Declarations

What buckets does your thought life fall into?

What if you could condition or train your brain to think in a certain way?  What if those patterns of thinking became patterns of behavior?  Consider the fact that your addiction to pornography started with just one look and grew from there.  It became a pattern of behavior that was rewarded each time with a treat called dopamine from the reward center of your brain.  What if we train our brains to focus on life-giving activities?  What if that focus became a daily pattern of behavior that ultimately allows us to focus on Him? Is that even Possible?  What does the scripture say?

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

That’s the premise of the book Winning the War in Your Mind by Craig Groeschel.  As do countless neuroscientists, Craig believes, “Our lives are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts.  What we think shapes who we are.”  What does that look like?

In a word, consistency.  Consistently focusing on the same thoughts repeatedly while at the same time focusing on the same behaviors.  In time, we will crave what we were created to desire as opposed to some image on a screen.  For some, the concept may sound overly simple.  For others, maybe it’s the opposite, where you feel as though your thought life is too far gone.  Perhaps there is no alternative pathway forward for you.  If you feel that way, then you are limiting God. 

Back to the book. After considering one of the challenges offered throughout, I decided to test this hypothesis. I made the following declaration for myself.

“I declare that lust will no longer have a foothold in my heart.  Instead, I will focus on the things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, and praiseworthy.  I will also be reminded that Christ in me is more powerful than desires in me.”  The focus of this declaration is straight from Philippians 4:8. 

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely-if anything is admirable or praiseworthy-think about such things.  Whatever you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the God of Peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9 

Try and consider each of these things that the Apostle Paul asked us to focus on and think of them as buckets.  Stay with me on this.  Let’s look at each bucket. 

True 

Psalm 145:8 says “The Lord is near all who call on him in truth.”  Even in the most difficult of times, He is there during our struggle.  So much of our thought lives revolve around things that are not true.  Thoughts like: you are less than, that you are not good enough, that you get what you deserve.  Allow yourself to look at the bucket of truth through God’s Biblical lens.  God’s wisdom and understanding of you have no limits.  You are treasured, chosen, and accepted by Christ.  No matter what lies you have told yourself.

Honorable

Isaiah 32:8-10 says, “An honorable man makes honorable plans because of his honorable character.”  Do you find yourself questioning your character?  It’s never too late to pivot.  Place those questionable character flaws in the bucket of honor.

Right

1 John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”.  How amazing is it to know that regardless of our sin, our Father loves us.  He desires a relationship with us.  He desires us to confess our sins to Him even though He knows them.  For some, this bucket may be heavy, but there is still room to allow God to help you with that burden.  Give it up to Him.

Pure

Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are those who are pure in heart for they will see God.”  I have had the privilege in my life to see the amazing intricacies of the human heart, both when functioning correctly and when it is broken.  And that’s outside of the operating room.  We should daily seek to find the things of this life that fit into the pure bucket.  If it doesn’t fit, then you might reconsider if it needs to be there in the first place.   

Lovely

“He has made everything beautiful in its time, also he has set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end”.  Ecclesiastes 3:11  God’s works are beautiful.  God has placed desires in us that extend beyond this life.  His ways are beyond our comprehension.  He ultimately knows what we need.  The beauty of this world falls short in ways we can’t understand this side of heaven.  What a lovely bucket that is. 

Admirable

Psalm 148:13 reminds us to “Let us praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is exalted: his splendor is above the earth and heavens.”  The scripture before this states that everyone and everything that should praise him.  That includes us.  We are called to praise him.  His name is great.  He is sovereign.  Keep your focus on him and him alone.  And finally……

Praiseworthy

Revelation 4:11 says “Worthy are you our Lord to receive glory and honor and power.  For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. “  So much of our lives are spent worshiping the things of this world.  Our athletes, our celebrities, images of people we don’t even know,  and even ourselves.  None of this would have existed had he not made it so.  We place so much thought and effort into heaping buckets of praise in places that we shouldn’t.  What would it look like to direct our praise to him, the Creator of all.

I am declaring this statement over and over multiple times per day.  “I declare that lust will no longer have a foothold in my heart.  Instead, I will focus on the things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, and praiseworthy.  I will also be reminded that Christ in me is more powerful than desires in me. “  I am asking God to speak into me about what each of these words mean.  I am asking God to create new patterns of thought for me, a “renewal of the mind.”  I am also asking God to help me consider what fits into these buckets, and more importantly what does not. 

What do your buckets look like today?