But have nothing to do with foolish and ignorant speculations [useless disputes over unedifying, stupid controversies], since you know that they produce strife and give birth to quarrels. ~2 Timothy 2:23 (AMP)
The person we talk to, argue with and question the most is ourselves. Have you ever asked yourself “why did I do that” or “what’s the matter with me” or even “Wow, you pulled it off”? We are talking to ourselves all day every day from the time we wake up until the time we go to sleep and some of us talk to ourselves all night long too! When we read in scripture about disputes and strife and quarrels it’s fair to say that we can actually have these issues with ourselves in our own minds. We can be a “one man show” needing nobody else to form opinions and then quarrel and reason with ourselves about those opinions. That is why it is so important to manage our thought life, just like we manage our home, our finances and our diets. When we let any of those get out of control, we see repercussions and then usually have a mess to clean up. We are told many times in scripture that thinking about things we shouldn’t be thinking about is going to cause problems, starting with us and then eventually spreading out into our relationships and circumstances. Our minds feed on what we spend our time watching and what we spend our time listening to and those things can come from either the Lord or the world. Then our minds produce thoughts from what we have fed them. Just as the old saying goes “you get out what you put in”.
In 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 we read “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (NIV) There is a battle going on for our minds every day and many of us don’t even realize we already have the victory in this battle. We just have to fight the good fight. If we are sloppy in our approach to taming our mind it’s going to cost us our peace. One of the easiest ways to cast down imaginations, vain speculations and just downright ugly ideas and attitudes is to spend time in God’s word and to commit scripture to our memory. Then we can talk back to our negative thoughts! God’s word is what puts us over in every battle. It is the source of our faith. It’s a firm foundation on which a successful life is built. When we choose thoughts produced by the spirit verses thoughts produced by our flesh, we will walk by the spirit and demonstrate to this lost and broken world that Jesus has given us the victory over the world beginning with our own minds. We will be stronger and more stable. What a testimony! Today, when thoughts arise that don’t line up with what God has said, you can just shut that down and let it go!
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ~2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
What thoughts need to go today?
Write an answer
Write an answer
Comments