felt like torture!
Sure they give you earplugs, but this time I felt like the noise was penetrating my brain. Toward the end of the procedure, they pulled me out to inject contrast into my veins. Tears were streaming down my face as the tech said she was surprised I had “done so well.”
It wasn’t easy to think of things other than that torturous noise.
Yet, I wanted to honor my effort to praise the Lord if my mind was not usefully occupied, so during this entire process I kept repeating this song of praise in my thoughts, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” (by Thomas Ken, 1637-1711)
God is good – Always! He helped me!
In the good and in the bad, in the easy and in the hard! He is always with us.
I recently wrote a book review on Lysa TerKeust’s book Uninvited and in it she says…
“Replace the negative talk that will hinder you. Replace it with praises for God, who will deliver you.”
I love this quote so much!
Praise is so important. The more you and I praise God the smaller we feel and when we are small, God is HUGE, He is GREAT, and He is ABLE!
[Tweet “God is HUGE, He is GREAT, and He is ABLE!”]
Will you join me in making a sincere effort to guard your thoughts?
May we remember we can replace ugly thoughts with beautiful ones as we praise Him—for He is good. He is the almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, and He loves us so much!
I’m praying…
“My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord” Psalm 104:34 (KJV)
If you have some way that helps you focus on God and guard your thoughts, I would love to hear about it, please share.
My name is Debra Curto, I am a child of God, wife, mother of 2, and new a Christian blogger. I am a Budget Analyst, I love photography, reading, and crocheting. My hope is to share my testimony and the insights God gives me and to bless others as we grow in Christ. You can follow me on Facebook and Pinterest.
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It’s wonderful to meet you, Debra, over here at Deb’s place!
Yes, when those negative thoughts come calling, we must turn to God and ask that He remove them from us as far as the east is from the west. Thank you for giving us concrete ways to go about this successfully.
Blessings!
I so wish I could faithfully remember to surrender my junk thinkin’ quickly. With God’s help, I’m much better than I used to be but oh, how I’d like to get to that place of trust that gives me peace faster. What a blessing that He is willing to take them with I lay them down. Thanks, Martha! God bless you!
Many Thanks Martha! I love the thought of having our negative thoughts removed, as far as the east is from the west. Thanks so much for reading! 8)
“What consumes your mind controls your life.” That couldn’t be more true!! Our thoughts hold so much power and it’s so important to take them captive to Christ! Great post!
It’s such a simple truth that I want to do a better job of remembering. Thanks, Lauren!
Many Thanks Lauren! So glad it resonated with you. Thanks for reading and commenting, greatly appreciated. 8)
Hi, Deb!
I truly enjoy your blog and wanted to nominate you for the Liebster Award. If you choose to accept, you can read about it in the post below. Thank you for faithfully pointing your readers to the Creator! Blessings!
Esther | Chosen & Cherished
Wonderful post, Debra! This is just what we need to do to keep our minds lined up with what God says in the Word. Amen, God is great!
Many Thanks Kelly! 8)
Deb, I wanted to say Thank you for having me over at your site. I greatly appreciate your support! Many Thanks! 8)
Hi Debra, God bless you. I’m so glad that open this today. About five minutes ago I was struggling with distraction in my thoughts as I was praying, so I started praising the Lord really hard. I believe the Lord just used you today, to confirm to me, that this is the way to concord. I have done it before many times, but today was reaffirmed. Thank you again. Will continues to follow you on FB and here. Praise the Lord.
Hello Debra, I appreciate your wisdom and courage to bless and encourage others. Thanks for sharing this post. God bless us!
And I thank you for encouraging me with such a kind comment. I greatly appreciate knowing that it blessed you. God is good. Grace and peace, Debra Jean ????