One of the biggest parts of my ministry is to help people find God’s plan for their life.  This was what my first book, Prepare for Greater Things, was all about. My second book, With All Your Heart, teaches deeper principles of trusting God for the manifestation of this plan.  I have a small free ebook called 10 Steps to Living in the Abundance of God’s Plan.  And one of the classes that I teach over and over again in my church is what we call the Transformation Class. All of these are teaching about how to find and live in God’s abundant life promised to His children.  But they all begin in one place- the meditation of our mind.

Have you noticed how obsessed we get with things?  I have met people obsessed with all kinds of things from tattoos, sports teams, technology, conspiracy theories, comics, Star Wars, or The Office.  I have seen people who have been hurt deeply fixate on that hurt, people that have been betrayed fixating on revenge, people abandoned fixated on being loved.  The nature of our brain is obsessive. The thoughts born into our cerebrum tend to dominate us. This is why the Lord has commanded us to take captive our thoughts.  

Our thoughts are so powerful.  They can direct our life in one direction or another and if we don’t learn how to be the master of our own thoughts, we will be whisked away by the issues of this life.  The Scripture tells us to take captive our thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5). It tells us what our thoughts should be focused on- things that are lovely, pure, righteous, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8).  So all of this begs the question, “What are you thinking about?” And men, if you say you are thinking about nothing, this too is not good. Nothing does nothing for us. We need to be filling our minds, making it active according to the Word that we might be moved in the right direction.  

With all of this coronavirus #stayhome directives we are getting, some of us have nothing to do but think.  We fill our minds with television shows, social media, and music. Even as so many work at home, it is a unique time when we can’t really go out and do anything and we are left alone with our thoughts.  In times like these, it is imperative that we hone our skill of meditation and spending time thinking on the things of God, His promises, His character, His goodness, His love. If we do not make a conscious effort to do this, the news media will control our thoughts.  The frustration of restless children and cabin fever will overwhelm our thinking. The Lord, by the Holy Spirit, has given us the power to be in charge of what we think.  

I think we have seen quite well what happens when someone is consumed by thoughts of fear, infatuation, jealousy, anger, pleasure, but what happens when we make ourselves consumers of the precepts of God and His Word?  And this brings us to the Verse of the Day:

Joshua 1:8

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (NIV)

The principle we find in this passage continues the theme that what we think about will determine what we do and how we act.  If you allow your mind to stay focused on that thing that angers you, don’t be surprised that you live out that anger in your behavior.  Wherever your mind stays, your body will follow.

God instructs Joshua to meditate on the Book of the Law.  Don’t get confused by this. That doesn’t mean to focus on the do’s and don’t’s of Christianity.  The Book of the Law included beautiful passages of God’s love for His people and His desire to care and provide for them.  The reward for meditating on the goodness of God was obedience which opens us up for greater blessings.

I want to challenge you during this time of negative emotional overload to purposely fix your mind on the things of God each morning and each evening.  Each morning, do a quick google search for the promises of God. Find one, write it down somewhere and what it means to you. Then later in the day, perhaps in the lunch hour, go back and meditate on it again.  If you are working from home, write the promise on a post-it note and attach it to your computer screen. Then at night, go back through the day and list everything good that happened remembering that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17).

Fill your mind with the things of God.  This is a unique opportunity, perhaps better suited than our normal societal operation, to allow us to perfect this skill of taking captive our thoughts and meditating upon the Lord.  Who knows, the #2020sucks could become the #2020revival.

Leave me a comment of the promise of God that brings the most joy to your heart.