Whatever!

“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8

Paul was giving words of encouragement to his friends at the church at Philippi….a sort of pep talk. For us walking through this bumpy road of life two thousand years later, we need these words more than ever. The onslaught of the negative, immoral, compromising information flying at us each day can cause our minds to be muddled to the point of chaos. We find ourselves dwelling on fears, inappropriate thoughts, comparison and inadequacies to the point we cannot hear the voice of God. Ask yourself what you spend enormous amounts of time doing? Evaluate what you consistently focus on each day. What consumes your thoughts. We are to be “taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10:5). To take our thoughts captive and out of the evil talons of satan, to dodge his endless barrage of dishonoring thoughts we must DWELL on what is true, what is honorable, what is just, what is pure, what is lovely, what is commendable. The thing about our minds, only we know what we think or dwell on, and of course God knows. But the things we think about will eventually manifest themselves in our decisions and our actions.

Since reading this verse with new eyes this past week, I have been more aware of what I dwell on….I have realized that too often I believe the lies of the enemy, I should think on whatever is true! Spend some time evaluating your own thought process. Ask the Lord to reveal areas you need to allow Him to cleanse and begin to think on things worthy of praise.