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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
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.
Philippians 4:8
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Satan would want people to carry a negative, pessimistic attitude into daily life and based on what we see and hear these days, he’s succeeding. It’s hard to find anyone who is a beacon of optimism every day, this despite the truth that we live in extremely good world created and ruled over by a perfectly good God.
You see, countless millions of people every day allow themselves to be deceived. They buy into the false narrative that we live in a world filled with darkness and evil and gloom with the end result being a spirit dominated by depression and despair. Thankfully, God has given us truth through His holy word, an antidote for the malady of negativity and the despondency and sense of hopelessness it breeds.
Over the past three messages, we have dissected verse 8 of Philippians, chapter 4. There we find the scriptures commanding God’s people to exercise the power of positive thinking by fixing thought on eight key things. Here’s the verse in its entirety:
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.
Thinking about truth keeps our mind from being misled.
Thinking about things that are noble elevates our mindset to things that are morally acceptable and honorable to God.
Thinking about what is right keeps our minds from sinful thought.
Thinking with purity helps us prevent impurities from entering our thought processes.
Thinking about lovely things ensures our minds are thinking about matters that are pleasant and pleasing to God.
And thinking about admirable things gets our minds centered on all God has done, things that bring us to a spirit of awe and admiration.
This is a summary of the thought qualities that God’s word calls us to as covered in the first three messages in this series. Today, we conclude with the last two elements that are found in the power of positive thinking.
1. ...whatever is excellent
When we strive to think about excellent things, we aren’t settling for second-best thoughts. We also don’t accept negative thinking because it is far from meeting the standard of excellence.
Think about the best things in your life, how God has richly blessed you with the things you treasure, and your thoughts will be fixed on things that are excellent.
For me, I give thanks for my family and the gifts God has imparted on me to be able to teach and share His word to others. He has blessed me with the ability to write and speak and sing in His honor and to His glory, and for that I am eternally grateful.
He and He alone has made my life excellent and so it’s not difficult for me to think about excellence. I pray you will also come to this place as you consider all He has done in and around you.
2. ...whatever is praiseworthy
When we think about excellent things in our life, we can’t help but enter into a spirit of praise, giving thanks to God for His goodness and love. He is the source of every good and perfect thing we have (James 1:17) and therefore no one is more worthy of our appreciation than Him.
Each and every day, make sure you take time to think praiseworthy thoughts toward your Lord for every good thing you have in life is from Him. And to aid this effort, turn your attention to the word of God for there you will find more than 300 passages that speak of praise to the Lord God Almighty.
So there you have it, eight ways God commands us to think as stated in His word. Exercising them all will show you the amazing power found in positive thinking, the very power of God that He wants you to have in your mind and heart.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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