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YOUR THOUGHTS
Submitting Your Thoughts To The Right Things
Phil 4:8 (NIV) Finally, brothers, 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. Jesus isn’t telling you what to think here; He is telling you WHAT KIND or TYPE of things to think. He wants to help you see that if a particular thought doesn’t have these characteristic to it, DON’T THINK IT! If you are thinking about “something” and it lacks ANY of these characteristics, then it should not occupy your thoughts. This list isn’t one where as long as most of them are being followed, the thought is okay. The thought must qualify for every item on the list in order for Jesus to be pleased with it.
A Thought That Is TRUE
You may not know whether something you are thinking is TRUE. If that is the case, then you must treat it as an unproven thought. If you “guess” it is TRUE, then you are entertaining a thought that fails the list. If someone “told” you it was true but you don’t know it for a fact, then you are entertaining a thought that fails the list. If you are just spreading gossip and trying to convince others that it is TRUE, then you are entertaining a thought that fails the list. You must know for a fact that a thought is TRUE, BEFORE you entertain it in your mind.
A Thought That Is NOBLE
A NOBLE thought is a thought that represents or demonstrates fine personal qualities or high moral principles and ideals. If your thoughts are locked into that which is right, good, and righteous, then you are thinking about things that you want to do or say that are beneficial, win/win, and helpful. You will be thinking thoughts that plan ways of being honest, filled with integrity, and moral. But, you won’t be able to automatically live a righteous, noble life. You will face situations that will challenge honesty, integrity, morality, and righteous living. If you don’t allow Jesus to help you think about ways to avoid wrong, bad, and evil, as you go about your day, you will mess up.
A Thought That Is RIGHT
Right as opposed to wrong can often be a mistake you made accidentally. Good as opposed to bad or righteous as opposed to evil are things done on purpose. Not everything you face is a sin; it will be wrong; but, it won’t be bad or evil. God doesn’t just deal with sin and righteousness. He also deals with what is best for you and those around you. He wants you and others to experience His very best. If you yield your thoughts to God’s best, you won’t settle for thoughts, plans, goals, or strategies that are mediocre.
A Thought That Is PURE
When something is PURE, it isn’t mixed with anything else. In that case, your thought doesn’t have some parts of it that are honest, loving, moral, and righteous and also have parts that are dishonest, unloving, immoral, and unrighteous. A thought or plan can be mostly right, good, and righteous; it can be almost pure; but, it can have a little bit of something that keeps it from being the very best for you and those around you. Jesus wants you to let Him help you purify your thoughts so that every aspect of a thought is right, good, and righteous.
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A Thought That Is LOVELY
A thought that inspires love is LOVELY; it is a yielding to thoughts that help and assist you in loving yourself, others, and God. There are thoughts that inspire hate, disrespect, revenge, and all kinds of wrong, bad, and evil. A lovely thought is one that helps you plan, come up with feelings, and consider reasons for loving someone. It inspires you to want to love a person; it gives you a reason to love them; and it causes you to start to feel love for them.
A Thought That Is ADMIRABLE
A thought that is worthy of ADMIRATION is a thought that you can honor, be pleased with, and can consider worthy of investing further consideration. It is a form of thinking that has high qualities, good attitudes and character, and is a valuable way of thinking. If it is ADMIRABLE, it is worth concentrating on, pondering, meditating on, and developing into a plan.
A Thought That Is EXCELLENT
A thought that is EXCELLENT, is a thought that excels to the highest levels of quality. If your thoughs are EXCELLENT, then you are devoting them to the very best types of thinking. You are allowing Jesus to give you thoughts that are God-sized, supernatural, and holy. They are thoughts that are bigger, better, and superior to any kind of thought you, as a human, could think. This requires you to use your mind of Christ to start thinking spiritual thoughts.
A Thought That Is PRAISEWORTHY
You can think about mundane, boring, common, and uneventful things. Or, you can allow Jesus to help you think of things that really motivate you to think, feel, say, and do PRAISEWORTHY things. Since God, the Holy Spirit is inside you, He can guide you into concepts that are incredibly wonderful, helpful, considerate, and loving plans and accomplishments. Jesus can help you think about doing benevolent things that are quite amazing. They will be thoughts that help you reach you highest potential in righteousness.
Philippians 4:8 Thoughts
It would be impossible to think like this on your own. It is easy to see that this would take you submitting your thoughts to Jesus. 1 Cor 2:16 (NIV) “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. You have Jesus mind installed in your mind; that means you can think Jesus-thoughts. If you apply The Six Biblical Principles and start DESIRING to think Philippians 4:8 thoughts, Jesus’ power-thoughts will start popping up in your mind. |
