If you can control your thinking you can control your life

Feb 20,2011

Take care of your thoughts and your thoughts will take care of you

Bishop K Pollai grew up as a Hindu in India, and later converted to Christianity. In our day and time a person can change religions like they change socks. In his country and tradition this is not so. At birth he was salted and wrapped in swaddling clothes and his life was committed to God and the Hindu religion.  This was an Eastern custom, as the same thing happened to Jesus Christ when he was born. Being salted wrapped in swaddling clothes means their words will have spiritually meaningful and they will stand upright before God. In the Hindu religion if you converted to any other religion you were ousted out of the family, community, religion and considered dead. This is exactly what happened to him. His family had a funeral performed and buried his picture signifying his death after he converted to Christianity. His desire to learn and teach the truth not only changed his life but ours as well. Bishop Pillai’s background gave him an understanding of the Eastern culture, which is the culture of the Bible. With his knowledge brings us rare gems of truth and opens our eyes of spiritual understanding. I am so grateful for this man’s commitment to God.  Truth of God’s Word is contrary to mans religion and goes against the grain of traditions. Likewise for him and many others who choose to stand for the one and only true God will always buck up against the rules and regulations of religion. The title of my teaching was quoted from Bishop Pillai and taught to him from his father. He also quoted, “there is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so”.

If you can control your thinking, you can control your life. One of our biggest challenges is how to control our thinking when we are faced with uncertainty. Everything we see, feel, and hear around us is in constant change. You might have a good job today and tomorrow it’s gone, healthy today, tomorrow you’re sick. You might be counting on your retirement only to see the stock markets dropped and you lost all of our savings. Your good friend loved you today but got angry and has nothing to do with you. We have all been lied to, cheated on, robbed in some way or other. Things we thought were real turned out to be false.  Nothing in this world is certain. God tell us that we have a life more than abundant, he has met all our need, need means food, clothing, a roof over our heads any need you have is met. The truths in God’s Word, in reality, is the opposite of what is in the world. God says all things are possible to them that believe, he says that what so ever you ask for you shall receive. He says he has given us peace; we can be in a turmoil situation and have complete peace. So how can we control our thinking in a positive constructive manner when we are scared, nervous, angry, broke, fired from your job, house burns down, your only car quit running and so on.  The law of believing equals receiving, it’s a law, if you fear the worst, it will happen, if you believe positive, you will get the results. How then do we believe positive, reap the results when in fact the circumstances in front of us are genuinely negative. We have got to go to the creator of life and be taught how to have life more than abundant and maintain a peaceful heart.

Do you know that it’s impossible for someone to make you mad, it’s also impossible for someone to make you happy.  If you get offended it’s because you allowed it.    You have the absolute power to control what you think. You can think negative and you can think positive. No one can make you think, otherwise you would be possessed. You can make your life wonderful by what you choose to think, and you can make your life miserable for choosing to think ugly and negative. I am so blessed that we have the power to change our life. Physiologist teach positive thinking, but they are limited to the five senses part of the brain. As born again believers we have unlimited resources because we are hooked up with God Almighty. We have the ability to do all things. The Word of God is simple, but we make our thinking complicated.  I am going to take you into the Word of God and let the Word speak. Jesus taught people to re-new their thinking. It is God’s will for us to change our negative thinking, and better yet, he teaches us how. It all boils down to practice. So, let’s dive into the Word and see what God has to say.

