God-Given Brain

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:30 

He has filled the hungry with good things. Luke 1:53 

The Spirit of God has made me: the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4

Marie Chapian says in Quiet Prayer, 31 Days of Meditation For Women that everything you think and do in your daily life is in response to what you tell yourself. When you consider how busy your mind is with all of its clutter, as well as all of its brilliance, it’s easy to become impatient with silence. The impatience comes from what you’re telling yourself. It’s your unruly thinking that will defeat you.

Have you ever thought about how many thoughts you have in a day? I certainly never did until I read Tame Your Thoughts by Max Lucado. He has written a lot of very good Bible Studies I have used and many books. On page 3 of this book he states: "Thoughts. They heckle; they help. They remind us of regrets. They convene committee meetings in the middle of the night. Like a swarm of bees, they buzz about, some making honey, others inflicting pain. No way could I count them. The researchers at the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, University of Southern California, did, however. According to them, your brain is a three-pound computer that processes seventy thousand thoughts each day."

SEVENTY THOUSAND? That is an unbelievable number! But I thought about it for a while and realized my brain continues on and on from one thing to another. Think about it. You can be busy getting done what was scheduled for the day and zoom, you realize you hadn’t done something very important. Sometimes you cannot get certain things out of your mind. You try and try, but they keep coming up. Where do they come from? How have they changed over the years? 

Romans chapter 12 says: "Conversion and sanctification are the renewing of the mind; a change, not of the substance, but of the qualities of the soul. The progress of sanctification, dying to sin more and more, is the carrying on this renewing work, till it is perfected in glory. The great enemy to this renewal is conformity to this world. Take heed of forming plans for happiness, as though it lay in the things of this world, which soon pass away." Max Lucado says we can change our thoughts. These verses from Romans say we can change our thoughts.

What do you suppose would happen if we remove the unhappy thoughts and replace them with happy thoughts? I am going to try to do this and hope you join me.

Prayer: Dear Father in Heaven, open our minds to only good thoughts, teach us to control our thoughts before we speak. Help us to use our speech to guide others. Make us aware each day to think well of others and pray for them. Amen.

Sandra Hilsabeck