Good morning!

Life has challenging and painful periods that span days, weeks, or years. Based on the length and severity of a battle, we must be careful not to let ourselves slowly retreat into a mindset of compromise. That can open the door to a defeated mindset!

Downtime is a good thing (When possible) as we can enjoy activities that let us relax and free our minds from fear, stress, and worry. The type of compromise we have to beware of (That can lead to a defeated mindset) is when we try to deal with our fear and worry using nothing but downtime. Typical downtime tools are Facebook, Instagram, golf, tennis, running, gym, TV, music, movies, relationships, etc.

2 Corinthians 10:5 and other verses (Prov. 6:18, 1 Chron. 28:9, Deut. 29:19, Gen. 6:5) all advise us that obtaining God’s peace starts with how we think.

The Bible warns us how powerful our imaginations (Thoughts) are. Our thoughts will work for us (Light) or against us (Dark), depending on the mindset we develop or let develop.

Romans 1:21 – Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Finally, we are also told to inspect every thought that comes to our mind. Using the standard and authority of God’s Word to see if it is a thought we should embrace or flush from our mind like waste. And if we are not sure, we can ask.

James 1:5 – But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God,

Let us strive to screen our thoughts through God’s criteria and not a standard we picked up from just living. Remember, we can only rise above the way we live by rising higher than we currently think.

Have a great day in His way of thinking!