Every Thought ? Come on now...?

Well, I don't know about any of the rest of the people, I can

only say that, for me, this is a continual daily practice.

It could seem to some to be burdensome, no fun, dour,

rigid, etc. But that's just more delusionary, diversionary

thinking....

Self-discipline. That's what this Q speaks to for me.

What do I want to do with my mind, is up to me.

God gave me sovereign dominion free-will choice.

What I do with that is up to me.

The word captivity can sound scary to some people.

But when looked at from the perspective of

Unconditional Love (God) - gathering together

all of my wayward thoughts and focusing them

in daily practice (and what else do I have to do

every day - driving is automatic, breathing is

automatic, cleaning house is automatic,

working is automatic, chewing and swallowing,

etc etc is automatic - I get just 'good enough'

at these things that I can 'zone out' or 'multi-task'

and be divided in my attention. Yeah, and that

gets less than 100 percent results. But most

of humanity is ok with that, even the 'Christian'

community, oops...) is only tough if I talk about

it and don't begin to DO it daily.

I prefer, instead, to practice being God-aware regardless

of what I'm doing or how I'm feeling. And that sounds

like a flip answer to some. Just try it for one week.

Commit yourself daily to noting down the time of day

that you notice yourself NOT being aware of God as

you go about your day. Drive and sing a praise song,

but notice, in the middle of the song, how much you

are thinking about your voice and how well it blends,

and at the same time how annoyed you are becoming

that the traffic has clogged up right when you want

to scoot on by....just note the time on the clock, 12:30

[I was NOT aware of God in my thinking]. Doesn't mean

you have to be 'pious' it means that you willingly keep

your AWARENESS (which is slightly different from

just words or images flowing in and out of your mind)

on God. It actually works. If you do it for an hour the

first week (all totalled) you've done well. Keep it up.

If you can get a couple of minutes the first week, you

know it's possible.....keep encouraging yourself. It is

possible to crinkle your nose at the smelly diaper you

are changing, and be thankful for the loving bond between

you and the child at the same time, AND be aware of

God in the mix all at the same time. When you look at

all the times you noted down, you actually will find that

because you caught yourself NOT in God awareness, that

you were beginning the practice of God-awareness.

I know, it sounds loopy, but it works. There are other

ways, but if you want to bring your thinking into connected

alignment, and really see 'kingdom come' then that's what

our assignment is. I'd rather be a captive of Unconditional

Love that thrown about like a ping pong ball in a wind tunnel,

thank you very much.

If we can multi task by driving, eating, talking on the

cell phone and keeping the kids quiet in the back seat,

we surely are showing ourselves that we can be

God aware as well. It's as simple as making up my mind

(which is alot easier than making up my bed, these days)

Practice may not always make perfect, but it always works.

God let's us be as lazy as we want. And there's consequences

for self-willed mental laziness as well as consequences for practicing

God-awareness daily. It gets easier and easier to CAPTURE

THEM ALL IN CHRIST.

CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY.

WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

So, get busy everyone. Put your s-mug thinking

in the garbage can, and for heavens' sake,

do it God's way.

Really, this verse is not as tough as it sounds,

it's only as tough as I make it. I hang with

people who enjoy living God-aware.

It's about spiritual maturity. Grow yourself up

before you judge anyone else's....just my opinion.

Thanks for an inspiring Q :)

He's not classless and terrible. He, like almost everyone else in the league, celebrates after doing ANYTHING. They do it to bring attention to themselves. The NFL is a "look at me" league, they're all attention whores and the more exposure a player gets often means more money for that player. My favorite is when I guy dances after scoring a TD and his team is still down by 3 TDs. If it bothers some people, so be it. It's not hurting anyone but the guy doing it, making him look like a fool. So I say, let him and everyone else who wants to celebrate making a play do whatever they want as long as it's not hurting his team (i.e. celebration penalty) or showing up another player or team. I also have a warm spot in my heart for DeSean because he saved my fantasy football *** this weekend. ;-)

11 Corinthians 10:5 says ... Casting down IMAGINATIONS, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the KNOWLEDGE of God, and bring into captivity EVERY THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ.

Know what I thought of when I read that? How the atheists are always thinking of ways to disprove God and coming up with outrageous theories. That verse really makes sense. "...casting down IMAGINATIONS and every thing that exalteth itself against the KNOWLEDGE of God...."

Wow. God bless.

Dear Friend,

There are no misprints in the Bible. Sometimes however, in the natural...we think, "How can we do that?" It's not really "how"...but "Who." The Power of the Holy Spirit...CAN give us the power to control our mind, our thoughts, our every part of our being. Jesus did it. He defeated the flesh and so can't we. Why? Because my friend, He was our perfect role model. He overcame the world, and so can't we. But "only" by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are to die to self, everyday. We are to have self-control. It is possible. Thank you Jesus!!!!

I whole heartily believe this.

I have heard this taught in many secular circles this way:

"Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny"

---This quote has disputed origins

As you can see from this teaching your thoughts are fundamental to practically every aspect to your life.

A more Christian view is that we must control our thoughts to conquer sin. I love this quote defining sin, which touches this topic as it talks about the importance of reason, conscience and the mind:

“Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.”

Susanna Wesley (Letter, June 8, 1725)

Hope that helps.

I have to agree with Mark H. It goes hand-in-hand with Philippians 4:8

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.

Mark H,

You have my vote! I don't know how old you are my brother but you have displayed great understanding and wisdom. God bless you!

David slew the giant by placing his mind, thoughts and strength on God and not on the giant. This is the way that we can overcome out giants (our problems in life).

Yes. The battlefield is in the mind and if Satan can get in your mind or thoughts then he can do much damage. Anxiety and mental illness are Satan's fruits.

yes, every thought. a constant anointing?? sounds like the Eucharist.

You made my head hurt!

They should try?

Personally I think that means we should be constantly aware of what thoughts are bad and get rid of them. That's not possible for most without study and practice.

(Quick don't think about chocolate! See what I mean?)