Hello, girls, our subject today is…thoughts! By now you may be thinking, “Are you serious? Is she really going to be talking about thoughts AGAIN?” I just can’t help it, thoughts carry so much significance in the quality of our lives. They truly are such an important part of our day. They are always with us, our constant companion, a part of our every waking moment. They are something we just can’t get away from, we carry them with us always. We wake up with them, and lie down with them. Secondly, our thoughts set the tone for our emotions and attitudes. They set the mood or the stage for our interactions with others, which in turn, has quite an affect on all those around us, who have no idea why we are the way we are, because they aren’t thinking our thoughts. They are clueless when it comes to understanding why we react the way we do to certain subjects or situations, because they are not following the same thought patterns we are. And, thirdly, our thoughts not only direct our attitudes and emotions, but our actions, also. The thoughts we choose to meditate on govern our actions, which in turn, set our life course.
Now that we all agree as to the importance of our thoughts, let’s move on this week into seeing how this principle is played out all around us, in everyday life. And one of the most visible places to see how thoughts govern us is in the area of OFFENSES.
Have you ever been offended? When I looked this word up in the dictionary, “sin” was listed among several other verbs for offend. Has anyone ever sinned against you? Unfortunately, for all of us, we’ve been victim to someone, or several someones, who have offended/sinned against us. At one point or another, each of us has suffered at the hands of those who are following after their own heart’s desires.
James 4:1 asks and answers the question…”From where come wars and fightings among you? Come they not from…your lusts that war within your members?” After doing a word study, the verse fleshes out like this…From where come fightings, controversies, and strivings among you? Don’t they come from…one’s determination to please themselves, one’s sensual desires that struggle with carnal inclinations within their mental and physical members? Simply put, offenses come from SELFISHNESS!
Now let’s look at James 1:14 to find out how do we get from Point A to Point B? How do we get to be so selfish? “But every man/woman is tempted, when they are drawn away of their own lust, and enticed.” Paraphrased it is saying, But every man/woman is enticed, when they are beguiled/seduced/entrapped by their OWN/PRIVATE longings for what is forbidden. Verse 15 further explains the progression, “Then when lust is conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, it brings forth death.” It looks like this, when longings for what is forbidden are seized/took hold of, they produce/bear sin/offenses, and when sin/offenses are entirely complete, it begets/leads to/generates/breeds death.
So, what brings about selfishness in us and others…misdirected thoughts. Therefore, when the offenses, violations, insults, ill-feelings, slaps-in-the-face, hostilities, frictions, spitefulness rear their ugly heads, don’t allow the Lover of Offenses to build a nest in your hair that you’ll have to wear around all day. Because he will just keep adding twigs and grass to it until it covers your eyes from seeing anything else!
Are you, or do you know someone who is held captive to the thoughts and plans Satan schemed towards him/her years ago? We’re all familiar with the verse from Jeremiah 29:11 which God says, “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” So since God’s intentions, plans and purposes for us are peaceful, safe, well, happy and wholesome, to give us an expected, hopeful, lively, that which we long for end, future and reward, can you imagine what Satan’s intentions are, (and have been), since we were first conceived? His thoughts, being the opposite of God’s, are of evil, adversity, calamity, distress, grievous, hurtful, miserable and wicked towards us. And everyday Satan is using selfish people to work out his sinister exploits on innocent people.
If those offended do not tap into practicing the total forgiveness God will give them towards their offenders, then the offense just keeps on offending as it’s played out over and over again in the mind of the one who was hurt, much to Satan’s delight. He is able to continue the devastating effects, even years later when we are physically removed from the offender or situation. We actually participate in his evil plans towards us when we rehearse the thought patterns he has towards us.
Testing conducted at a university proves there are adverse consequences to reliving bad memories. During the study, a student would be hooked up to machines ready to monitor their blood pressure, heart rate, stress levels, etc.
First, initial readings were recorded; and then the student was asked to retell a traumatic experience. Just reliving the incident in their mind caused a profuse ripple affect in the readings of the monitor. All readings were adversely changed by the fear, anxiety, anger, humiliation, etc. in which thinking about the offense resurfaced. Reliving offenses ruins our physical, mental and emotional health which impairs us from relating healthfully to loved ones in our lives now. So, Satan’s plans towards us are not a one time deal, because he relishes to see the destruction continue not only in our lives but also in the lives of those we are responsible for. He is relentless, refusing to stop until our misdirected thoughts lead us away from God’s purposes for us.
Without God’s grace, we become too focused on the pain to see the provision. We miss out on life all around us because we insist on going back to the bad. This past winter, my daughters and I got on a Charles Dickens binge, watching such BBC classics as Bleak House and Great Expectations. If you are familiar with the character in Great Expectations named Mrs. Haversham, you will remember how she lived the life of a recluse in her mansion, which was decorated for her wedding day that never took place, because she was stood up at the altar. The initial act of selfishness on the part of her fiancee’ got a foothold in her life and she, in turn, became an extremely self-focused person. But it didn’t stop there because “misery loves company.” She passed on her pain and humiliation by attempting to condition her daughter to believe that no man could ever be loved or trusted.
Bad thoughts are like getting hit with unwanted raindrops on a day when you’re not prepared for it.
