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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

23/365

January 23, 2015

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mid, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."  Romans 12:1-2

Recently I read this article about changing your attitude. It was a challenge to think ONLY positive thoughts and write ONLY positive thoughts.  A challenge indeed!

The goal was to do it for a set number of days in hopes of it becoming a habit.  The hope was that after a few days of pushing out the negative, we'd be able to retrain our brains to think more positively.  If we don't write it, and we don't speak it,  eventually when they come to mind, we don't entertain those thoughts any longer.

I confess, I participated in this challenge.  I am all about making myself better.  I felt a bit like I didn't do as well as I had hoped because of ugly thoughts about different people.  I'd do my best to change my thoughts when I became aware of them going down the negative path.  Yet, there were times when I just kept going back to those negative thoughts, entertaining them further.

I also allowed myself to get very upset about a situation that occurred at my job, which led me to participate in some office chatter.  I realized that when I move my mind toward God, I am better able to let go of all the nonsense going on inside of my head.  I either pray, sing, or give thanks to God.  When I find myself drifting or going to those negative places, I need not get upset with myself or feel disappointment.  I just need to move back to the God thoughts.

It's like when we first learn to ride a bike without training wheels, we are able to steer it wherever we go.  We have the power to take control of the bike.  It takes time and practice, but once we get it, we get it.  Just like we have the power to control the bike, we have the power to control what we think and what we write.

In Romans 12:2 we are encouraged to be not conformed to this world, but to be transformed by renewing our mind.  This takes practice.  It takes constant vigilance because our mind has so many different thoughts.

We must take heart, though.  We have the power to take captive all those negative thoughts in order to renew our mind. In order to replace those thoughts with more positive thoughts, the verse goes further to say that when we allow God to transform our minds, we are better able to now God's perfect will.  What is His will?  Well, it is not to lead ourselves down a path that will eventually lead to a crash.

All activities begin in our mind.  How do we allow God to renew our minds?  Through prayer, spending time in His word, and meditating on His word.  When we allow this transformation to occur, it changes us from the inside out.

PAG

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