Missing the Music {Keeping a Record of Wrong Thoughts}

"Love is patient.  Love is kind.It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."  1 Cor 13:4-5 (emphasis added)

Every other Monday, I help lead a women's Bible study group at my church home.  The past few months, we have been dissecting 1 Corinthians 13 ("the love passage").  The study is "Freedom is God's Love".

A couple weeks ago, my friend, Kerri Sagraves, wrote and taught a lesson on how love keeps no record of wrongs.

When reading this passage in the past, I always thought of love keeping no record of wrongs as not holding onto grievances against others and forgiving those who have wronged you.  This is truth and should be applied from this scripture.  However, the Lord showed me something new a couple weeks ago while studying this passage.

The past month has been stressful.  Nothing beyond typical everyday stresses with work and life, but it seemed to overwhelm me.  Anxiety pushed at my door and began to seep in.  Anxious thoughts consumed me as fear gripped tight on the recesses of my mind.  There were moments I felt paralyzed by this fear.  I am not one to usually feel anxious or fearful.  Therefore,  this new overwhelming sense of feeling stuck intensified the fear.   All what was wrong kept playing over and over again in my mind.  Then the Lord intervened, pressing pause.

The pause began at a concert.  During the concert, instead of enjoying the music, my mind raced with thoughts of how I should have done this or should have said that.  Tormenting and torturing me with regret and fear.  Then the Lord spoke in his gentle and quiet way,

"Sue, you are missing the music...Your thoughts are drowning out the music causing you to miss what is beautiful."

His words woke me from my stupor and sobered my mind.  Yes, I was missing it.  I could choose my thoughts.  Of course, I know the importance of thoughts and choosing right thoughts and casting down wrong thoughts.  However, there are times when in the middle of a situation I am bombarded with wrong thoughts one after another like repeat fire.  Sometimes it can be days or weeks before I realize what has happened.  I'm sure I'm not alone.

At the concert, I quickly took my thoughts captive and made them obedience to Christ and enjoyed the rest of the show.

A few days later, I was at the Bible study on 1 Cor 13.  That night's talk was on "Love Keeps No Records of Wrongs."  While listening intently to the teaching, the Lord again spoke directly to my heart,

"Love keeps no record of wrongs.  You have been keeping a record of wrongs.  You need to keep a record of rights.  Keep a record of what is right in your life.  Keep a record of rights."

The "record" we play over and over again in our minds, can be a "record of wrongs" or a "record of rights."

We can choose positive thoughts.  We can cast down every imagination and pretense that sets itself against the knowledge of God and take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.  We can.

When we choose to keep a record of wrongs, we aren't loving ourselves.  Love keeps no record of wrongs.

What are some record of wrongs in your thought life?  Are wrong thoughts causing you to miss the music in your life?

If you are keeping a record of wrongs, how can you replace the wrong thought with a right thought based on God's truth?

Take captive your thoughts.  There may be some things wrong in your life, but there are right things. Choose to keep a record of rights.  Choose love.  He loves you.

Truth for Today:

"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."  2 Cor 10:5

[Love] keeps no record of wrongs."  1 Cor 13:5b

Lessons Learned at Walmart

My daughter and I parked the cart over by the side of the rack and began looking at the cute beach towels. Suddenly, I heard a crash and glanced as I saw a man ram a cart into the display and mutter something about people parking their carts in the aisle and how rude that is.

As I looked, I noticed it was our cart he had pushed.  I immediately began singing "Let it Go" from the movie, Frozen...of course. (So many applications to that song.)  

Well, I was able to just "let it go" and go on with a rather enjoyable Walmart experience.  Then, I got in line at the checkout counter.  As I was placing my items on the conveyor belt, I noticed some unpleasantness going on behind me in line.  There were 3 ladies behind me and apparently one of them had "cut" in front of the other by positioning herself to the side and in front of her like she was charging ahead for the finish of the Kentucky Derby.

