How Your Mind is Controlling Your Destiny
Fear and timidity can paralyze you. Anxiety can control your every decision. Confusion can totally derail your life’s focus. The mind is the battleground of life. You will inevitably face storms and crisis. Your mind will be pressed to the breaking point. How do you persevere until the sun breaks through again?
“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”. (2 Tim. 1:7)
This verse has brought me through countless mental storms. I first learned the reality of thoughts and how to control them as a missionary in Africa.
These three thoughts have always kept me on track:
1) A SPIRIT OF POWER:
The first mentality I think on is that of a CONQUEROR: “God’s power in me is greater than all the power of the enemy.” I may be facing a real enemy, but “if God is for me, who can be against me?”
In the Old Testament, twelve spies were sent to spy out the land. Ten spies gave up before the first arrow was shot. All they could see were the “giants.” Joshua and Caleb had a different mentality. All they could see were the “grapes!”
A WEAK mind wants to run away. It is afraid to face a crisis. Ask God for a “spirit of power.” Gather your courage. Read the story of Joshua. Let your mind meditate on Hebrews 11, especially the part about the lion’s den! Don’t stop until you feel a divine boldness come upon your mind.
“God’s power in me is greater than all the power of the enemy. ”
2) A SPIRIT OF LOVE:
The second mentality I put into my mind is, “God loves me and cares about me.” Your mind will tell you that you are “alone” and that God has rejected you. God says, “You are accepted. You are my child. I will never leave you or forsake you.”
Love never fails. Perfect love casts out fear. The angel called to Daniel, “Oh man, greatly beloved.” God is on your side. I always took heart knowing that His eye is on the sparrow and “I know He watches me.” Worry and anxiety will leave your mind when you lay back in the Father’s arms!
3) A SOUND (DISCIPLINED) MIND:
Finally, we come to the big one: a “focused, disciplined mind.” This last one has to do with “confusion,” a loss of purpose and direction. Trials and storms have a way of blowing you off course. You wonder if you should even be doing what you love to do.
Has God changed His mind? Paul was blown “off course” in the Mediterranean but was he not still going to Rome? Rest in God’s purposes. “See a goal, set a goal, seize a goal.”
Take captive those thoughts of weakness, worry, and confusion. Rise up as a conqueror, boldly proclaiming God’s love for you. Chart your course and never question you will arrive!
THESE THREE THOUGHTS WILL CHANGE YOUR DESTINY.