“Just a Thought…”

Have you ever thought about thoughts?

One evening I was sitting on the front porch looking off at the mountains and musing over a variety of projects, ideas, problems, and wonders…as in ‘wonder what God is going to do about this?’  The night before I’d come across a scripture that I really liked, you know, it was one of those promises the Lord made to Israel that offered all sorts of blessings to His kids for obedience.  I wondered if I should ask the Lord if it was ok to claim that particular scripture for us.  I didn’t want to be over stepping my bounds if it was self-interest, which it certainly could have been.  “Ask away”, He said.

I laughed out loud after posing the scripture and hearing His response, “Dave, you can claim any scripture you want, including all the bad ones.”  Isn’t that something?  This is really an amazing gift . . . free will, which gets me back to thoughts.  If thoughts are the predecessors to actions, then thoughts are super important to set a course in alignment to the Lord’s will rather than our own. There is a scripture that says, “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” 

So I decided to take a walk around inside my mind and see what was there.  Ok, ok, I can hear you all laughing at me ‘cause you probably think nobody is home in my mind.’  You are probably right, but I did find some interesting things.  By the way, I am left-handed so I am in my right mind!

First I found out that I needed to take out the trash. 

Critical thoughts, impatient thoughts, judgmental thoughts, media driven thoughts, aggrandizing thoughts, you get the drift.  Then I had to see what Satan had put in that wasn’t me and get rid of those thoughts too.  It seems that these kinds of thoughts arrive uninvited and off course from what I know I think and what God thinks.

Care thoughts were next.  

These were thoughts about things I was caring about; family members success and welfare, ministry hopes, community needs, relational communications, prioritizing  ‘to dos’, financial wonders . . . again you get my drift.  I know the Lord said, “Cast all your cares on me because I care for you,” so I handed all the care thoughts to the Lord.

What’s left you ask?  This is where the thought fun began.

Now that the trash was gone and the cares were set to heaven, I could find three different kinds of thoughts.

First, were the thoughts of God.  How amazing it is to have a God of this magnificent universe who would have an interest in His tiny little mortal kids and be specific, loving, and personal whenever they asked Him something, beyond belief really.

Second, I could find thoughts from Him.  These thoughts were creative. Exhilarating thoughts about how to do something, about timing for a project or an idea, ways to bring hope to a troubling need, clarifying thoughts on a confusing issue, and His peaceful sense of “okayness” about things that He didn’t answer just yet, like someone’s cancer or pains as an example.  Not knowing all the stuff I’d like to know about the future, but knowing enough for the moment was enough. Knowing the Knower beats knowing, probably a stupid way to say it, but you understand.

Third, I could find the ‘to’ and ‘from’ God thoughts had an active partner.  The Holy Spirit took on the conveyance of the messages, not just with words but with results.  An ‘ask’ became an action.  By asking the Lord what He wanted me to ask Him, I found those thoughts got quick results. Eliminating the daily prayer repetitions and listening to the Lord meant the ‘to’ and ‘from’ got amazing results.

I guess I say all this to point out that Jesus seemed to have a simple process to get God’s thoughts active in His life and all the world thoughts out.  I figured if Jesus did it, we can too.  So take a walk around inside your mind and see what your own thinking inventory is.  It is a worthwhile and action packed trip.

Dave Fankhauser