For I know the
plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm
you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Thoughts ~ God has amazing
plans for each of us and guess what? The ones He has for me don't look like the
ones He has for you. We are all created differently, so of course, it makes
sense His plans will be different for us. But the enemy of our soul will do
everything he can to gang up on us with his evil army by causing us to take our
eyes off the Lord so His plans can't be carried out as easily. One of those
ways satan arrives in our lives is to bring negativity into our minds.
Action ~ If you tend to be negative or a
'glass half empty' personality, I'd love for you to try an exercise to stop
this mind set so you can draw closer to God than you ever have before. When we
think negatively, we are often not really leaning on the Lord and appreciating
all He has done for us and will do in the future. Remember that satan tosses
negative thoughts at us, not God. As Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, He has a plan for
each of us and will give us a hope and a future.
Take
a piece of paper and divide in in three columns vertically. (You can make a
word doc in the same way but carrying your sheet around with you will help
more). In column 1 the header will say "negative thoughts." In column
2 it will say "positive thoughts" and in column 3 it will say
"God's thoughts."
In
column one, list your negative thoughts in detail for your life. For example,
some might be "I am fat" or "I am worthless" or "I
can't pay my rent" or "I am afraid to live alone."
In
column 2, list positive thoughts that correspond to your column 1 thoughts. For
example if you wrote "I am fat" in the positive column you might
write "I am working on eating healthier and getting more exercise."
If you wrote "I am afraid to live alone" you would write some of the
positive things about living alone will bring. Write an opposite of whatever
your negative is and if you can't think of one, ask a friend who loves you.
In
column 3, write what God says in His word. For example, where you wrote "I
am unloved" God says “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah
31:3). Where you wrote “I am afraid to live alone” God says: “I have not given
you a spirit of fear” (II Timothy 1:7) or “I will never leave you or forsake
you (Hebrews 13:5).
This
list will help negative thoughts to banish because you are using positive
thoughts to counteract them, but most of all, God’s thoughts will bring
comfort, encouragement and hope.
If
you are new to using your Bible or want to make finding the verses a little
faster, go to http://www.biblegateway.com/
where you can enter particular words in the keyword search box.
Prayer ~ Lord I ask that you show each
person who reads this blog how valuable they are to you. Help them to realize
it is not You who puts these thoughts into their minds.
Trusting
in the Lord for your walk with Him,
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