A Tale of Two Thoughts

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1 Timothy 1:7 NKJV "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

What it is speaking to me:

I wake up with a start. It's 3:30 AM. Some thought woke me up and filled me with dread. What have I forgotten? I forgot to do something, but what is it? The devotional. I forgot to publish it. I start racking my brain: why didn't I publish it? What did I do yesterday that made me forget? Did I even WRITE it?! Now I am replaying the events of the day in my head, trying to remember what I did.

Then another thought entered my mind. It's Saturday. Relief washes over me. I didn't forget anything; there was nothing to be done. I went back to sleep, and then got up later to write this devotional.

This is a tale of two thoughts. One was true, one wasn't. Both elicited strong emotions from me. One brought confusion, panic, and stress. The other brought relief, peace, and joy. Two thoughts, two very different effects. Thoughts are powerful, more powerful than I sometimes give them credit for. As I reflect on this, the thought crosses my mind that untrue thoughts (read: lies) always bring some form of confusion, stress, and panic. Or perhaps they bring jealousy, rage, and depression. Regardless, the effect is not good. A true thought, however, brings the opposite: relief, peace, or joy.

Two types of thoughts, two very different outcomes. Often it simply comes down to rejecting the false idea (even if it stems from early morning brain fog and bad dreams) and believing the truth (it's Saturday!).

There is a lot of power in a single thought. Let's always make sure we are holding on to the right ones.

What is it saying to you?

• How is your thought life?

• I am sure you have had an experience like the one I described. How did you deal with it?

• Does it make you think about how powerful our thoughts are, whether real or imagined?

• How did you deal with the untrue one? How do you protect yourself from reacting to thoughts that aren't true?

  
  

What are we going to do about it?

Examine a powerful thought you have today, one that elicits a strong reaction from you. Deal with that thought according to the truth.