Change How You Think

 

If anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. (Philippians 4:8b NIV)

You don't have more problems than other people - you just think about them more often! Stop: go back and re-read that sentence. Take a moment and consider what it means. It's what you think about that produces how you feel. If you don't believe that, try getting angry without first having angry thoughts, or getting sad without first having sad thoughts. You can't do it, can you? To experience a feeling you must first have the thought that produces it. That's life-changing information; it's knowledge the devil doesn't want you to have.

If you change how you think you'll change how you feel! Nothing can hold your negative feelings in place other than your own thinking. The truth is, it's your thinking that's negative not your life! Once you understand that you can get back on the path to happiness again.

But change takes time. You didn't become negative overnight and you won't become positive overnight. But you can start. How? By doing 2 things:

First, by treating your negative thoughts in the same way you treat flies at a picnic - shoo them away and replace them with thoughts that are "excellent and praiseworthy." You have that choice!

Second, by thinking about God's goodness. David did: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities; Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from destruction; Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies" (Psalm 103:2-4 NKJV).

 

So if you're serious about changing your life, start changing how you think!

 

Written by Cecil Jacob, shared thru Servant of Grace Christian Fellowship

The Healing Process

 

As I continue in my challenge with rheumatoid arthritis, it gets easier to see that my emotions and thoughts control so much of the solutions and healing. 

 

There is a definite correlation between what I think and whether I have pain or not. Since I choose to avoid the drugs with many side effects for this disease, it keeps me 'having to' focus on what I'm thinking and what my emotions are like. It has also forced me to make choices about who I am going to associate with.

 

Listening to people who live their lives in the "lower regions" of the earth will not edify or build anybody's health. I have had to make some difficult choices on the people I spend time with. I find life holds enough challenges without having to listen to people who have nothing positive to say. 

 

Have you ever noticed how "grimey" you feel after being with somebody like this? I literally feel like somebody beat the life out of me with an extended period of their ranting. God tells us:  "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."  And what does it promise? "And the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4)

 

Our lives are not about what we do (or what we own, but that's another hot topic). It's about who we are. For Christians that is pretty well laid out in the Bible, but as Christians, we too often do not believe that the Bible truly holds all answers and solutions for us.

 

If we don't get rid of the stress in our lives, we will never get rid of the diseases. Doesn't matter how many millions is poured into the "societies" searching for a cure, we may be the ones holding the "cure" in our hands all along.

 

God is always working for good in our lives (Romans 8:28) if we love Him and want His purpose and will in our lives. When we are sick and facing a health challenge, we especially need to look for good, if for nothing else but to speed along recovery.

 

Patients need to be encouraged to find the meaning in their health crisis. Most people have some kind of innate knowing of this, but it is not usually supported by conventional doctors as part of the healing process.

 

Consider this: Measure your life by loss and not by gain, Not by the wine drunk but by the wine poured forth, For love's strength is found in love's sacrifice, And he who suffers most has most to give.--- Anonymous

 

When ill we should ask, "Why do I need this in my life now? What might this condition or pain or symptom or limitation be trying to get me to do or stop doing?"

 

If you can ask yourself these questions without guilt or self-blame, get in touch with the answers, and start to make changes accordingly, then real progress in your healing becomes possible.

 

Abraham's wife Sarah had a health crisis. She had been unable to bear Abraham a child. She was now way past physically being able to do so (all hope was lost?) when God chooses to (finally?) enter the scene and promise Abraham that his seed would fill the earth.

 

Abraham believed God and said to his eyes (which saw the circumstances), "Stand back!" and to the laws of nature (that he knew in his mind), "Hold your peace!" and to his unbelieving heart, "Silence, you lying tempter!" He simply believed God.

 

Be sure you don't take a counterfeit like Abraham did. Sarah talked him into having a child with her handmaiden. Ismael and Isaac are still fighting with the continual war in the Middle East between Palestine and Israel.

 

Jehovah-Jireh = God Will Provide. Abraham learned his lesson on timing. He chose no counterfeits when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac on the altar. His faith had been built, he knew that God would provide in one way or another. He would not be moved by what he saw or felt.

 

What an example for us of trust in God. In the healing process, let's ask God what He is showing us, see the good, and move on to healing.

 

A HEALING MOMENT by Donna L. Watkins © 2006. All rights reserved. (Please include this line to forward the message).

NOT ONCE

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8)

I have a pinball game that I play on my computer and I have learned not to take my eyes off the ball for one second. Yet, time after time, I allow myself to be distracted by something and I lose the ball.

It is the same with satan. Every time that I put my eyes on a person, a situation, or any other distraction instead of focusing on Jesus, I have opened the door for satan to enter and cause pain, heartache, and sorrow. (I never capitalize the name of satan. I will not give him that respect.)

