It is time to start another great week. I have had a wonderful weekend, mostly relaxing with the family at home. I hope each of you had a super Fourth of July weekend.
As I was reading the Word today I came across a very familiar verse in Philippians 4:8. It goes like this: "Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." What a wonderfully simple verse of instruction for us. Think good and Godly thoughts throughout your days and weeks. It is simple to understand, but it is difficult to live out. Why?
Why are we constantly giving in to negative, ungodly thoughts. Have you ever started a week with lots of excitement and joy about all of the possibilities that were coming, only to feel depressed and discouraged and demotivated by Monday night? What happened? Many times we allow our thoughts to go from the positive and Godly to the negative and ungodly very quickly. Things happen at work, the kids drive you crazy, you have a setback in your schedule, and all of the sudden negative thoughts begin to seep into our mind and we begin to slide downhill. If we allow the negative thoughts to have their way, we go from one negative to the next and we begin to spiral downward until we feel totally overwhelmed and defeated. For some people, they have been stuck in negative thought patterns for so long, every part of their life has been affected and you see it in their countenance and you hear it in their speech.
The good news is we can choose what to dwell on. We can dwell in the negative - what's wrong with us, why am I like this, why is my spouse so sorry, why are my kids troublemakers, why is my job terrible, why do bad things happen to me? Or we can choose another path in the power of the Spirit. We can choose to follow the command of Phillipians 4:8 and see our world turned around. As we dwell on the good and the Godly, it also can become a pattern in our lives. It will affect our countenance, our words, and our relationships for the good.
There is a warning. You cannot change your thinking if you are not spending time in the Word of God and in prayer. These two elements do transformational work to our "stinking thinking". Tap into the joy of living out Philippians 4:8 today and see your world changed for the glory of God.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Brad

Scripture Reading for today: Phillipians 4; Luke 6; Psalms 121,122