CLERGY CORNER: Are You Talking to Yourself?

Posted on 30 April 2015 by LeslieM

By Nelson Searcy

Go to any metropolitan city in the world – and even some not so metropolitan – and you will inevitably see someone walking down the street talking to himself.

Your tendency is probably to pity him for being disturbed. The irony is that you carry on conversations with yourself all the time, too – just not usually aloud.

Whether you’re aware of it or not, you talk to yourself all day every day through the thoughts you allow to fill your mind. So what are you saying to yourself? Are your thoughts working for you or against you?

Everything you choose to do or not do, say or not say, starts with the seed of thought. Your entire life is an outgrowth of what goes on in your mind. So getting a handle on the words no one hears but you is key to creating the life you are meant to live. Here are three practical steps to help you adopt better thinking:

1. Listen to your internal dialogue. Tune in to the script that’s constantly running in your own head. Too often, your thoughts and mine are on autopilot. We don’t give them much consideration. Or worse, we forget that we are their masters and we let them have their way with us. Remember:

You can’t always control the thoughts that pop into your head, but you can control what you do with them.

Thoughts only have as much power as you give them.

It’s not a sin to have a false or tempting thought pass through your mind. Let it go. The sin comes when you choose to indulge that thought, either by dwelling on or acting on it.

2. Take every thought captive. When God is working in your life, he will fill you with peace, love and joy. Those gifts will be thwarted if you refuse to let them take root and influence your thoughts. It’s up to you to resist habitual thought patterns and instead match your brain to what God is doing in your spirit. Be intentional about trapping and disposing of thoughts that don’t line up with his truth.

3. Replace old thinking with new. As you eliminate thoughts that don’t benefit you, replace them with new ones that do. Fill the newly vacant space in your mind with a more positive internal dialogue. There’s more than one way to think about every situation and event in your life. When you choose to see the positive, you are agreeing with God’s perspective – you are agreeing with his view of you, your circumstances and the people he has put around you. That alone will propel you toward a fuller, happier life.

On Mother’s Day, Sunday May 10 we’ll be celebrating the special day by providing free family portraits for everyone who attends. The Journey Church meets 9:30a.m. or 11a.m. at Boca Raton Community High School. There will be special programming for Kidz birth thru 5th grade too. For more, see www.bocajourney.com. I would love to see you there!

Nelson Searcy is the author of 13 books and serves as the founding pastor of The Journey Church in Boca Raton.

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