I had to laugh to myself.  However, the lady behind the eager race horse did not find the whole scenario quite as humorous.  She did try to be gracious and told the lady to go ahead and that she could see she was obviously in a hurry.  The race horse said, "Ok" and began placing her items behind mine on the belt.

Well, the lady behind her could not contain herself any longer and began to inform the lady about how rude she was being, to which, the lady had no response.  She just continued placing items on the belt and then she stood right where I needed to stand to pay.

Still amused by the fiasco, I politely told the lady I still needed to pay and asked her if she could move back. She did...for about 2 minutes, and then stepped back to where I needed to stand.

Well, the cashier was done ringing up my items by this time.  So, I smiled and laughed and told the lady I needed to get to that spot to pay, unless of course, she wanted to pay for my items.

She smiled and laughed too and something changed.  I think something happened in her when I reacted in kindness and even humor to this tense situation.  She immediately had a change of heart and suddenly this race horse that was in such a hurry, backed up, pushed her groceries to the back of the belt and insisted that the lady behind her go first.

A spiritual mentor of mine, Karen Ellison, the founder of Deeper Still Ministry, talks about reacting to people in the opposite spirit.  It is the same principle as blessing those who curse you.  When you are kind to those who are unkind or rude to you, something happens in the spiritual realm that we cannot see.  It disarms the forces that are at work to tempt us into sin.

I could have easily gotten offended and irritated at that lady for continuing to act impatient and being where I needed to stand.  And, many times in the past, I haven't responded in love like I should have.  However, this day I did and I saw the result!  Sometimes we may not see the result, but we just need to know that God is working even if we don't see it.

Power Verses:

1.  Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.  Luke 6:28

2.  A soft word turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15: 1

3.  Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sin. Proverbs 17:9

  

Attitudes of Freedom

I am taking a break from the series Answered Prayer: Keys to Receiving because today I am excited to announce that I am a guest poster on John Beehner's blog Ask Wise Counsel


I was contacted back in December to be a guest poster for his Freedom Blog Tour.  This blog tour features a variety of authors from across the nation.  I was a little hesitant to participate at first because I was not familiar with John Beehner's ministry or blog.  However, after reviewing his blog and subject matter, I decided I would be honored to be a part of this event.

I am all about Freedom!  I hope you will take a moment to read Attitudes of Freedom
and the other posts written on freedom!



THANKS!

Thoughts are Music

Have you ever had a song in your head that just wouldn't leave?  It just plays over and over again like a broken record?  Maybe it is a favorite song, but many times it is one we would rather not have in our head.

My little girl has a Barbie guitar and it plays "Barbie Girl" by Aqua.  Catchy little ditty that easily gets stuck in my head. 

"I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world...life in plastic, it's fantastic....."  (I apologize if it is in your head all day now)  : )

Songs stick in our heads easily.  Being careful what we listen to is important.  That applies whether it is music, T.V., what we read, or our thoughts. 

We don't have to listen to every thought that enters our head.  Many times a thought comes into our minds like a bad song we want OUT of our head!

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.  Psalms 19:14

We want the meditations of our hearts to be acceptable in God's sight.

The Hebrew word for "meditation" in the verse above is higgayown. 

It means resounding music.  (Doesn't it look a little like "boogy-town")  God has such a sense of humor. 

Our meditations are the resounding music that we play over and over again in our head.  Thoughts become meditations when we record them and press replay on a looping cycle.  We determine if the music in our head is a beautiful melody or an harmonic nightmare.  If what we are hearing is predominantly a chaotic critical chord, we need to change our tune and boogie to a different beat!

We need to be sure the seeds we allow to be planted in our minds are going to spring up and produce a beautiful melody that brings life and not destruction.

Life in plastic for Barbie may be fantastic, but life for us with our minds bound up with a bad song replaying over and over again is not so fantastic. 

