Telling Yourself the Truth

How is your thought life? Are you under the influence of the Holy Spirit when it comes to what is going on in your mind?

Folks, the way and what we think affects everything; the way that we feel and our behavior/actions. Wrong thinking produces wrong emotions, wrong reactions and wrong behaviors - and unhappiness! So, when you learn to deal with your thoughts, you have taken your first step on the road to real contentment.

Jesus promises us in John 8:31-32 that if we remain or abide in His word, we will be His disciples. And, His disciples are free. Go get your Bible and read it for yourself. Are you free? Adam Clarke states "It was a maxim of the Jews, "That no man was free, but he who exercised himself in the meditation of the law." No man is truly free, but he in whose heart the power of sin is destroyed, and who has received the Spirit of adoption, through which he cries, Abba! Father! See Romans 8:15. The bondage of sin is the most grievous bondage; and freedom from its guilt and influence is the greatest liberty."

We need to be set free from our own sin in our thought patterns. Maybe we have been told by someone that we will never amount to anything, so we feel like a failure and live a life of failing. That was my thought pattern, simply because I believed a lie from one of my parents. I thought wrong (I would never amount to anything), wrong reaction (anger and depression), wrong behavior(set out to be 'someone' by entering the occult). I was unhappy! However, Jesus words have been (it is a process) setting me free as I renew my mind.

I am responsible to believe God's word and to place my mind under His Spirit's influence. By that I mean that I am to think correctly which is a discipline. Ouch! that is a word many of us do not want to hear. We like for God to 'do something' for us. But Jesus told us that it is our responsibilty to abide or remain in His word, or for His word to remain in us; believing His word, responding to His word, producing His fruit by His Spirit. It is a simple three step process of:
1.locating a lie in our thoughts and self talk
2.arguing against the lie
3. replacing the lie with the truth.

Remember folks, Jesus said if we would do this, He and His word would set us free!

recommended reading : Telling Yourself the Truth by William Backus