"You are today where your thoughts
have brought you; you will be
tomorrow where your
thoughts take you."
- James Allen
....and can our thoughts ever take us places!!
Places we shouldn't go.
When I first got saved, my pastor gave me a verse:
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Is this not a good verse to apply to our thought life?
Resisting the thoughts that are not *from above* ?
bitter
angry
defeated
sorrowful
fearful
regretful
malicious
sour
caustic
irate
harsh
biting
furious
vexed
fretful
petty
offensive
dreadful
Do this test........if there is something bothering you, you've been *abused*, somebody did you wrong, you're full of fear about something..... purpose yourself to THINK about it all day. Make a pact with yourself to harbor it in your heart. Don't let any fleeting thought about your trouble get past you, make sure you remember it all day long and maybe even write down how angry/scared/bitter/ you are about this *something*.
If you've been abused, hate the abuser and have NO forgiving thoughts about it.
If you have been overlooked or teased, have full liberty to hash it out in your mind over and over again. This would be a good time to make a phone-call, a cutting text? maybe even a spite filled letter. Be sure to send it, for it will surely make you feel better.
If you have been offended, re-live the offense as often as you can. Maybe you have written it down somewhere, this would be a GOOD time to look it over in case you forgot some very important details.
THINK THINK THINK about it.
If you are afraid of something, imagine the worse thing that could possibly happen.
If you have aught against somebunny, make sure to think about it and even make statements about fighting it until the day you die.
Don't miss anybody or occasion in this exercise. You know LOTS of people, make sure to include them in your rage.
Just be sure for a whole day to not let anything come into your mind that would make you appear to TRY to be thinking on things above.
Think on things below, dark things. Scary and ugly things. Mean things.
Maybe even start a club, or a website so others can share in your misery and you in theirs. You can share problems and drag each other down.
What do you think you will feel like in the evening after a day of liberty to think on the rotten? What if you did this for a week? For a month? How about a couple of years?
Well, all of my bright readers can see this is a silly thing to do.
To think about BAD things on purpose.
(did you know that YOU have control over what you want to think on? that it is totally up to YOU what you do with your thought life?....so really, when you do think about the *ugly*, it IS on purpose)
I'm thinking that giving yourself permission to be full of rage or fear about something.....is NOT submitting yourself to God OR resisting the devil.
But Wait!
Just how much CAN we think on those things that bring pain and cause bitterness? How long can we ponder them until it starts to change the way we think and live? Those thoughts are going to come to mind.....can we keep them there for a little while?
And be just a little angry? fretful? sour? bitter? vexed?
If I stopped letting those things take residence in my head, then I MIGHT just *GET OVER IT*, and I really don't want to. I want to be angry. I want to whine and complain about my abused life, how others have treated me, how wronged I have been. It's a good attention getter. (It's not that we can't forget, it's that we will NOT.)
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
So....I'll ask again, how much time should we allow ourselves to think on the things that cause us to fret and turn sour? There's nothing like a sour Christian that can't just get on with their life....
Hi, I'm _________, I've been abused, I'm bitter and here is a website you can visit and read all about it. That's who I am. I choose to drag that title around with me...you cannot expect me to act right because of what I've been through. I have lots of baggage and unbelief that the Lord cannot deliver me from.
I'm thinking we should take those things to the Lord and leave them there. EVERY time those things that are NOT lovely come into our mind, we can quote a verse, we can pray and ask God to help us think on good things, we can sing a song of praise..........or we can welcome the thoughts and let them ruin our minutes, our days, our weeks, our years. If you need counsel, then get it. If you need to think out a plan according to God's word, do some studying.
A life full of blame and anger is no way to live. You are saying the Lord is not powerful enough to help you get over those things that hurt. We should not live as if we cannot be lifted above these things by the God that filled the sky with stars.....and calleth them all by their names. A defeated life says the Lord cannot help me. I cannot rise above. The Lord is not able.
have brought you; you will be
tomorrow where your
thoughts take you."
- James Allen
Places we shouldn't go.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Is this not a good verse to apply to our thought life?
Resisting the thoughts that are not *from above* ?
bitter
angry
defeated
sorrowful
fearful
regretful
malicious
sour
caustic
irate
harsh
biting
furious
vexed
fretful
petty
offensive
dreadful
Do this test........if there is something bothering you, you've been *abused*, somebody did you wrong, you're full of fear about something..... purpose yourself to THINK about it all day. Make a pact with yourself to harbor it in your heart. Don't let any fleeting thought about your trouble get past you, make sure you remember it all day long and maybe even write down how angry/scared/bitter/ you are about this *something*.
If you've been abused, hate the abuser and have NO forgiving thoughts about it.