"Blessed is the man....his delight is in the law of the Lord, 
And in His law he meditates day and night.  
He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water, 
That brings forth its fruit in its season
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper."  Psalms 1:1-3  (emphasis added)



The song playing in our heads determines the song that comes out of our mouths.  It determines the song that comes out in our lives.  What song are you playing?  What thoughts are you allowing to boogie around in your mind?  Is it time to change the tune? Meditating on the life giving Word of God results in a beautiful prosperous melody.  

It All Started With Ketchup

Sitting in a fast food restaurant chain, the five of us in our family chowed down on the typical fast food variety.  Luke, my 6 year old, and I shared a ketchup.

Chris went to get more ketchup and I thought, "I hope he gets us more ketchup as well.  We could use more ketchup."

He came back from the ketchup fetching with no ketchup for us.  "Hmmm. How unthoughtful of him", I thought.

The next day, something else happened that I cannot remember at the moment that caused me to think, "That wasn't very thoughtful.  He isn't being very considerate of me lately."

The day after that, as I was scurrying around to get dinner together, he was in the other room doing work.  Again, I thought, "It would be nice if he would be thoughtful enough to help me."

So, I said to him, "I am tempted to be mad at you right now.  It seems you haven't been very thoughtful of me lately", and I gave him all three examples.

He said, "I didn't realize you needed more ketchup, I looked and it appeared you still had enough." (He had thought to look.)  "I didn't know you needed help with dinner, you know I would help you if you need it."  (He always helps when I ask and he always does the dishes afterwards to help me, it is his thing.)

He really is a very thoughtful man, my mind was just trying to convince me otherwise.  The enemy tries to plant negative seeds in our minds.  Sometimes, we plant negative seeds in our minds.  If we let them stay in our minds, if we give them voice, they start to take root.

Take no thought, saying "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?"  Matt 6:31

The point here is that when a thought comes to you, you do not have to "take" it.  You can say, "No, thank you" when it is offered to you.  You do not have to let it be planted and take root.

I was tempted to let those thoughts take root.  They could have developed into a nasty tree ripe with bitterness, resentment, and criticism.  That kind of fruit is not good for a marriage or any other relationship.  Those are bad fruits that will destroy a relationship.


Credit: Free images from acobox.com


Thoughts are seeds.  We can decide if will allow negative thoughts to stay and plant bad seeds, and ultimately result in bad fruit.  On the flip side, positve thoughts yield good fruit.

A thought stays by giving it life with our words. 

The heart (mind) and the mouth are closely related.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.  Luke 6:45

We need to be cautious to evaluate our thoughts.  Do they line up with God's truth? Does it line up with what I already know?  ( I already knew my husband is thoughtful, he is a wonderful man....the thoughts I was having did not line up with truth about him.)   What kind of fruit will this thought produce if it stays?  Is it positive or negative? 

Now sometimes, our thoughts are valid and we need to address issues.  We just need to be certain to do it in the correct way.  Prayerfully.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.  Psalms 19:14

The words that come out of our mouths start as meditations in our hearts.  We want our thought or meditations to be approved of by God.  We want our thoughts to be good seeds planted that will bear fruit for the Lord. 

We need to be sure the seeds we allow to be planted in our minds are going to spring up and produce a fruit that brings life and not destruction.

I was "tempted" to be mad at Chris because of my thoughts.  It all started with ketchup.  That bad tomato almost got the best of me.  The thoughts were not even based in reality.

Thankfully, those thoughts did not take root. I did not "take" those thoughts and keep them.  It would have been destructive to our relationship to let those thoughts stay.  The fruit produced would have been rotten and corrosive.

What kind of seeds are you allowing to be planted in your mind?  What kind of fruit will those thoughts produce?  Let's take an inventory and throw out the seeds that will produce bad fruit.  Let's throw out those rotten tomatoes!  And let's keep and plant seeds that will produce good, beautiful fruit.

