copyright Millie Plastaras 10/5/06
You will guard him and keep him in perfect
and constant peace whose mind (both its inclination and
its character) is stayed on you, because he commits
himself to You, leans on You and hopes confidently in You.
Isaiah 26:3
Have you ever had problems keeping your home clean?
I mean things piled up to such a degree that you couldn't
decide where to start and you felt overwhelmed by
the task? Daily, you watch the piles around the house
grow and soon you feel powerless to make the house
orderly again.
Many of us do this with our minds. Little by little
mental clutter builds up in our hearts, minds,
and spirit, until our thinking is a cluttered mess
of rejection, the past, unforgiveness, broken
relationships, self hatred, and recriminations.
We just fill it with the most negative things possible,
until we become very depressed and feel like we
have no control over our thinking.
Well, at one time we did, but we surrendered that
control, little by little to the spirit of discontent.
We surrendered our freedom to the spirit of
unforgiveness. We held on to grudges and past
hurts as if they were treasures, putting them in
a non-hope chest and counting them daily until it
became a worry chest. We have spoken the
most negative things, until we have believed them
as gospel.
If you say you are worthless long enough,
if you say you are a failure long enough,
if you feel rejected long enough,
if you feel hopeless long enough,
soon you will buy into these lies,
they becomes a way of life, and you don't know
how to get rid of that mental clutter and free yourself.
My friends, this is not only a mental issue it is
a spiritual issue.
Many who are reading this tonite, are very troubled.
They feel despair, and often great hopelessness.
They hate that they feel it, but they feed it, and may not
realize that is what they do.
From the time they rise out of bed, they gather
the past in their arms and feed it, remembering,
rehashing, and beating themselves up over it.
They remember hurts and slights, and live them
over and over again, endlessly, powerlessly,
until they are defeated and weary, a victim
of their own thinking.
Is there any hope for this? Oh yes.
To live victoriously one must keep their eyes
on the goals ahead, and not the pain of the past.
If there never comes a place where you release
the past, forgive everyone in it, and find healing
in your own spirit, your life will be a constant battleground
for depression, despair and many other heavy things.
God wants us to be free of the past. He said
Cast your burdens upon me, for I care for you.
1 Peter 5:7.
When we cast our burdens, we throw them far
away from us.. and leave them there. This is a habit
we must form of letting them go. And each time
we feel ourselves picking up the negative thinking,
the unforgiveness, the depression, the victim thinking
we must run back to the throne of God and lay it at
his feet.
This is a habit anyone can form.
Athletes know how to focus and work hard at their
sport until they see victory.
Bodybuilders stay focused and work on their task
day after day relentlessly until they achieve their goal.
People who set goals, stay focused on them, work
towards them, do not allow defeat to be in their
vocabulary, and daily work towards these things
and will reach their goals!
It is a mental choice we make.
We choose to succeed or fail.
We choose to be a victor or a victim.
We choose to be happy or sad.
We choose to forgive or remember all hurts.
We choose to savor life, or regret it.
MY friends, those heavy feelings are not your friends.
They are destroying the fabric of your life, your
relationships, your hope, they are destroying
your thinking. Let them go. They are unimportant.
They are the weapons against your mind by the
dark powers of this world that want to paralyze your
thinking until you cannot enjoy your life.
Don't allow it. Fill your mind with hopeful things.
Fill your heart with a sense of duty, and set short
and long term goals to work towards.
Leave your burdens at Christ's feet, allow Him to Be
Lord and you be the child.. and leave those burdens
there.. You have things to do!
Paul knew what mental battles were, he faced
a lot of persecution and torment in his time,
and even physical problems he never overcame,
but in his letter to the Philippians he offered this sage
advice.
Be anxious for nothing (let it all go)
but in everything by prayer and supplication (pleading
before God) with thanksgiving (learn to be thankful),
let your requests be made known to God.
(pray often, fervently, tell God everything,
if you don't ask, he cannot answer).
And the PEACE OF GOD, which surpasses all
understanding will guard your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus.
God will guard your heart and mind, and bring you
peace.. now this is a promise you can cling to!!!
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true
whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just,
whatever things are pure,
whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report,
if there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy, meditate on these things!
Philippians 4:6-8
Friends, Paul was telling you to be a positive thinker!
He believed whatever you focused on what was
very important. So should you. Do you want
to be happy? Do you want to be set free from
the past? Do you want to enjoy life?
You have to change your focus
You have to change your goals
You have to change your thinking
You have to surrender the past,
You have to let God be God, and in control
and you have to go out and live life,
and take your thoughts captive one by one,
and replace them with the joy of the Lord
and the peace that passes all understanding.
It is a process. We clean out the clutter of our
mind, and fill it with clean, fresh new beginnings.
Praise God who makes this possible.
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits
Psalm 68:19
(have you taken time to count your blessings)
Tonite, go to your heavenly Father, ask Him to
help you change your thinking patterns, ask Him
to forgive your sins, and help you forgive others,
and ask Him to help you clean the clutter in your
mind and spirit and to set you free from the past
and show you what He would have you do.
Ask Him to free you from the bondage that has
weighed your weary heart down. He promised
He would, if you will leave those burdens and
trust in His ability, not your own.
Life is short, choose your battles carefully,
and don't waste your mind, heart and time on despair
or one negative thing.
One final thing, if God can forgive you and me,
we must forgive ourselves, and move on from
our mistakes and past, for His glory and honor
to show in our lives like a light and beacon to
a lost and dying world.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13
Remember
Only one life, will soon be past
only what is done for Christ will last..
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