Control your Mind

You have control of your attitude.  You choose what kind of day you are going to have.  You choose your life’s course.  Joyce Meyer, you are awesome.   I ordered Joyce Meyer’s Battlefield of the Mind message DVD from Netflix.  We are now ordering it from Amazon because no one, NO ONE, in our house wants to send it back!   That ‘no one’ includes our 14 year old daughter, our 13 year old son, our 12 year old daughter (Happy Birthday Karrie), our 10 year old son (almost 11), my husband, myself, (and our cat Tiger, but he watches anything that is on the TV)!  It is fantastic and every one of you should read it or see it if you haven’t already.

Basically she discusses the fact that our mind is in constant battle.  Our decision to accept Jesus, and live in him, is under continual attack by the devil.  

 Now, I want to give credit to Mrs. Meyer.  I also do not want you to think I am quoting her, because I don’t want to misquote her.  Some are her ideas, some are my thoughts created by her thoughts that were conveyed in her message.  So basically, I am trying to pass on a few things I have learned and relearned from her, focus on a few points, and share that peace with you.

She said that we tend to set ourselves up for a bad day before we even get out of bed.  Think of what goes through your mind before you get out of bed… Some things I catch myself thinking include: I hurt, oh I hurt, I don’t want to exercise but that is the only way to get rid of this pain.  Or, I am so tired.  I wish I didn’t have to go to school today.  Or I start cataloging all the things I need to get done, and think that there is no way I will ever catch up….  Wow, that just sounds great! (sarcastic tone – sarcastic tone).  What kind of things are you poisoning your attitude with?  Take those thoughts captive AND THROW THEM OUT, give them over to God and be rid of them!  2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV) says We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.   (biblegateway.com)

I recalled a turning point in my life from several years ago, a starting point.  I had made plans for 4^th of July, I was excited, I had my kids excited, then the plans were ruined.  I made the choice (a very good choice actually) but I (we all) were still disappointed.  I thought “now my day will be awful, I’m just going to be sad and end up pouting all day.”  Then it occurred to me, “No I will not!  There is no reason for that!  I can control what kind of day we all have, we will do something else and we will have fun doing it, now plaster on a smile, get the kids, and have fun!”  It was a conscious choice to have fun, my choice – I had taken my thoughts captive without even knowing what that meant.  And you know what – God blessed it!  We had a fantastic day!  We made so many cherished memories that day!

Last night, we sat down to supper (yes I am sorry, we were in front of the TV, everyone wanted to finish the Joyce Meyer DVD) and my youngest began to pout because one of his grilled cheese slices had ended up on his sister’s plate.  You’d have thought the world would end, he began to pout and whine – I said “hey” and pointed to the TV… at that very moment Mrs. Meyer said “Jesus did not die for you so you could sit around and cry and whine!”  WOW!!!!!!!!! He instantly started to laugh, we all started to laugh!  We backed up the DVD and watched that bit again.  God is Good, God is here with us, listening, all the time!

Every negative thought that pulls you down is Satan working on you!  Don’t let him in!  And don’t beat yourself up about times you have let him in, because that is him getting BACK in!  Let go, and let God!  Pray and accept peace!  I have not even begun to scrape the surface of what that DVD brought to my attention!  Please go find it, Netflix if you have it, or Amazon if you don’t…

Phillipeans 4:13

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.