Beaten By Things Unreal

A week or so ago, I was playing the game "Hi Ho Cherry-0" with my four year old and one of her "friends".  This particular friend happens to be a Barbie doll named Makenzie. Yes, I am 37 years old and play with barbie dolls.  : )  

In case you have never played this game or if it has been 30 years and need a refresh, you put plastic cherries on a tree and then spin a spinner.  Whatever number the spinner lands on, that is how many cherries you can take off your tree.  The person who removes all the cherries from their tree first is the winner.

Well, that morning Makenzie, the Barbie doll, won the game!   I had been beaten at a game by a Barbie doll!  How sad, right?  The only thing sadder would have been if only the doll and I had been playing.  : )

I thought it was pretty funny and shared it on facebook.  One of my friends said, "There has to be a great blog illustration there somewhere."   So, I started thinking.  Yes, there is!

I was beaten that morning by something that isn't real.

Oftentimes in life, we allow ourselves to be beaten by things that are not real.  

We allow fears based on the unreal to keep us bound up.  

We live our lives in defeat because of insecurities that are based on lies.  

When I was a little girl, I slept with my light on every night because I was afraid of the dark. Now, there was really nothing to be afraid of in my room.  I thought I saw a pirate on my closet door and I was afraid of the pirate in the dark.  Looking back.....what are the chances there was an actual pirate in my room!  0% chance!  So, I was afraid of something not real.  There was no chance that it was real, yet, I was afraid of it.  I let it beat me.

Even more recently....about 12 years ago, the movie "The Sixth Sense" came out.   After seeing this movie, I feared that I would see dead people.  Come on, are you kidding me!  It isn't real!  I really use to struggle with fear. It took a few days of saying the verse below out loud to defeat that unreal fear.

I cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,and I bring every thought in to captivity to the obedience of Christ.  2 Corinthians 10:5  (I inserted "I" to make it more real for me and to personalize it.) 

The verse right above this one is....

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.  2Cor 10:4

Much of the battlefield is in our minds.  The weapon we use to win the war is the Word of God.  We must cast down wrong thoughts and every thought that is contrary to the Word of God.  Fear is not from the Lord, and we need to cast it down and find the truth of God's Word to replace the fearful lie.  God's Word will pull down strongholds (anything that has a hold on your mind).

To this day, I won't watch that movie.  There are many movies I won't watch.  We have to protect our minds.

Much fear comes from what we put in our minds.

The two examples above are like the fear of "monsters in the closet".  Fear based on something unreal, it couldn't happen.

There are other fears that could happen, but we need to choose to believe God's Word.  Often, even these fears are based in a lie.

Examples:

1. A friend of mine shared with me how she feared her husband leaving her for another woman.  He is a wonderful man and there is no truth to back up this fear, and she was letting this unreal fear keep her in bondage. 

2.  A fear of rejection causing one to not make new friends or feel uncomfortable around people.  This fear is often based on a lie and is not real.

3.  Fear of disaster happening, fearing the worst.  Yes, we live in a fallen world and bad things happen.  However, we do not need to live our lives in fear.  God is our protector  (Psalms 91).  When those thoughts come, we need to cast them down.  Fearful thoughts do not line up with God's Word. 

4. Fear of failure, not trying new things or what is outside our comfort zones in fear that we will fail.  Yes, failure is a possibility, but it is definite when fear paralyzes one from trying.  We may fail, but the Lord never fails us and He will turn any failure into a victory.

There are many examples of how we fear things that are unreal.  We fear things that have not happened and there is no basis to believe they will happen.  There is actually a medical term for people who fear sickness when they are not really sick.  The term is hypochondriac.  Many times, these people actually develop symptoms of what they are fearing.  They let something unreal defeat them.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.  2 Tim 1:7

Fear may have such a hold that is seems real to us.  It is never from God.  We need to have more faith in our Lord than in our fears.  Fear may try to come into our thoughts, it is what we do with it from there that will determine if it defeats us or not.  It is bad enough to be beaten by a Barbie doll, let's not let things unreal beat us in life.