Are you taking your focus off Jesus and putting it on people and circumstances? You are opening the door for satan to enter and cause problems in your life. We need to stay alert and keep our hearts and minds centered on Jesus.

In this world of temptations that surround us, I urge you to keep your hearts, eyes, and minds on Jesus. What about the programs you watch on television? Would you watch them if Jesus were sitting beside you? I can remember when they had good, clean family programs that were funny and inspiring. Now, it seems when you turn on the television most of the time you see and hear sex, violence, and profanity.

Let's turn our hearts and our homes back to Jesus so that we will not be ashamed when we stand before God on the Judgment Day.

NOT ONCE by Joanne at joannelowe8@cox.net www.clarion-call.org

When Life Doesn't Make Sense

'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts'" (Is 55:8-9).

This seems tragic to me, because although God sometimes lets us in on some of his reasons for allowing things or doing things, most of the time he doesn't. We must realize that we are the created beings and God is the Creator. How could we understand his reasoning? Trying to analyze His omnipotence is like an amoeba attempting to comprehend the behavior of man.

When disasters strike, we feel like children at God's feet, tugging at his coat with the question, "Why?" It is human nature for us to want to understand each significant event in our lives. We feel that if we could just grab hold of a reason for each painful event then we could make it through to the other side. This pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality has one major flaw: If we always have a reason for things, we will be tempted to rely on ourselves during our pain rather than turning to God. We are not meant to understand; we are meant to trust.

God's reasons are beyond our created minds. He does not promise us any explanations on earth, but one day in heaven we will understand our pain. "Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Cor 13:12).

How to Respond When Life Doesn't Make Sense
As with every disappointment, we have a decision to make when trouble or disaster strikes. How will we respond? The first part of responding correctly when life doesn't make sense is keeping our focus on God. At some point in our lives, we will all spin out of control. We won't know how and we won't know why. How we attempt to steer our out-of-control lives, however, is up to us. We can choose to focus on exactly why God has allowed this situation and how it came about, or we can focus on trusting God for the next step.

In addition to keeping our focus on God, it is important to remember his infinite love for us. The presence of pain and disappointment in our lives does not mean that he does not love us. It actually means that he loves us all the more. He loves us more than we could ever comprehend, and because he loves us, he knows the people and things that are precious to us.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Michelle McKinney Hammond describes his care for our concerns: Just as single women can believe in God for everything except a mate and mothers can believe God for everything except their children, the same principle prevails here. We have trouble releasing our most precious things into the care of God. For some reason, we do not believe that what we view as precious is even more precious to God and that He is well able to keep those things we hold dear. How it wrenches our hearts when we have done everything we can think of, yet to no avail, and we are forced to release our dreams, our mates, and our children into the hands of God, stand still, and see His salvation.

If God loves us as much as he promises in his Word (see Jn 3:16), then he also is capable of taking care of those things we hold dear. When life doesn't make sense we should focus on God, remember his love, and finally take the next step in our growth. There are lessons that we must learn through painful circumstances that we could learn only by going through them.

Remember the story of Job? He lost his family, his wealth, his health, and his friends but grew closer to God. Ultimately, for Job's faithfulness the Lord blessed him with a larger family and more wealth than he'd had before. We must look for the lessons that God has in store for us during our trying times. It is all part of growing.

Trust Is "A Must" As children of God, it is crucial for us to trust God and all his ways. If we don't want to be driven crazy by the question of "Why?" we must realize that sometimes there are no answers. Dr. James Dobson shares from his book, When God Doesn't Make Sense: "If we truly understood the majesty of the Lord and the depth of His love for us, we would certainly accept those times when He defies human logic and sensibilities. Indeed, that is what we must do."

Though this kind of trust is against our nature and contrary to our logic, it is our only choice if we are to truly rest in God.

Prayer,
Dear all-knowing, all-loving Father, I am facing one of the hardest battles of my faith. You don't make sense to me right now, Father. I don't understand why things happen that you could prevent. My mind and my heart cry out for reasons and answers, yet I know that may not be for me to know right now. Everyone around me thinks I am crazy to remain faithful to you, but I know that it is my only choice. Either you are God in control of the universe or you are not God at all. I believe that you love me and want what is best for me, even when it doesn't feel that way. Give me strength and grace to fight this battle. Help me to focus on you, remember your love, and take the next step. In your almighty name, Amen

Prayers for When Life Doesn't Make Sense written by Brittany Waggoner. Brittany Waggoner is a student at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio, majoring in Broadcasting. She enjoys public speaking and has hosted shows on both radio and TV.