Ep#12: How To Manage Our Thoughts?

Transcript

hello everybody! I will do an experiment today and try to see if I should speak this way. In today’s podcast titled, How to Manage Our Thoughts? The way we think matters. Our thought pattern can either make you better or worse about yourself. Therefore, according to Proverbs 23:7, “For as a man think in his heart, so is he. For as a woman thinks in her heartso is she.” Therefore, what you contemplate, meditate and ponder upon will eventually encompasses what you believe. Majority of us think based on our belief system, our habits and the things that we have listened or heard as a child. So, there are ways that I can give you in how to manage your thoughts wisely. But before I go on further, it shows according to the research that there are about 70,000 thoughts that we produce every single day. I do not know where they come up with that number but let’s just assume they’re accurate and let’s just believe that they are right.

#1. You have a choice

Therefore, with no further ado. Number one is you do have a choice to either entertain or believe the thought that comes up in your brain. A thought is a suggestion. It is something that you think. As I said, based on your upbringing. If you keep telling yourself because your mother or your father or your mom or your dad, your sister told you, you’re ugly, you are going to be a failure and you have been pondering and believing those lies all your life. You do have a choice to reject them and to say, I will no longer going to contemplate or no longer going to believe and accept those words because they are not the truth.”

The very words that your parents have told you; unfortunately will have an impact in your life when you grow up. Unless of course, you are willing to look at that voice that is going to be detrimental to your growth and you do have a choice to say God told me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. If it is not in God’s word. If it contradicts the very essence of how God sees you, you must reject it. God told you that you are precious. You are created in God’s image. Therefore, you have an intrinsic value. Whatever your parents said about you, no matter what your friends say about you, their words really do not matter. This is why you must ask yourself the question if it’s not positive. If it is negative, if it is something that will ruin your well being and it’s going to be a critical. It is not from God because God does not condemn. He does not judge you. God’s creation, He said all things are beautiful. Only people judge based on what they see. But God look at the heart.

#2. Evaluate your thoughts

And secondly, in order for you to manage your thought is of course as I said you haveto evaluate your thoughts. You must ask yourself the question, “Why do I think this way? Where did it come from?” By default your thoughts are negative. Do you know that we are negative people? It is in our nature to be pessimists. It is not in our nature to be optimist. We always see things on a negative light because that’s what we actually been conditioned. Especially when you grew up in a family where everybody’s so Betty downer. They always see the glass half empty instead of half full. You know those people, they always complain about the little things in life. They always complain about the minute things in life. They always have something bad things to say, the food, the weather, and the traffic. You made me feel this way.

They never will take accountability. It’s your fault. It’s never really my fault. It is because you make me feel this way. Therefore, I am unhappy. I am crappy and that’s exactly why because it is by default that we are conditioned to speak negatively about ourselves and to think negatively. This is why, we must teach our children to be positive. Have you not noticed especially for teenagers who like to complain about the little things? They always have something to say, I don’t like this and I can’t stand it. It’s always about complaining because we are sinful by nature. We are actually have been conditioned by Adam and Eve product. The seed of Adam and Eve who was always running away from responsibility. Remember when Adam was asked by God, “Where are you Adam?” Instead of saying, “Here I am God, I’ve sinned against you. I should have never listened to the serpent. I should have defended the woman.” But Adam of course, refused to take accountability and he blame it on a woman. The same thing with our thoughts. When our thought is by default blaming and complaining and we never going to take responsibility, by default you are actually going to just produce that .

So, your thoughts are habit. Your thoughts are what you do on a daily basis. Your thoughts are something that you have subconsciously have been repeated on yourself day in and day out. It is what you’ve been thinking. It is what you’ve been pondering. That’s why Jesus said, “The abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” So, if you want to know what you’re thinking, listen to the words that are coming out of your mouth. Do you naturally operate in complaints or are you naturally a grateful person? Because if you have been grumbling and thinking, how your life is awful. I can’t stand this person. I wish my life is different. That is what exactly that contains your brain. Therefore, it is just going to come out of your mouth, So, as an adult we can change our script. We have all script that was given to us by our parents when we’re children. These are scripts that tells you, well you probably are not going to mount up to anything. Maybe you’re going to be a loser when you grow up. You’re not going to be just like your cousin. Why can’t you just be like your friend who always ace in math?

