THINK ON THESE THINGS

In a recent report, the Cleveland Clinic estimates that 80% of our thoughts are negative. That’s 48,000 negative thoughts per day! And it isn’t just making us cranky, it’s compromising the health of an entire generation. For the first time in modern history, people are dying younger than their predecessors from preventable diseases. Meaning the biggest threat to your well-being isn’t a pandemic, climate change, random violence – it’s dying from defeated thinking.

Negativity is gradual. Our outlook isn’t blacked-out overnight, instead it gets dimmer and dimmer over time and it appears in several ways:

• You despise the job you once prayed for.

• You complain about the spouse you once dreamed of.

• Season after season has been marked by God’s faithfulness, but you live with the framework of worry.

When we recognize that we’re in this condition there’s only one answer – we have to take control and reframe our view.

In the bible, the Apostle Paul gave 8 filters to determine if a thought is allowed in our minds. Philippians 4:8 (NLT) says, “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. 9 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.”

When we look through what’s wrong our view is always limited – we see the only solution as God changing our situation. But one thing you will learn is that often God is far more interested in changing my mind than He is in changing my circumstances. He wants us to know that our thoughts can always be changed, even if our circumstances can’t.

This is why worship is so vital. Every time you open your mouth in praise, your perspective begins to shift. Every time your lift your hands, the heaviness lifts a little more. Every time you sing about what God has done, your demeanor softens a little more. Every time you celebrate His goodness, He rehabilitates your soul. Because to worship is to enter His presence, and in Him we are made whole!

The truth is no matter what’s going on in your life – God is at work in the good, the bad and the ugly. God is working out a plan for you. You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you frame it.

Life doesn’t get better by chance or circumstance. Life gets better by your intentional choice. And you always have a choice to reframe what’s wrong and see what’s right!

Lord, I pray Your peace and Your presence will guard my heart, my mind, and my thought life today and always. In Jesus’ Name, amen

Kaci Stewart serves on the International Women's Advisory Council for the Church of God. Kaci is a passionate speaker and worship leader. For the last eighteen years, Kaci has served as Co-Lead Pastor at citylife church in Tampa, FL with her husband, Tony. Kaci's desire is to reach women. She launched BRAVE Women's Conference in 2015, started SMILE, a ministry for single moms, and is active in supporting Non-Profit Service Providers and Advocacy Agencies for Sexually Exploited and Trafficked Women and Youth.