Mathew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Treasures mean your thoughts. Don’t’ center your thoughts on things of the world, material things. “Moth” is fear and “rust” is worry, the word “corrupt” means breed.  When you place your trust and focus on material things, it will cause fear and worry which will breed more. People are focused on their money, scared of losing it, homes they live in. When you are centered on the material things and they vanish, then where is your life? Fear is believing, fear causes you to lose.
 ²⁰But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:   Jesus is telling them, let your focus be on God’s Word, there is no fear and worry and they can’t come in and steal. If your house burns down today, you can turn to God and thank him for another one to be built. It’s your thoughts, it’s what you center and focus on in your life. There is no life in material things. People fall apart when the stock market drops, or they lose their job. You put your trust in God’s Word and you will never fail, for God backs up his Word.
 ²¹For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.   Amen to that. If you are wrapped up into material things, there will your heart be also. Fear and doubt will be ruling your heart.  A person is known by their thoughts, actions follow thoughts. Fear and doubt break through and steal. Put your trust in God’s Word and you have nothing to lose but everything to gain. 
People are who they are because of their believing, a person who an grumpy and complaining all the time puts their trust in the material things, they choose to think that way and usually they are the first to point fingers and place blame for their misery. No one makes them think that way; they choose to think those thoughts. 
It takes practice to change our thinking, when we start to think negative or fear starts to creep in, that’s when you change your thoughts. If you don’t like what you’re thinking, then change it! If you don’t like what is happening in your life, change your thinking patterns, think God’s promises, think his Word, replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts. No one else can do that for you. If you’re being negative it’s because you’re thinking that way. Nothing can make you miserable, only your thinking can.  No situation or circumstance that comes to you can make you sorry, angry or upset. Nothing can MAKE YOU! Only you’re thinking. You are in control; you are in the driver’s seat of every thought.  You’re never a failure until you blame someone else, I repeat; you’re never a failure until you blame someone else. Like Jesus was saying, where you’re thinking is, there will your heart be also. If Jesus couldn’t change their negative thinking, neither can you or I, everyone is responsible for their own thoughts. So don’t blame me if you’re mad, you’re choosing to think that way. It’s really cool how much power we have in our life and that we can learn how to control our thinking. As long as you’re thinking and heart is focused on God’s Word you will be blessed, you will have that inner peace and quietness. Gods Words are sweet, loving, kind, healthy and supportive all the way. No guilt, no condemnation, his Words are pure.
 ²²The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.     The word eye here, is thoughts, if you have the thoughts of God’s Word, your life is blessed, your life is light, darkness is anxiety, sadness, guilt and so on. Where your thoughts are so are you.
 ²³But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!         See how this works, if your thoughts are evil, on the material things; keep the Word of God in context. Context of this is your thinking. If your thinking is negative, then that’s how your living life. Like I said, people who are negative have an excuse for their behavior and they blame everyone and everything.  
 ²⁴No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.  People who love God love life and others, people who put their trust and center their thoughts on worldly things love the world and could care less about God and his wonderful word.
 Worry and fear make you sick. Love, a peaceful quiet innerness is available for us to live and to make it a standard to live. It takes practice, simple as that, practice thinking positive thoughts. When a negative thought comes to your mind, tell those thoughts to get lost and then replace it with the Word, or something sweet, something positive. Thinking is an art that can be learned. Like I said earlier,  no one can make you mad, if someone calls you names or says something hurtful, you can do one or two things, you can centered your thoughts on feeling hurt and angry or you can replace those thoughts and think; God says to love my enemies, God says he is for me so who in the world can be against me. Your life can change just as fast as you change your thinking.  One more thing, being around negative people who do not love God, can affect your heart and way of thinking. Negative people can walk into a room and stir up a calm atmosphere and your heart. Stay strong on God’s Word and your thoughts.
Take a look at Mathew 12 ³³Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit
Tree here is a figure of speech, it means thoughts. Either make your thoughts good and your life will be good, or think negatively and your life will be negative. We are known by the results we get in our life.  Again, if someone blames you for their misery, it isn’t your fault, it is their thinking. God doesn’t make failures; you are never a failure until you blame someone else.
We need to take care our thoughts, be aware of how we are thinking. Thinking is an art, to be practiced over and over again. If you don’t like it, then think different. If you think you will fail, you will fail, if you think you will be unhappy, you will unhappy. 
Job chapter 3, most of you know what happened to Job, he lost his family, they were killed, he lost is crops, animals, his home, he lost everything, what a sad horrible time in his life. Job said, all these things that I have feared hath come upon me. Fear is believing and gets results, except they are negative results. The things you fear will come upon you. His thoughts were centered on the things he could see. Fear crept in and stole everything he had, including his family. You have the power to change that, only you can control and decided on what to think. We have a loving and wonderful God who is willing to do anything you ask or think. In fact he is willing to go above what you ask or think. Do you see how important it is to change your thinking? Do you see the greatness of what Jesus was telling them about centering their thoughts on God’s Word, making his Word their treasures where worry and fear can’t come in and steal. Fear steals your dreams, health, goals, pleasures in life; fear destroys inner quietness and peace. Having your thoughts based on truth sets you free from the cares of this world. We never have to be afraid of the future, we have God almighty to supply every need and want. We have God to fight our battles, to lead us when and where we don’t know where to go. We have a life more than abundant; every situation that you are confronted with is all taken care of. No situation or circumstance can make you miserable, only your thinking can do that. What is your attitude going to be when you’re in the midst of trouble? What are you going to think? You have the power to live life above the negatives of this world and people who breed worry and fear, and you have the power to live life that is absolutely a blast. The apostle Paul said Oh wretched man that I am, he was talking about the war going on in his mind, one thought is good and then another follows that is negative. The battle we face every day is in the mind. Paul goes on to say there is no condemnation to us, keep the condemnation out of your life, its ok, and just change your thinking pattern. Its practice, practice the art of thinking, replace your old dirty thoughts with the Word and it will positively bring you wonderful results. The Word of God is our treasure, worry and fear cannot destroy it, Fear cannot come in and steal because you are keeping the Word of God inside your heart and guarded by God. God guards our heart, and fear has no place and right to dwell there. Think what you are thinking about. Take care of your thoughts and your thoughts will take care of you. Amen, God bless.