Change the script

Why you’re such a loser? Why do you do this and they always point out the negative things in you. And therefore, when you become an adult, you believe of what your parents say. Therefore, you are just going to do just that. That’s why we must change our script. The script that was handed over to us by our parents. You can have a choice to see whether or not you’re goingto do what they have dictated. If it is not positive. If it doesn’t contribute to your well-being, you must toss the script out and you must recreate a new script based on what God tells you to do. And therefore, when you a child, you have to understand that what you see, hear impacts your thoughts. According to the inquirer.com, “Evidence suggests that watching violent media takes a toll on us physically, emotionally which impacts us mentally and our thoughts.” So, it has been written by the inquirer many years ago that if you constantly feed your mind with constant violence, you are programming yourself and it’s going to take upon you. It is actually making you as that person. This is why as a parent, we have to be always watching our kids and always asking them the kinds of shows that they’re watching. The kinds of things that they’re entertaining because whether we admit it or not it will impact them on a different level. That’s why we wonder why our kids sometimes act radically and they act erratic and they will say things out of emotion. Because of what they have been watching. The things that are programming their brain and we must be a person or a mom or a dad that is involved in our kids especially today that we have nothing short of that kind of entertainment.

According to the inquirer.com, “Evidence suggests that watching violent media takes a toll on us physically, emotionally which impacts us mentally and our thoughts.”

It matters what you watch

And that’s why because what we hear, what we see impacts on the development of that children. I myself too, when I watch a certain movie, I will have a different kind of attitude. I was feeling good before I watched the movie. After I watched the movie, I felt down. Something about the movie that triggers me. This is why especially when you have been a survivor of some sort of trauma in your life especially with sexual abuse, there are moments that can trigger those memories. The moments that you can actually bring you back to that past. You have to guard your heart and that you have to ask God to really heal the wounds that has been still there, dormant. Because you are triggered by the things that you have been watching and therefore; it matters what you watch. It matters what you hear. If it’s not contributing to your well-being. If it doesn’t help you heal perhaps you must avoid watching things that can trigger you.

Maybe you should stop. Refrain from them altogether because your thought is going to be affected. Therefore, ask the question, are my thoughts aligned to what I feel? If you’re not really feeling about the connection, we have become disconnected. Your thoughts is sometimes is the suggestion. Satan cannot make you do things without your participation. Sometimes, Christians and I am going to ruffle some feather out there. They’re going to say “Blame it on the devil because the devil made me do it.” No, the devil cannot make you do something without your participation. He can suggest to you of what you must do. But it is your part. It is your choice to either participate on his suggestion or not. So if you say the devil’s fault because I gain too much weight because I don’t have self-control. I overeat. I overstuff myself with cake. It’s not the devil’s fault, honey. It is your lacking of self-control which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. So, please do not blame it on the devil because the devil cannot make you do things without your participation. And you must be a willing participant in order for the devil for you to make something.

Memorize Verse

That’s why Philippians 4:8 says “Fix your thoughts on what is true, honorable, right pure, lovely. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Paul has given the Philippians to think things that are excellent, worthy of praise. To meditate on the things that are positive. Because if you do not govern your thoughts. If you do not direct your thoughts into a godly thinking. Your thoughts are just going to think about different things in life. Think about your thoughts as a toddler. If you do not give your thoughts direction, it will just think a million times or whatever. It has no direction. It will just think whatever it feels like thinking. This is why we have to train our thoughts and we have to focus on what we must think about and we are given things that says you must set your things above else on. On the high things and not on the things of this earth. Somewhere in Colossians 3:2 that says, “Set yourmind on things above not on things on earth.”

What are the things above? Well, God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. His ways are higher than our ways. So think of godly thoughts. What are the thought of God? It’s all about purity. It’s righteousness. It’s holiness. It’s about truth. It’s about mercy. These are the things of above. But when you think about the earthly things, it’s sensuality. It’s perversion. It’s immorality. It is all about things that are negative. So, when you think about positive thoughts, you must consider about your own life and how you’re living your life. If you’re living your life according to God’s plan, there is peace and life. Because where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There is freedom. But when you’re living your life according to the dictates of this world, there is confusion. Because Satan is the author of confusion. There is chaos.

Satan is the author of confusion

And you thinkto yourself, why is my mind not at peace? Why do I have a hard time concentrating? Because perhaps, sometimes because your mind is too occupied with too much things that you shouldn’t think about. And that is why, for many of us, for so long, I have been actually disconnected with my mind and my heart. Because I have been too confused of how I should liv emy life. I was not focused on the right things until God had to correct me to focus on His Word. To really meditate on His Word and to contemplate on His Word. Especially what God said to Joshua, “The book of the Law shall not depart from you. You must meditate on it day in and day out so that you’ll become prosperous and your way will become successful.” We, as a child of God, especially, when we follow Christ, we must meditate in God’s word. We must write it on the tablet of our hearts so that we must not go to the right or turn to the left. A part of meditating on God’s word and to really think things about godly thoughts is because He wants us to really remain on His Word. Because God’s word is a lamp onto our feet. It’s a light onto our path.