Let me explain…I am a hiker girl at heart, because the great outdoors never cease to amaze me. That’s why when the opportunity presented itself for my daughters and I to overnight-hike on the Sheltowee Trace with another mom and her daughters, I jumped at the chance. Who wouldn’t want to be on a trail in April? I know, right? We set aside two weeks this April to be out there facing whatever the elements had to throw at us – heat, cold, snakes, bears, fatigue, sprained ankles…whatever! This would be a huge endeavor because we had never attempted such a feat.
But as we prepared for the trip by gathering our gear, dehydrating our food and getting psyched up, among the feelings of anticipation and excitement, a black cloud of fear and doubt would come and hover over me, threatening to rain on my parade of happy thoughts. This cloud was created by past camping experiences involving RAIN…gasp! There have been three really bad camping endeavors our family has been witness to because of rain.
- There was the time we were on our way to the Grand Canyon, when we stopped at a campground outside of St. Louis, Mo. A horrible wind/rain storm hit during the night which necessitated getting the pop-up camper completely shut back down, and all the camping gear and children into the van to sit out the storm.
- Another rainy incident happened while we were set up for a week of camping at Land Between the Lakes. We were all sleeping peacefully in our two family sized tents when a savage storm hit, causing everyone to jump up and frantically begin the arduous task of breaking down camp in the pouring rain. Our gear that trip consisted of everything from pots/pans, coolers, lawn chairs, canoe, tents, cots, bedding…everything a family needs for an entire week away from home. What got me a “reputation” on this trip was my response, or lack of it in this case, for I just laid there on my cot, stressed paralyzed and unable to function. It was an overwhelming situation in which I would never have planned for in all my days of life here on earth. I couldn’t move, so I lay there trying to decide which was louder…the wind and the rain beating mercilessly down on the tent above my head, or the sound of my family breaking up camp?
- And of course, I will never live down the time we were sleeping in our tents up at the Hensley Settlement campground. During the middle of the night, a storm began brewing which sent everyone running towards the settlement to seek shelter on the porch of one of the cabins. But what got me a “reputation” was the fact that I gathered up the two youngest children on the hike, with our gear, and hoofed it all the way back down the mountain to our van parked at the base, doing it in record time, in the dark!
Now, back to hiking on the Sheltowee Trace in April…here I was being given the opportunity to do ADVENTURE with two of my daughters, but memories of past sufferings were overshadowing the sunshine of my today’s. These flashbacks were tempting me to be paralyzed from living in the blessings of the here and now. So I had to have a sit-down talk with myself and accept the fact that this trip would place me in a position that micro-managers avoid at all costs, a position of vulnerability! Look at these disgusting homonyms for vulnerable…helpless, defenseless, powerless, weak and susceptible…yuck! Like a character off an Avatar movie I saw long ago, I would love to control the elements (or at least one of them).
Oh, how I desire for things to go according to my plan, my rhythm, and my reason! But there’s a universal law out there which one must live by: THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN BEYOND OUR CONTROL.
To be out of doors all day and all night for an extended amount of time ended up being a reminder of how desperate I am for God, and trusting that He knows best, even if He chose to allow black clouds to rain down on us, even if the temperatures dropped, and/or even if He allowed a snake or bear to wander into our campsite. He was not only using the trip to introduce us to a whole new level of backpacking, but more importantly to a whole new level of seeing Him as our protective Shepherd.
So regardless of the fear of the unknown, I pushed past “the wall”, so to speak, and went. Was it a piece of cake/a walk in the park? No, we had our share of blood, sweat, and tears; but we truly received more than we sacrificed. We all stepped out on that trail with our own set of expectations. I sure had my list, which consisted of leaving certain things out there, like the eight extra pounds I had gained over the winter which were making my clothes feel more like the enemy instead of my friends, the anxiety of missing out on seeing the unfolding of Spring because most my work requires being indoors, and finally, I wanted to leave out there my micro-managing mindset which tells me I know it all.
What I picked up from being out there was a new discovery of the abundance of Kentucky wildflowers that I didn’t even know existed, tons of fresh air and sunshine, a renewed sense of and appreciation for adventure, and the exhilaration of stepping off the secure ledge even though I didn’t know where it would take me. Life should not be wasted on making sure we are comfortable and secure, but rather on each day looking forward to ways in which God can be high and lifted up, allowing His glory to fill us as His temples. Sure, there will be the glow of glory associated with doing a God powered feat, but just as the cherubim, we must also quickly direct all praise back to the One who gives us the ability to do these adventures. “You will show me the PATH OF LIFE: in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).
What adventures are you missing out on, right now, because you are still meditating on the past? The ugliness of fear, disappointment, and anger from the “what could have been”, blind our eyes from the beauty of the “what is.” Yes, we have been robbed; but take comfort in God’s promises such as Joel 2:25a which says, “And I will restore to you the years that the locust have eaten…”
So, when those thoughts, like unwelcome raindrops, are hitting our mind and causing irritation, anger, or pain – how do we stop them? When they first start to fall, when you feel that first cold drop splash on your forehead, SEEK SHELTER!! Don’t just stand there unprotected and vulnerable! Turn the ashes into something beautiful by making it a prayer-opportunity to cry out to God to be your shelter and strong tower; and there He will fill your mind and soul with truth, thus enabling you to live out the plans He has for you, instead of what Satan has planned for you.
Warning: this is not for the faint-hearted, but the faint-hearted don’t do ADVENTURES!
Sisters in Christ 