THOUGHTS MATTER

 THOUGHTS MATTER

Ps. 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. NLT

It is good for us to think this way. What do you say that you know is not pleasing to the Lord? Maybe it’s not so much what you say as to how you say it. Do your words build others up or tear them down? Are you more of an encourager or a discourager? Do you make others feel good about themselves or do your words hurt and damage their self-esteem?

What about your thought life? We are reminded in Philippians 4:8 that we are to take control of our thoughts and dwell upon those things which are good and helpful to us and others. We are to not dwell on those things which are sinful. Thinking ill thoughts about someone is damaging to our souls and they prevent us from having a loving relationship with them. Harboring bad thoughts about someone poisons our souls.

What we think about eventually comes out of us. Our living is affected by our thinking. If our thoughts are worldly thoughts, then we will not live lives that are pleasing to the Lord. How much we let our thoughts be influenced by sin has a direct bearing on our ability to live righteous lives before God.

Never forget that the Lord knows our thoughts. He knows what is behind our words. He knows the heart of man and is not fooled by our words. Sometimes we say things and don’t really mean them. The Lord knows what we mean to say. Good or bad, the Lord knows and will hold us accountable for it.

The only way to make sure that we don’t get caught by our words or thoughts is to make sure we keep our souls right with God. We need regular soul tune-ups. We need to regularly examine ourselves through God’s Word and make sure we are right before Him. We must stay in tune with the Spirit and listen when He speaks to us about sinful thoughts and deeds. We need to agree with Him and confess sin that is revealed to us. If we do these things, then we can be confident that our thoughts and words will please the Lord.