After doing something stupid, have you ever asked yourself this question…What was I thinking? Or have you had those moments when you had a temporary brain freeze and common sense and reason was just not there for you? I have…a lot. For example, when I was attempting to spray the deck at our home with a new coat of wood stain. I pumped and pumped the sprayer and yet it didn’t work… Then I realized…I had not released the small cap on the end of the sprayer…when I did release it, the built up pressure was so great that it took on a life of it’s on…it jumped out of my hands and not only sprayed the deck; but me, the side of the house…and the sliding glass door..( it took 2 weeks to clean up my mess).

It is very important what we think about. The Bible offers us some good advice about the importance of our thoughts and what we should do with them. Here are some examples:

What we think about has a tremendous impact on us. “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.” (Proverbs 4:23). Our mind and attitudes affect our emotions and actions. We also need to realize how much it can eventually influence those around us.

We aren’t responsible for every thought that enters our mind but we are responsible for what we do with that thought and what we dwell on in our thoughts.The Quakers had an old saying that ” you can’t prevent a bird flying over your head bout you can prevent a bird building a nest in your hair”, in others words we need to monitor our thoughts and not allow our thought patterns go the wrong way. We are not responsible for every thought that enters our mind, but we are responsible for what we do with that thought. The Bible teaches us to” Bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). How do we do that? Apply God’s Word to our thought life.

God’s filter for our thoughts can help us process our thinking and keep it focused on the right things..Phillipians 4: 8-9 (NLT) describes the filter this way: ” Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”. Ask yourself is it true? Is it honorable, right, pure and lovely? If not, don’t go there or stay there in your thoughts.

Focusing our mind in the right direction leads to Peace. That is a great benefit of allowing God and His Word, the Bible….to be the focus of our thought life. “You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [ both its inclination and its character ] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You. Isaiah 26:3 ( Amplified Bible ).

Our prayer should be “Look deep into my heart, God, and find out everything I am thinking. Don’t let me follow evil ways, but lead me in the way that time has proven true.” Psalm 139:23-24 ( CEV).