“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

When I first came to know the Lord one of my biggest struggles was my mouth. I had grown up in a home where it was perfectly acceptable to not say a sentence without a curse word. I’ve worked in an area In which women felt like they needed to behave like men, to show how powerful they were, and again cursing was the norm.

But once I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, I was so grateful for his forgiveness, that the Holy Spirit conquered the battle of my tongue (But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Colossians 3:8).

For me, that was a tremendous victory. I felt very good about that.

But, then I realized the area that I struggled more mightily in and probably would for the rest of my life, was my thought life!

See the problem with our thoughts is that they’re almost completely undetectable to those around us. We can smile at someone, while handing them the greatest gift or doing the nicest deed, and all the while think the most terrible thoughts about them that a person could contemplate.

Because we have the safety of knowing that no one knows our thoughts they simply run rampant .

But God does know our thoughts.

And our thoughts affect our outlooks, moods and our spirits.

If we’re thinking negative thoughts our outlook becomes very bleak. If we are thinking negative thoughts our moods become angry, sad, depressed and very negative. If we are thinking negative thoughts our Spirit becomes grieved within us.

As long as we have breath in us, our thoughts will always be an area of sin.

But, the scriptures tell us, that we should control our thoughts, through our main verse today and through Ephesians 4:22-24 “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

We also have the ability to control our thoughts “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self discipline – 2 Timothy 1:7.

I pray that today we would recognize how negative speech and thoughts affect our behavior, our attitudes, our walk and that it robs God of glory. I also pray that we would make a request, to the Holy Spirit, to take our mouth and our thoughts captive and to use them both for eternal, kingdom, purposes. I pray that we would glorify God with everything we think say and do.

If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and you think that you could never get control of your mouth or your thoughts I pray that you will go to our life preserver page and pray the prayer that is outlined there. I assure you that, with the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling you, can you cannot only control your thoughts and your mind ( because it is God’s will that you do ) but, if He willed it, you could even move a mountain. Trust him to be the Lord of your life and pray that prayer, then reach out to me at admin@forgiven-n-loved.com And let me know so that I can pray for you and help you grow in your relationship with and knowledge of our precious Savior Jesus.

Luv ya!