Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser
“8 Finally, brothers and sisters, 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” (Phil 4:8 NIV).
The thoughts you think help determine the direction of your life. You can’t dwell on defeat and expect to see victory. When thoughts of worry, fear or anxiety try to take root, choose instead, the promises of God. Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts. What we think is extremely important and especially what we think consistently. That doesn’t mean every little thought that goes through your mind becomes reality in your life, but certainly things that we think consistently. What should we be thinking consistently? According to this text of scripture, they are things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy.
God has given us power to control our thoughts, bringing every thought into line with what the word of God says. There are a lot of negative things going on around the world at the moment. You may be feeling grief and sorrowful. You may be confused and be asking; God why are these things happening? You can take control of your own thought life completely by speaking to and immediately casting down wrong thoughts and replacing them with the right thoughts listed in “Philippians 4:8”.
“Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). Know that God is a good God. If we think about the goodness of God, we will be able to cast off the fret and the depression and the grief and the sorrows that will come. Instead of seeing yourself poor, you can say my God shall supply all my needs. “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19). Our supply is coming from a different source, not according to the government’s riches, not according to your employer’s or your origination’s riches, not according to your parent’s or children’s riches, but according to God’s riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
" Things will come to pass exactly the way you see them. Make sure you resist negative thoughts with the word of God. "
“And God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause. 9 As the scripture says, “He gives generously to the needy; his kindness lasts forever.” (2 Cor. 9:8 -9). Why don’t you let these words paint a picture in your mind? People read these scriptures and yet they see themselves poor. That’s the image that they have, that’s the expectation that they have. They never expect to get out of the situation that they are in. And that’s not thinking the way God wants us to think, and that’s not meditating on the word, and that’s not focusing on God. But that’s allowing your mind to follow what other people are following. Or what other people are saying. They keep saying: There’s economic downturn, life will never return to normal, everybody is going to go through a recession.
Things will come to pass exactly the way you see them. Make sure you resist negative thoughts with the word of God. Meditate on the word day and night (Ps. 1: 1-3 and Joshua 1:8). Meditation is so important. What’s meditation? You have to take the word of God and let it paint pictures on the inside of you and this takes time, but if you do this on a regular basis, it’s going to revolutionize your life. Don’t see yourself sick and don’t see yourself dying even if you’ve been diagnosed with an incurable disease.
There’s power in your thinking and what you say. “As he thinks in his heart so does he become” (Pro 27:3). “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit” (Pro 18:21). You can see yourself well in your thinking instead of expecting the worse. Some of you know that God has bigger plans for you than what you are experiencing. You may even know some of the details. You may know the business that He wants you to start or how He wants you to go out and minister. You have direction from the Lord, but you are not seeing it come to pass because you haven’t sat down and meditated. You haven’t pictured it to see it coming to pass.
Meditate on what God has told you. Ask Him that God, here is where you want me to go, how do I get there? God will direct you exactly where He wants you to go. Focus on God and you can see things in your Spiritual womb. Keep your imagination on God and you will arrive at the right destination even in the midst of crisis. If we want to be changed then our minds should be changed before anything in our lives is going to change. And God will help us with that. He will teach us how to think. The Holy Spirit is so wonderful, and He is inside of us and He will even remind us when we are not thinking right. And He will even remind us what we should be thinking if we have enough of the word in us to rise up and confront the wrong thing.
We give control of our minds to the enemy if we don’t resist wrong thoughts that come up against us. And the very best way to resist wrong thoughts is to open your mouth and speak out loud a portion of scripture that you have learned that you know confronts that wrong thoughts. And the thoughts stop immediately because if you are speaking, then it goes through your mind so the thing that the enemy is trying to put in your mind has to go away. Speak to it and immediately cast down wrong thoughts and replace them with the right ones according to the word of God.
There are times that you have to speak the word all day long. Because there are times that we have major attacks. Especially in this current situation that we are in. The mind becomes the battlefield where everything that you believe is being tested. Satan is going to use every opportunity to bombard your mind with every lie and every kind of negative thinking.
Fight your battle like a Christian by the renewing of your mind. Have new ideas and new attitude so you may “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. Renewing our mind according to the word of God is one of the most important things we need to deal with in our lives. The Bible says in Rom 12:2 that, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”.
You see, the Bible is saying: don’t be like the world, don’t think like the world and don’t act like the world. There are many things that the world does that they think it’s fine that we cannot and should not do. We have to make a decision about where we are going to stand in this day that we live in. Do not conform to this world’s superficial and meaningless customs. Don’t be conformed but be transformed, changed by the entire renewal of your mind. Hallelujah. How we need to pray; May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer! (Ps. 19:14). Meditate and confess the word every day, remind yourself over and over what God’s promises are for you. “And I will think this because this is what God tells me to think”.
In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honourable. Only think what God tells you to think. May the Lord help us to think His thoughts with His word. In Jesus name Amen.