If you have been overlooked or teased, have full liberty to hash it out in your mind over and over again. This would be a good time to make a phone-call, a cutting text? maybe even a spite filled letter. Be sure to send it, for it will surely make you feel better.
If you have been offended, re-live the offense as often as you can. Maybe you have written it down somewhere, this would be a GOOD time to look it over in case you forgot some very important details.
THINK THINK THINK about it.
If you are afraid of something, imagine the worse thing that could possibly happen.
If you have aught against somebunny, make sure to think about it and even make statements about fighting it until the day you die.
Don't miss anybody or occasion in this exercise. You know LOTS of people, make sure to include them in your rage.
Just be sure for a whole day to not let anything come into your mind that would make you appear to TRY to be thinking on things above.
Think on things below, dark things. Scary and ugly things. Mean things.
Maybe even start a club, or a website so others can share in your misery and you in theirs. You can share problems and drag each other down.
What do you think you will feel like in the evening after a day of liberty to think on the rotten? What if you did this for a week? For a month? How about a couple of years?
Well, all of my bright readers can see this is a silly thing to do.
To think about BAD things on purpose.
(did you know that YOU have control over what you want to think on? that it is totally up to YOU what you do with your thought life?....so really, when you do think about the *ugly*, it IS on purpose)
I'm thinking that giving yourself permission to be full of rage or fear about something.....is NOT submitting yourself to God OR resisting the devil.
But Wait!
Just how much CAN we think on those things that bring pain and cause bitterness? How long can we ponder them until it starts to change the way we think and live? Those thoughts are going to come to mind.....can we keep them there for a little while?
And be just a little angry? fretful? sour? bitter? vexed?
If I stopped letting those things take residence in my head, then I MIGHT just *GET OVER IT*, and I really don't want to. I want to be angry. I want to whine and complain about my abused life, how others have treated me, how wronged I have been. It's a good attention getter. (It's not that we can't forget, it's that we will NOT.)
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
So....I'll ask again, how much time should we allow ourselves to think on the things that cause us to fret and turn sour? There's nothing like a sour Christian that can't just get on with their life....
Hi, I'm _________, I've been abused, I'm bitter and here is a website you can visit and read all about it. That's who I am. I choose to drag that title around with me...you cannot expect me to act right because of what I've been through. I have lots of baggage and unbelief that the Lord cannot deliver me from.
I'm thinking we should take those things to the Lord and leave them there. EVERY time those things that are NOT lovely come into our mind, we can quote a verse, we can pray and ask God to help us think on good things, we can sing a song of praise..........or we can welcome the thoughts and let them ruin our minutes, our days, our weeks, our years. If you need counsel, then get it. If you need to think out a plan according to God's word, do some studying.
A life full of blame and anger is no way to live. You are saying the Lord is not powerful enough to help you get over those things that hurt. We should not live as if we cannot be lifted above these things by the God that filled the sky with stars.....and calleth them all by their names. A defeated life says the Lord cannot help me. I cannot rise above. The Lord is not able.
Psalm 28:7 The LORD [is] my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
Just recently, my mom had a biopsy on her lungs. It took about a week to get the results. I DID think about it, but mostly I prayed for her. Those aren't easy times and it seems like there is nothing to think about except the negative. Well. That's not true. It is always uplifting to be thankful. Yes, we must think about our problems and fears so we can sort things out in our mind.....just don't let those things take you to bitterness or fear.
Just recently, my mom had a biopsy on her lungs. It took about a week to get the results. I DID think about it, but mostly I prayed for her. Those aren't easy times and it seems like there is nothing to think about except the negative. Well. That's not true. It is always uplifting to be thankful. Yes, we must think about our problems and fears so we can sort things out in our mind.....just don't let those things take you to bitterness or fear.
By asking the Lord to help me think on things above instead of painful things...........I can say that He IS able to help, to give strength in time of need. I don't have to be defeated and carry around the things that happened in the past. I can be free from those things and know that God will help me tomorrow, too.
Those of you that know me, know that my life hasn't been a bed of roses..... the nights I haven't slept, the days I've been upset, the times I have been filled with fear and dread, are the times I have NOT let the God of the universe help me.
********I want everybody to understand that REAL abuse is a REAL thing. A very sad thing has come about because of people shouting *abuse*.....REAL abuse is being lost in the mix. Wives physically abused by their husbands, thus making them truly battered.....children being neglected.....sexual abuse.....these are the truly horrible things. My heart goes out to those that have had to live through these things.......
Somebody can have their feelings hurt, have somebody in authority make a decision they don't like, be offended, have anger stirred in their heart about a difference in opinion.......and they too will cry ABUSE.******
Comments
"For in many things we offend all." Is a good principle to remember from James' epistle. To hear some people complain you would think they had never offended (abused) anyone.