Power Thoughts: 12 Strategies to Win the Battle of the Mind
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Authors: Joyce Meyer
Tags: #Christian Life, #Christianity, #Religion, #General, #Christian Theology, #REL012000, #Success - Religious Aspects - Christianity, #Psychology, #Success, #Self-Help, #Personal Growth, #Spirituality, #Religious Aspects, #Body, #Mind & Spirit, #Thought and Thinking - Religious Aspects - Christianity, #Cognitive Psychology, #Thought and Thinking
CONTENTS
Chapter 1: The Power of a Positive You
Chapter 2: Teach Your Mind to Work for You
Chapter 4: On-Purpose Thinking
Power Thought 1: I can do whatever I need to do in life through Christ.
Power Thought 2: God loves me unconditionally!
Power Thought 3: I will not live in fear.
Power Thought 4: I am difficult to offend.
Power Thought 5: I love people and I enjoy helping them.
Power Thought 6: I trust God completely; there is no need to worry!
Power Thought 7: I am content and emotionally stable.
Power Thought 8: God meets all my needs abundantly.
Power Thought 9: I pursue peace with God, myself, and others.
Power Thought 10: I live in the present and enjoy each moment.
Power Thought 11: I am disciplined and self-controlled.
Power Thought 12: I put God first in my life.
Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life. If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continue to act as you have always acted. If you continue to act as you have always acted, you will continue to get what you have always gotten. If you want different results in your life or your work, all you have to do is change your mind.
—Anonymous
O
ne of my favorite sayings is, “Where the mind goes, the man follows.” I wholeheartedly believe our thoughts lead us, charting the course for our lives and pointing us in certain directions that ultimately determine our destinations in life. Our thoughts cause us to have certain attitudes and perspectives; they affect our relationships; they determine how productive we will be personally and professionally; and they greatly influence the overall quality of our lives. We absolutely must understand the power of thoughts!
For instance, if you begin to think about starting your own business, getting a college degree, improving your health, or eliminating your debt, and you are really serious about it—which means that you firmly set your mind in that direction—you will eventually do it. Your goals may change as time goes by. Or perhaps life, as it so often does, will twist and turn along the way, putting you in a place you never expected to be and creating new options that you hadn’t even considered. A good example of this can be seen in the life of a friend of mine. Several years ago, she decided to move across the country even though that would mean leaving a career of many years and starting over. She gave notice at her job, and in a thriving real estate market she put her house up for sale and started making plans for the move. Who would have expected that a sudden major real estate slump would leave her with a house that wasn’t worth the balance of her mortgage? With too little savings to sell at a large loss and make up the difference, she stayed in her home and found another job that was below the level of her old one. As a result of working for her new employer, two years later she met the man who would become her husband. Although her initial goal wasn’t realized, she would tell you with great assurance that deciding to move was the best decision she ever made—even though she still lives where she did all those years ago. Had she not taken the steps she did, she is sure she never would have met her husband.
I firmly believe that each thing we do in life gives us experience for the next thing we will do and that our thoughtful planning is perfected by God as we place our trust in Him.
Success in every aspect of life begins with a thought; so does failure. If you think you cannot do or attain something, chances are you will not be able to. Your mind has
that
much influence over your life.
Just think about it. Take a moment now to consider the successes and failures of your life. What kinds of thoughts were you thinking before and during your greatest achievements? And what kinds of thoughts filled your mind before and during your most significant failures or missteps? Can you see how your mind has worked either for you or against you over the course of your life?
Many times, we succeed in life because other people encourage us and we think about their affirming comments to the point that we believe them. Anyone who has ever been told “You can do it!” knows how easy it is to turn those inspiring, confidence-building words into a thought. When “You can do it” becomes “I can do it,” then “it” happens—whether it’s scoring a point in an athletic competition, making a good grade on a test, getting a job, losing weight, or buying a house. When we believe or think we can do something, then somehow, someway—even if we face challenges—we still manage to get it done. The same is true when we think negatively and come to believe we cannot do something. Discouraging words from others and thoughts such as “I’m not smart enough, attractive enough, talented enough, or diligent enough” often become self-fulfilling prophecies. Why? Because they become ingrained in our thinking to the point that they exert influence over our decision-making processes—and where the mind goes, the man follows.
James Allen, a British philosopher around the turn of the twentieth century, said, “All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts.” The way we think is far more powerful than we often realize and our thoughts impact every aspect of our existence, either positively or negatively. Whatever we think and believe
feels
real to us, even if it is not true at all. If we think something is true, we respond and act as though it is. Our thoughts affect our relationships, our self-image, our finances, our health (physical, emotional, and spiritual), our productivity at work and at home, the way we manage our time, our priorities, and our ability to enjoy life.
The connection between our thoughts and the rest of our lives is clear in Scripture. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” In other words, we become what we think. If we think positive thoughts, we will be positive people enjoying fruitful lives. Conversely, if we think negative thoughts, we will be negative people with no joy or success.
Let me be clear that I am not saying that we can think into existence anything that we want. That view of the power of thoughts is a form of humanism, which is an ungodly philosophy. But, simply recognizing the fact that thoughts are powerful is not humanistic at all. In fact, it’s quite biblical, and you will see that throughout this book.