If we do not meditate and think about godly thoughts. There are so many things that can really creep in into our mind that can contaminate our thoughts and it can pollute our thoughts. That’s why Romans12:2 says “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” How do you renew your mind on a daily basis? Well, read God’s word. Memorize a lot of verses. Think about them all day long. How can I apply this into my life? There are so many verses in the Bible that can tell you to guard your heart. To guard your mind because these are the areas that devil can influence us. Even Paul said, “Our warfare are not carnal. It is not about the flesh. It is a spiritual warfare.” Satan feeds something in your mind. He can put something in your head and it’s up to you to whether you believe it or not. This is why Paul said, “You have to put on the belt of your truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation. Because it is protecting your thoughts and your mind and exactly what happens if you don’t protect them. You will just do whatever it dictates and then your life is going nowhere and you’re just like everybody else.

#3. Pray & Be discerning

Another thing of course and last but not the least to also guard yourthoughts and how to manage your thoughts properly is by prayer. You have to pray to God, to give you discernment. You have to pray to God of how you can manage your thoughts wisely. Because even in today’s world, we have a lot of false prophets, false teachers and even Paul said, “You have to test every spirit.” Not every evangelist or teachers are equally made. Some as Jesus said, they come in the church into the wolves clothing.” They are ravenous wolves pretending to take care of your soul. But actually they are not of Jesus. They’re not of God. So to protect your mind is to test every spirit by asking God the spirit of discernment whether or not you should listen to this preacher. Whether or not you should learn to listen to this teacher even though it sounds eloquent. They sound very charismatic and these are the things that we have to watch out for especially right now that we have nothing short of people that have so much things to say.

We have been given platform to the foolish people. We have given platform to the people have no substance. In order for you to feed your mind and to keep your mind healthy, you must go to the word of God. You must ask God to show to you whether these people are reliable or they’re just fooling you. As I said, you must be discerning. You must ask the Holy Spirit to give you the wisdom. To know whether the things that you’re listening to are worthy of praise. Are they trustworthy? Do they come in truth? Because without thetruth, there’s no there’s point of listening to those things. So, part of managing your thoughts is all about feeding your mind, learning, and stimulating your mind by reading good books, listening to good podcasts. Anything that can increase your knowledge with application. Of course, knowledge is power but with application it becomes more powerful.

You can accumulate a lot of knowledge but without the application, your knowledge is just going to go disarray. It’s just going to go kaput. So, what’s the point of having all the knowledge in the world? You must be able to activate and execute what you have learned. Not just accumulate knowledge, but without really showing for it and you don’t apply it. Faith without action is dead. So, you must be able to participate and activate what you have learned so that you’ll know that you’re actually understanding what you have learned.

#4. Find out the source of your intrusive thoughts

And that’s exactly when you know if you have growing up in the head. A part of how to manage your mind is I always want to say is go down to the root cause of the issue and this is my last point, your triggers and your trauma. Why do you react or response the way that you do? Why do you think the same thing over and over again? It’s because it’s your programming. I know it’s easier said than done. You must deprogram yourself. You mus tdeprogram and be able to destabilize the things that you used to think about. I used to be such a uh a worrier, not awarrior but I was a worrier. W-O-R-R-I-E-R. I kept worrying so much. This is the problem that I couldn’t sleep before because I was always thinking of how am I supposed to earn money. How am I supposed to pay my bills? How am I supposed to get through this? Because there was a time in my life when I had nothing in my bank account. I was living basically negative $30 bucks. Because I couldn’t afford to live in my in my early years and I was always worried about my money and about life.

And therefore, God said, do not worry about the things of this life and so as I said, a part of your mind set is because it is habitual. If you keep on worrying and you have no faith. This is exactly why we keep on worrying because we don’t have trust in God and we don’t ask Him for guidance. That’s why Jesus said, “Ask and it shall be given to you. Knock and the door will be opened. Search and you will find.” And you must just live by faith and not by sight. And when God gives you direction then you should perhaps, follow and learn how to obey of what He has directing you to do. So, those are just the ways that I can tell you today of how to manage your mind and how to be able to discern between God’s thoughts and the world’s thoughts or the devil’s thoughts. And if I just talk differently today because I’m doing an experiment whether this is going to do well but it’s still me Glennavelle Manarang, Soulish Femme. I will see you on my nextpodcast, As I always like to leave you with, be bold, be brave and be courageous and keep your faith!