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Positive Thinking (Philippians 4:8)

Scripture of the Day: Philippians 4:8 (NLT)

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.

Reader, do you ever find yourself unable to turn off your brain? Or even worse, find yourself unable to prevent that brain from going down a path of negative thoughts? This tends to happen to me, usually at night. In one of the Beth Moore bible studies I have done, I remember her saying she used to sleep with her head (or hand -  I can't remember!) on a bible because when it is dark we are at our weakest and the enemy likes to attack.  When these negative thoughts hit me I fear the worst about everything. If my husband is not home, I think he could be dead in a ditch somewhere; if my kiddo has a low-grade fever I jump ahead to him having cancer of some kind; I imagine some friend, somewhere, is mad at me and I don't know why. It is no good for my head, or my heart, when my thoughts go down this road!

 What I should really do when I cannot sleep, or feel my brain going down a road of negativity, is think about or focus on what Paul tells us to do in the verse above. I should fix my thoughts on what is true, honorable and right. On things that are pure, lovely, and admirable. At the end of that verse, Paul says to think about things that are worthy of praise. For those of you who have seen White Christmas, I think of the lyrics, "When I'm worried and I can't sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep and I fall asleep counting my blessings." How much better would my life be if when my brain refused to turn off I focused on being thankful, praising the Lord, and the things I know to be true.

 The next time you feel the negative thoughts overtaking your life, at any time of day, stop them! Switch your thought mode. Refuse to make yourself crazy by thinking of the "what-if's" and all that is bad, and focus on not just the good, but the excellent! When we train ourselves to change our thought pattern, I have full confidence we can change our lives, for the better. 

 Closing Prayer:

 Heavenly Father God, thank you for using Paul to tell us to focus on all the good instead of the bad! You are a God who wants us to be happy and not fearful or negative all the time. Please help us fix our thoughts on the true, pure, and lovely. Help us be thankful and remember our actual blessings, instead of our imagined bad news. Do not let the enemy take our thoughts down a path of trouble, but instead help the Holy Spirit in us keep us strong. I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

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