Our minds must go through a process of renewal in order to experience God’s plan for us. His thoughts are above our thoughts (see Isaiah 55:8, 9), so in order to walk with Him and experience His good plans for our lives, we
must
learn to think as He thinks (see Romans 12:2). It is impossible to change our lives unless and until we change our thoughts. When people say they are miserable or frustrated, I say that a “stinking” life can be the result of “stinking thinking.” Most of the time, these people don’t realize they have the ability to make choices concerning their thoughts and that doing so will make a difference in their lives.
Indeed, very few people realize that we have the ability to choose our thoughts and decide what we want to think; most of us passively meditate on whatever comes into our minds without ever realizing our enemy, Satan, uses our minds extensively to control us and keep us from fulfilling God’s destiny for our lives. Each person regenerated through receiving Jesus Christ as their Savior receives a new spirit and a new heart from God, but does not receive a new mind—the mind must be renewed. The intent of one’s heart may be pure and yet the mind is still confused. The Bible declares emphatically that we must be transformed by the entire renewal of mind and attitude (see Romans 12:2). This is accomplished by a complete, diligent, and thorough study of God’s Word.
I understand completely that choosing right thoughts is not always easy. One of the greatest breakthroughs I have ever had in my life took place when I finally realized I had the ability to control my thoughts, and one of the greatest challenges I have ever faced was the challenge to change my thinking once I realized it was possible to do so. I’ll tell you more about my journey toward right thinking and encourage you in yours as this book unfolds.
Sometimes thinking correctly seems to be a battle—and I’m here to tell you that it
is
a battle. That’s because the mind is the battlefield; it is where we win or lose—where we become victims or victors—in life. In 1995, I wrote
Battlefield of the Mind
, which is based on the fact that the biggest problems we face in life often result from wrong thinking. Since that book was released, many people have come to understand that guarding our minds is critically important and have learned to develop healthy thought patterns. In the years since that book was released, I’ve had more experience observing how my own thoughts affect my life, as well as how powerful thoughts are in the lives of people I minister to, and I am more convinced than ever that the mind is the battlefield. It is the battlefield on which we wage war not only with our enemy and God’s enemy, the devil, over our personal lives and destinies, but also with worldviews and concepts or ideas that threaten to deceive us. It is the battlefield on which we make the decisions that lead to frustration and defeat or to strength, health, joy, peace, and abundance.
The battle in our minds will continue until our earthly lives are complete. We will never become so spiritual that the enemy decides to stop harassing us, but we can become stronger and stronger against him as we grow in our relationship with God and in understanding His Word. We can learn to live in greater measures of power and authority over the enemy, which will result in greater abilities to enjoy our lives, receive God’s blessings, and fulfill the good plans He has for us.
In
Power Thoughts
, I want to take the next step beyond
Battlefield of the Mind
and give you specific insights and strategies to help you build powerful mind-sets to empower you to live in a place of strength, success, and victory every day.
In Part 1 of this book, I will share with you some potentially life-changing truths and insights on the power of our thoughts and on the importance of the way we think. You’ll see how important your thoughts are to your physical health, your mental and emotional well-being, and your spiritual growth. You’ll discover how vital a godly positive attitude is and you’ll learn how to develop and maintain the kind of optimistic outlook that will help you change your life for the better.
In Part 2 of this book, I’ll offer you twelve “power thoughts” that can revolutionize your life if you will believe them, allow them to take root in your mind, and act on them in your everyday life. In these pages, I am giving you tools that can make you strong where you have been weak, triumphant where you have been defeated, positive where you have been negative, courageous where you have been afraid, and successful where you have failed in the past.
The goal of this book is not simply to provide you with good information you can read and store away in the bottom drawer of your mind. My aim is to help you change your life. The only way to change your life is to change your thinking, and I want to give you a head start on that by sharing with you twelve of the most important thoughts you can ever think. These thoughts may not agree with the way you currently think; you may have to retrain your brain by using these power thoughts to build new mind-sets. You may need new mental habits, which won’t happen immediately, but it
can
happen if you commit to renewing your mind. You can start with the twelve thoughts introduced in this book and then continue on throughout your life developing and perfecting new thought patterns and habits.
Some experts say forming a new habit takes thirty days; others say it takes three weeks. Perhaps you can break old habits and develop new ones more quickly than that, or it may take you longer. All I ask is that you prayerfully approach this book and use it as a pattern in your life. You may want to focus on one power thought per week for twelve weeks and put yourself on a three-month “program” of teaching your brain to think differently. You may choose to focus on one power thought each month for twelve months, using this book over the course of one year to help you establish new mind-sets and ways of thinking that can change your life. I suggest that you use the three-month program and repeat it four times in a year. This book is laid out in a way that will allow you to record your progress at the end of each week and make notes about the changes you are beginning to see in your life as a result of your new thoughts. Whatever you decide is a good pace for you to go through this book, make a commitment to it. More than that, make a commitment to God and a commitment to yourself. Commit that you are going to change the things about your life that need changing—and see this book as a tool that can help you do so.