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thoughts

Let It Go!

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“Cast your burden on the LORD [release it] and He will sustain and uphold you.” 
Psalm 55:22 AMP

Many of you have probably heard of Disney’s movie Frozen and its popular song Let It Go! I’m not necessarily a big fan of the lyrics, but I do like the title. Let me explain.

As Christians, I think we’d all agree that none of us are exempt from the daily troubles and temptations of life. Just because we love God and seek to follow Him doesn’t mean we have it all together. However, learning to apply these three little words – LET IT GO – could prove to be very beneficial in certain situations.

STRESS! Does anyone besides me have issues with that? Stress comes in all kinds of packages. Some are simply beyond our realm of control. Others we create by our busyness and excessive commitments. Other situations just simply require us to let it go. The results of the latter application have proven very beneficial on a personal level.

WORRIES AND CARES. Like stress, anxiety and concerns may or may not be of our own doing. We find instruction in the Scriptures to not worry and to cast our cares on God. Not as easy as it sounds, but if we’ll hold all things with an open hand, it’s much easier to let it go.

UNFORGIVENESS. If you struggle in this area, let me remind you that you are hurting yourself more than the person you choose not to forgive. Holding on to those wrongs will eat at you like cancer and create a bitter heart. Let it go. Give the offense and the person to God. You may have to do it more than once, but the outcome will always be for your good.

FLAWED THINKING. That would be the same as bad, wrong, unhealthy, evil, impure…I think you get my drift. Whether from temptation or random thoughts, we need to get a grip on our thought life. As soon as you recognize that ‘stinking thinking’, let it go! However, be quick to replace the bad with the good.

Father, help us to be quick to grasp those areas of our lives that need to be turned over to         you. May we be quick to let it go, casting it all away, knowing You will take those burdens         and troubles from us. Amen and amen!

[Digging deeper – Prov. 23:7a; Matt. 6:25-34; Phil. 4:6-8; Col. 3:13; 1 Peter 5:8]

Releasing the grip,

Beverly <><

Do you Sing-along or change the station?

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“But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.”
2 Thessalonians 3:3 NIV

I like to listen to the radio. I usually rotate between a few stations that play Christian music, so hearing the same song more than once a day is inevitable. Occasionally, I turn on the radio and “Good Good Father” is playing for the seventh time. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Chris Tomlin, but sometimes I get tired of hearing it and will change the station hoping to hear a new song.

Satan is much like hearing that same song; he is a broken record, always filling our head with the same thoughts of doubt.

You’re not good enough

You don’t know what you’re doing

No one will love you

You will fail

If I already know the lyrics to the song I can either sing along or I can change the station.

When we don’t like what we are listening to, we change the radio station in our car. The same principle applies to our thoughts. I rather listen to the truth of God’s Word than Satan’s lies any day. God gives us exactly what we need to deflect the attack of the enemy through His word.

  • guard your heart (Proverbs 4:23)
  • take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5)
  • do not conform to the patters of this world (Romans 12:2)
  • put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:13)

When you surround yourself with the truth, you can spot the lies. These verses are the truth on which we stand and rely upon.

The Lord is faithful to strengthen and protect us by giving us His word to study and His truths to sing! My sweet friends, let’s surround ourselves with the truth of the word of God, so we can drown out the voice of the enemy!

Many Blessings,

Stephanie

 

photo credit: image created via wordswag

Stinkin’ Thinkin’: Food for Thought

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Life and peace? Yes, please!

All around us things clamor for our attention, making peace a seemingly elusive concept just out of our reach at times. Paul tells the Romans a mind set on the Spirit leads to life and peace. That sounds great, but how do we do that? How do we take our minds off of our flesh and set them on the Spirit?

Stick around this week and see what God’s word has to say about it …

 

Food for Thought

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. 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. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me-everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8, NLT

open bible 2During a recent conversation with a friend, she spoke of the horrible anxiety she was having due to horrific global events. Images from news stories were occupying her thoughts, and the resulting anxiety was waking her in the middle of the night.

I can sympathize all too well with my friend. If I’m not using discernment about what I allow to fill my mind, I can see the results in my thoughts and in the lack of peace I feel in my soul.

So, I should just stop thinking about that stuff and think about happy things, right?

Well, yes, sort of. Thought control is important, and the idea certainly isn’t new—seeing that Paul encouraged the Philippians to fix their thoughts on things that were excellent and worthy of praise.

But just as healthy food fuels our bodies, the content we allow in our minds fuels our thoughts.

While some people are naturally just positive thinkers, the Greek meaning of praise, is to be “ascribed to God, in respect of His glory.” So Paul isn’t recommending some watered-down “look on the bright side” theology here; he is encouraging the Philippians to fill their minds with more Jesus!

The truth is that it’s downright difficult to focus our thoughts on “what is true and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable” if we are aren’t filling it with such things. The music we listen to, the books we read, and the movies we watch all influence what we think. In turn, the thoughts that we allow to fill our minds reveal themselves in the words we speak as well as in our actions.

If we’re struggling with our thought lives, the answer is more Jesus. More time in His word. More praise music in our homes. More focus on Him and less focus on what the world is offering.

Fixing my thoughts,

Traci