Your Mind Is the Bull’s-eye
No matter how good of a person you are or how much faith you have, you'll never get to the place where negative, discouraging thoughts don't come. "Your dream is never going to come to pass. You'll never recover your health. Your child's too far off course to come back." The enemy's main tools are deception and lies. Your mind is the bull's-eye of his target. If he can control your thinking, he can control your life. You can't stop negative thoughts from coming, but just because a thought comes doesn't mean you have to keep thinking about it. You control the doorway to your mind. You're in charge of what you give access to.
That's why the Scripture tells us to guard our minds, to be selective in what we allow in. If the thought is negative, discouraging, and brings worry or fear, don't let it in. It's not complicated: Don't dwell on it. But too often when these negative thoughts come, we just allow them access and go around worried, discouraged, and intimidated. Start paying attention to what you're dwelling on. Ask yourself, "Where is this thought coming from?" If it's not positive, hopeful, and encouraging, it's not from God. That's the enemy trying to plant negative seeds, fearful seeds, inferior seeds.
The prophet Isaiah says, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you" (Isaiah 26:3). What is your mind stayed on? What are you dwelling on throughout the day? Are your thoughts limiting you or are your thoughts empowering you? Are your thoughts stayed upon defeat and worry, or are they stayed upon victory, favor, breakthrough, and abundance? Instead of keeping your mind stayed on your problems, stayed on the news, stayed on doubt, or stayed on worry, keep it stayed on what God has promised you.
Here's the simple principle: When a negative thought comes, erase it and replace it with a positive, faith-filled thought from God's Word. Don't leave your mind empty. Get your mind going in the right direction, and your life will go in the right direction. You're going to draw in what you're constantly thinking about. If you're thinking "can't do it" or "I'm not enough" or "this problem is too big" thoughts, you're drawing in defeat. That's making you weaker, your gifts are being pushed down, your faith is being diminished. Why don't you start erasing and replacing thoughts? How much further will you go, how much happier will you live, how much more of God's favor will you see, if you guard your mind, if you are selective in what you're dwelling on, if you keep it stayed on Him?
That's why the Scripture tells us to guard our minds, to be selective in what we allow in. If the thought is negative, discouraging, and brings worry or fear, don't let it in. It's not complicated: Don't dwell on it. But too often when these negative thoughts come, we just allow them access and go around worried, discouraged, and intimidated. Start paying attention to what you're dwelling on. Ask yourself, "Where is this thought coming from?" If it's not positive, hopeful, and encouraging, it's not from God. That's the enemy trying to plant negative seeds, fearful seeds, inferior seeds.
The prophet Isaiah says, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you" (Isaiah 26:3). What is your mind stayed on? What are you dwelling on throughout the day? Are your thoughts limiting you or are your thoughts empowering you? Are your thoughts stayed upon defeat and worry, or are they stayed upon victory, favor, breakthrough, and abundance? Instead of keeping your mind stayed on your problems, stayed on the news, stayed on doubt, or stayed on worry, keep it stayed on what God has promised you.
Here's the simple principle: When a negative thought comes, erase it and replace it with a positive, faith-filled thought from God's Word. Don't leave your mind empty. Get your mind going in the right direction, and your life will go in the right direction. You're going to draw in what you're constantly thinking about. If you're thinking "can't do it" or "I'm not enough" or "this problem is too big" thoughts, you're drawing in defeat. That's making you weaker, your gifts are being pushed down, your faith is being diminished. Why don't you start erasing and replacing thoughts? How much further will you go, how much happier will you live, how much more of God's favor will you see, if you guard your mind, if you are selective in what you're dwelling on, if you keep it stayed on Him?