Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4: 8-9
God tells us He has given us the ability to control what we think by taking “every thought captive”. (I can almost hear some of you! “Oh come on, give me a break ... every thought?” Yeah. That is just what I am saying. Everything thought.)
This is NOT saying we will never have negative thoughts or unwanted thoughts - it is saying that we do not have to “entertain” those thoughts and let them grow roots. Some of our thoughts are so ingrained that they are automatic. Some of our thoughts have been with us since childhood and it can be difficult to imagine that things can be different. Rooting them out is a process but we can do it with God’s help.
One of the outgrowths of the codependency movement of the 80’s and early 90’s was the rapid growth in the idea of affirmations. Affirmations are simply positive thoughts that we speak out loud (or think - but the spoken work has much more power- look at how God created the world - by the spoken word.)
And where do we find these affirmations? Well, God gave us this book .... a really handy instruction book ... The Bible.
Take one of my favorite Psalms: Psalm 121.
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Once again I am going to ask you to participate in this blog.
Go back up to the top of the Psalm and where it says “you” or “your” - put in “me”, “my”, or even your own name. Read it out loud. Sure, you will feel silly. It’s ok. If you are in a crowded place, just mouth the words quietly. It should go something like this:
1 I (deni) lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my (deni’s) help come from?
2 My (deni’s) help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let my (deni’s) foot slip—
he who watches over me (deni) will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over me (deni)
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over me (deni)—
the LORD is my (deni’s) shade at my (deni’s) right hand;
6 the sun will not harm me (deni) by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep me (deni) from all harm—
he will watch over my (deni’s) life;
8 the LORD will watch over my (deni’s) coming and going both
now and forevermore.
Try repeating this several times a day. Morning and right before bedtime is good!
We are exhorted to keep our mind on things above. One very good way is to start finding Bible verses, like Psalm 121 that we can recite (that means know my heart! Yes, I am asking you to memorize words! But writing them on a 3 x 5 card that you keep handy works until to know the words. If you read them daily, you will find you have memorized them effortlessly over time.
Scripture is full of promises, full of ways to keep our mind on things above. This is just a start! More tomorrow. And remember .. God will watch over you now and forever more!
Father God, thank you that in the times of pain and heartache, that you are with us. You do not promise to take away the pain, but we have your promise that you can bring joy from that pain if we let you. You, Lord, are an amazing God, Father, Savior. Thank you. Amen and Amen. So be it, Lord.
(My thanks to Lynne Popp for teaching me this concept!)