Topic: Filter your thoughts

Text: Philippians 4:8-9

Key verse: 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. – Philippians 4:8*

The mind thinks, our emotions feel and our will expresses its wants. To have a winning mindset you must manage the flow of thoughts through your mind continuously.

How can this be possible? We have a verse of Scripture l call the *Mind sieve* it is our key verse today,  you use that text to assess every thought that passes through your mind.

Whatever thought  your mind focuses on, should pass through these questions:

*Is it true?*

*Is it honorable?*

*Is it right?*

*Is it pure?*

*Is it lovely?*

*Will people admire it?*

*Will it produce excellence?*

*Will it produce praise?*

If the thoughts fall short of any of these tests then discard them.

Trying to practice this will make you more conscious of yourself and the state of your heart. If you can write down the more regular thoughts, it will reveal to you the *foothold* you have given the enemy mentally that has to be recovered before they turn to *strongholds*.

Each wrong thought must be rejected and repented of where necessary and you take them captive by imposing the scriptures over them.

We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. – 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

This is an exercise, don’t try to ignore or skip it. Do it religiously and it will amaze you to see that you have more negative thoughts than positive ones. Some will discover their thoughts are all fearful and fear-driven. Others will see from the kind of thoughts they have, that they are consciously seeking approval or are full of insecurity. If you become careful about what you think, naturally your words will become refined too�

This admonition from James will help us apply the truths we have learned.

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. – James 1:22-25

Blessings to you.

Roses&Thorns