Title Keep your thoughts
Contents
title ; keep your thoughts
main text ; Proverbs 4:23
Under a certain dictatorship, an experiment was conducted on two death row inmates to see how much blood a person would draw to die. A partition was made so that the death row inmates could not see the blood being drawn, and a hole was drilled there so that the prisoner's arm was extended.
And I put the needle in. Once, twice, three times, blood was drawn continuously. Five or six times, every time blood was drawn, the face of the death row inmate turned pale. When the tenth syringe finally drew blood, the first death row inmate died.
It was the turn of the other death row inmate, who was watching from the side. As before, a syringe was placed in his arm and blood was drawn. Once, twice, three times, four times, but this time, only the needle was inserted, and in reality, only a drop of blood was drawn and only the syringe was inserted.
This death row inmate recognized the sound of pouring water as the sound of blood. Finally, when the tenth water was poured, this prisoner died. He died even though not a drop of blood was drawn. The negative thought that he too would die if he drew the tenth blood only killed him. In other words, it was only the fearful thoughts that killed this person.
There is another story like this. An employee at a railroad bureau went inside a refrigerator wagon and accidentally locked the outside door and was trapped inside the refrigerator wagon.
As the man slowly died in the cold, he left these writings on the wall inside the wagon. "My body is getting colder... It's cold. But I have no choice but to wait... I feel my body freezing... I'm getting hazy... Maybe this is the last time I don't know...please..."
After some time, another employee opened the door of the wagon, and he had already become a cold corpse. But the surprising thing is that the frozen wagon had already been broken for a long time. And at that time, the room temperature of the refrigerated wagon was only 13 degrees Celsius, and there was enough room air.
These stories are the things that a person's thoughts ultimately determine even his life. The reason the death row inmates died was not that they died of lack of blood, nor that the railroad bureaucrat died because of the cold.
This is what today's text says. "Guard your heart above all else, for it is the wellspring of life" (Proverbs 4:23).
Ladies and gentlemen, if we want to lead a victorious life of faith and live a creative and successful life, we must first take control of our thoughts. When one's thoughts are dominated by anxiety, anxiety, despair, and fear, the consequences are both physically and environmental, and ultimately lead to unhappiness.
Therefore, we must control and cultivate our thoughts according to the will of God.
The Bible describes the God in whom we believe as “the One who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).
In other words, God blesses us according to our thoughts, so the good works of God will be revealed to those who look to the good God in any situation, and that all things work together for good, and give thanks.
So, whatever your circumstances, think this way. “Today’s problems are solved beautifully.
Guys, what's the problem? Of course, no one in this world is without problems. But don't be afraid to see the wave of trouble, use it as an opportunity to ride it and move on faster.
And take the wave of that matter for a rather thrilling pleasure and rejoice. That is why the Bible exhorts us to do so. “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2).
Last week we went to the Westland Pool with 18 children at our elementary summer Bible school. Of course, the children kept begging us to go to the Southland swimming pool.
Because there are more thrilling slides out there. However, it was far away, so I went to the Westland swimming pool, and in my opinion, there was a pretty scary slide there too.
However, seeing our children having so much fun enjoying the scary slide, when we climb the slide in question, don't be afraid and say, "Hey, it's exciting!" And I thought that it would be nice to be able to enjoy it.
Ladies and gentlemen, in Luke 8, you will find this story. One day, Jesus and his disciples got into a boat on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was sleeping in a corner, and a storm raged, and the boat shook violently, and it seemed that it was about to overturn.
So the disciples are trembling with fear and hastily woke Jesus up and said to him. "Lord, Lord, we will die." At this time, Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves and calmed them.
"Where is your faith?" It means "Why are you doubting and afraid?" Many people say, "Lord, I believe." He seems to have a lot of faith, but when he encounters a wave of problems, his heart becomes weak and he is easily caught by anxiety and fear.
The reason is that, depending on the difficult circumstances, their thoughts are captured negatively. Real faith is not being afraid even in difficult circumstances, but looking forward to God's salvation and moving forward boldly.
Being caught up in thoughts of complaints and resentment because of difficult circumstances is never an attitude that pleases God. On the contrary, if the environment is difficult, "Aha, I must search for God more diligently! Something good will happen again!" And to have more positive thoughts is the true faith that God wants.
Guys, don't let the devil take over your thoughts.
God works through our thoughts, but the devil works through our thoughts. In other words, the devil first controls our thoughts and then steals, kills, and destroys us through the channels of those wrong thoughts. In other words, if your thoughts are taken over by the devil, you will eventually be defeated by the devil.
In the Gospel of John 13:2, it says: “The devil had already put the idea of selling Jesus into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son.”
Ladies and gentlemen, our thinking is like a command center in terms of the military. Therefore, if the devil takes over just one thought, then he will be able to take over all of our body and our personality. Therefore, in order to fight the devil and win in the spiritual battle, we must keep our thoughts well and control our thoughts well.
If you listen to what a person possessed by the devil says after he is healed, when the devil comes in, negative and destructive thoughts such as pride, injustice, hatred and revenge have already permeated. will be
Ladies and gentlemen, it is more important to protect our thoughts than to protect our home and our property. If we keep anxiety, resentment, and bad emotions in our thoughts, we cannot live a successful life.
Therefore, I pray that the bad emotions will be washed away from our thoughts as soon as possible, as if washing face or bathing. And I pray that God's blessings come to you in the future because you have the right thoughts and good thoughts that God wants in any situation.
The Bible tells us: “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).
What do you want your thoughts to be? In Stevenson's famous novel, Dr. Jekyll and Hyde, there are two qualities in the human heart. One is Dr. Jekyll and the other is the evil Hyde.
Dr. Jekyll is a very virtuous good scientist, and Hyde is a very evil person, and these two minds exist in people.
What is important is whether we change into Dr. Jekyll or into a wicked person like Hyde, whether we change in the right direction or in the bad direction, in the direction of Peter or in the direction of Judas Iscariot.
And an important factor that determines this is our thinking.
Everyone, don't you really want to be a person God blesses you with?
Do you not want to enjoy the joy and happiness that God gives you even in this foreign land?
Then, keep that thought the way God wants you to, no matter how difficult it is. Never think negative thoughts, destructive thoughts, hopeless thoughts, be productive, positive and hopeful.
Have the idea that in the end everything will be better. And I bless you in the name of the Lord that God will work according to your good thoughts.