Controlling Thoughts

A Life Lesson

Editor’s Note: This is a repost from early in 2024 when I was new to Substack. Only a handful of views were counted, so I’m reposting it.

I passed a sign for a mental health clinic that read "What Controls Your Mind, Controls Your Life."

That was my thought of the day for that day and for several days since. Every action and reaction of our body originates in our mind. It takes in information from our six primary senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, touch and balance. The immediate processing of that information moves our body parts to action.

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The information overload in the world today fills our minds with innumerable thoughts each day. The brain sorts those thoughts into two files: Those that we believe to be true and useful to us and those that we wish to discount or ignore. God wishes that we fill our minds with good things that would be profitable to our lives; thoughts that would abide by his commandments and lead to a worshipful relationship with the Almighty. Satan, however, wants to fill our thoughts with foolishness that would lead to selfish, immoral behavior that would result in his desired destruction of our lives and our condemnation in the life hereafter.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2 NIV

So, as the adage in the first sentence says, "What controls your mind, controls your life."

I ask: What is controlling your mind?

Moms and Dads fill their minds with concern for their family, providing a home, transportation, health care, education, entertainment and safety. The world each day warns against being comfortable with any of those responsibilities. The cost associated with any of those wants or needs is climbing every day. Job stability is precarious at best. The world tells you to worry. God tells us to trust Him. But what is controlling the minds of most people? The evening news? The fears expressed by their friends and acquaintances? Are you thinking about the latest mass shooting or the recent social unrest in the cities?

Even the weather forecasters are eager to scare us by pointing out the next possible storm churning in a far away hemisphere. We mortals are always dealing with the last, present or future "storm" in our lives. If our worry is bigger than our faith, life is a constant battle.

If your are like me, you have many thoughts stored in your brain that you wish you could forget about, erase or blot out from our mental files. Something in the world, detected by one of our senses, brings that bad memory back to our mental screen for primetime viewing. We have to mentally shove that memory back in its place and slam the door shut once more. Oh, for a mental delete key. Why is it that we often can't remember the details of the good experiences but the bad ones flow back with ease? Satan wants us to remember those bad things. He's trying desperately to convince us that we are not good enough to be given the grace of God. He is trying to control our lives by controlling our minds.

That is exactly why we need to fill our thoughts with good things, to leave as little room as possible for the devil to slip his mischievous thoughts into our brains.

Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things.

Philippians 4:8 KJV

How can we fill our thoughts with good things, you ask?

Worry, bitterness, jealousy, coveting and fear are killers of good thoughts.

Just as we do with our furnaces and air conditioners or the oil or gasoline in our cars, we need to change or clean our filters periodically. We need to filter out a lot of the information the world is feedings us. We need to put in really strong filters to protect us from the filth, morally deprived trash that his coming out of Hollywood. The producers of movies and music seem to be stretching for the most shocking content that has never before been presented. There is little they are NOT willing to do to shock our senses and break down the moral code of America. These industries seem to encourage unspeakable violence. They promote the public conversational use of profane and vulgar words that once were totally unacceptable in our culture. They corrupt our children with violent video games and vulgar music.

For many years, I would select one movie a year to see. I admired the work of a few actors, and I do mean a few. I had to remove many very talented actors or actresses from my "must-see" list because of their public pronouncements of support or condemnation of certain social or political issues. So I would lend a light ear to the new movies that were out and select one movie a year to see. But the offerings from Hollywood these days have forced me to cut back on my once-a-year support.

The news these days seems less about useful information than it is about salaciousness. It is less journalism and more about woke advocacy. It's promotion of the growth of social issues that are antithetical to God's word is constant fare. So much of a newscast is not promotional of good thoughts. We should limit our consumption of impure thoughts.

Once we have filtered out the bad stuff, we need to replace it with good stuff. Seventeenth century philosopher Blaise Pascal told the world that "Nature abhors a vacuum." What we filter out will create a vacuum in our minds that will begin sucking in other information. Let's fill it with stuff that passes the Philippians 4:8 test (see above).

At about the time of the beginning of the new millennium, God started leading me toward singing in church. I hadn't done any public singing since my high school years when I was in the school choir and a quartet of friends and I had a garage band that made a few school appearances. So I started singing again during church services. I was led to write some lyrics for southern gospel music. I wrote a couple dozen songs in a couple of years. One was recorded by a good southern gospel family group and my wife and I have recorded a dozen of them.

Christian music is a great way to occupy your thoughts. When you are listening, it pushes out the unwanted noise with which the world is trying to consume us. It praises our God and savior. It teaches biblical truth. Every old hymn or southern gospel song has a beneficial message. They are like a three-minute sermon. The praise and worship music which focuses our thoughts on the power of God and Jesus floods our minds with good thoughts. Isn't it interesting that no other religions have such a wealth of music solely dedicated to its leaders? I use Christian music to keep my thoughts on a positive track.

Morning devotions are a great way to start a day. The Upper Room and The Daily Bread are great devotional guides. You can subscribe, find them on line or many churches provide them free. Some like to read a Bible chapter a day. Reading God's word is always profitable.

Prayer is a powerful tool. Prayer, simply put, is just talking to God. He wants to have fellowship with you. You can pray anywhere, anytime and he's there waiting to hear you. He will answer your prayers in his time and way, but he wants to hear from you. If it's important to you, it's important to him. Pray about it.

Heaven is full of answers to prayer for

which no one ever bothered to ask!

Billy Graham

Note: This writing is reprinted from my book, God Give Me Wisdom and This Little Book. It’s available on Amazon.

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