Thoughts from YouTube ™

I know, I’m a big dork…but I have sermon play lists that I run on my television all night as I sleep or sometimes I play my audio Bible. Silence wakes me up (thanks mom! Haha! JK….JK), so I have to have sound.

I want to fill my head with good things and not allow myself to get distracted by my “fleshly” thoughts. If I don’t CHOOSE to focus on what’s “true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, moral and praiseworthy”(Philippians 4:8 HCSB), then there is too much space left over for the enemy to deposit thoughts; thoughts that I tend to gravitate toward naturally, like selfishness and rudeness, pushy-ness and frustration with things that don’t go my way.

Did you ever notice that when you obsess or over-think a situation you get sucked into a terrible or stressed out mood. Then, too often it sets the tone for the day. Or on the flip side, when you aren’t thinking of anything, your mind runs away from you and suddenly you think “Hey! Where did that thought come from?!?! Why would I even think that?” The Bible says we CAN take our thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 HCSB, AMP and MSG are really explanatory too). We might not necessarily choose what pops in our heads, but we certainly don’t have to let the thoughts take over.

I like Joyce Meyer a lot. She’s a good teacher for me. So I was listening to her “Choosing to trust God 2016” sermon as I dozed off last night. It’s about Trusting God and Doing Good from Psalm 37 (I like the ESV version of this one). The whole Chapter is relevant and talks about gaining wisdom, which I can ALWAYS use a heavy dose of!

So often I hear people say things like, “Just trust God and He will give you what you need” or “All you can do is trust God”(the latter makes me a little sad…..like He’s our last ditch effort instead of what we reach for first).

But, there’s more to just trusting God. We have a plan of action too. When we do good as well, like verse 3 says, it creates a whole new emotional response. We take the focus off of self (my mind returns to thoughts of me more often than I want it to) and it puts good thoughts in our mind. Can you name a time that you helped someone and felt bad about it? Probably not (I’m not talking about their response or lack of either….I’m talking about how it makes you feel). My usual reaction is giddiness and a feeling of accomplishment. It lifts my spirit and gives me energy.

If I dwell on me and my problems too much, I sink into a pit of depression and lose hope. I don’t want to live my life that way. What a waste of precious time that can’t be returned! I want to look more and more like Jesus every single day no matter how He has to teach me.

My friend “S” put it perfectly the other day, we are here on earth to tell God’s story, not to tell ours. It’s about giving credit where credit is due and I want people to think of God when they remember me.