Psa 19:14
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

You know, I am not the type of person to always say everything I think, because I do a lot of thinking. So although I may have to watch my words, for me, controlling the meditations of my heart are much harder.

I can mentally wander off without even realizing it, like when you drive and suddenly realize you don’t remember the scenery you have passed because you were on auto-drive while your mind was elsewhere. An interesting thought can pop in my head, and like that dog in the movie, “Up”, yell “Squirrel!” and be mentally chasing down some random thought.

Most of the time, that is not a horrible problem, however, sometimes I think God would not appreciate what I was dwelling on. It is not the thought that passes into your mind that is the problem – it is the prolonged thinking on it that causes so many issues. Maybe it starts out as fascination of some kind, but for whatever reason the thought takes up residence for a while, and before we know it, is comfortably living there, guiding your thought life as if you had nothing better to think about.

These are the thoughts that can subtly change the direction of our life if left unchecked for too long. So what do we do once we realize we are wandering from safe ground?

Psa 63:5-7
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.
Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

Think on Him. Remember what He has done, and think about what He has promised and will do. Respond to a depressing thought with a promise of God, an illicit thought with a prayer for rescue, a negative thought about someone else with a prayer for God to bless them and meet their needs.

The thoughts that the Enemy brings us feed our flesh and tempt us to sin, either by thought or deed. Satan is always trying to distract us from the good and tempt us toward evil. It may start out as something as innocent as overhearing something bad someone says about someone else, and leads us to form a negative opinion about them, or we share what we have heard. It might start with seeing a good looking person, but end up with fantasizing what life with them might be like. Or maybe it starts with one worrisome or depressing thought that then leads to a negative attitude toward everything else that day.

The initial thought isn’t the problem – we all have them. It is what we do after the thought enters our mind that makes the difference. Will we mindlessly follow our stream of consciousness, or monitor our thoughts and abandon those that will not lead us closer to God and toward actions that will glorify Him? That is the conscious decision we all must make.

Penny Haynes
http://ChristianWomenWithDepression.com