The Meditation of My Heart and the Power of Thoughts

May the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord.  Do we really consider what our thoughts are on a regular basis?  And do we realize the importance of our thoughts?

Scripture tells us that we are guilty of adultery if we think it.  “But I tell you that a man who even looks at a woman with the purpose of lusting after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  Matthew 5:28  Our thoughts are the foundation of our actions just as Proverbs 23:7a says “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”  When we think or dwell on something long enough, we can make it our “reality” whether it is true or not.  Every person was created with a vivid imagination, and we can use it for good or evil – the choice is ours.  I can dream of being a woman who glorifies Yahweh or I can allow depressing tempting thoughts to reign.  We are told in Philippians 4:8 to “focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy.”

We need to realize there are different kinds of thoughts.  There are our own thoughts, there are the promptings of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), there are tempting thoughts, and there are evil thoughts.  Let us look at each of these types in more detail.

My thoughts are the personal thoughts I think such as “I would like chicken for lunch” or “I should feed the cats.”  These are the day to day thoughts of our lives.  They also include our personal hopes and dreams such as a job promotion, new home, future marriage, and so forth.  These are typically good or neutral thoughts.

Then there are the promptings of the Ruach HaKodesh.  This is that still small voice which prompts you to pray for someone or to pick up the phone and call a friend to let them know you are thinking of them.  It is also that prompting to take the back way to work which you later learn caused you to avoid being part of an accident and so many little things we can easily miss unless we are sensitive in our spirits.  

Tempting thoughts are those thoughts of “well, I do not have to tell the whole truth” that the enemy plants within our minds.  It is the carrot to lead us to sin.  We have to realize that the original thought itself is not sin rather a temptation from the enemy.  We have two choices – to believe and act on the thought thereby sinning or to realize that it is a temptation and reject it by the power given us by Yeshua the Messiah.  1 Corinthians 10:14 “No temptation has seized you beyond what people normally experience, and God can be trusted not to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. On the contrary, along with the temptation he will also provide the way out, so that you will be able to endure.”  There is also another type of thought I put in this category of tempting thoughts, and those are the lies which the enemy feeds us such as “we are not valuable and instead worthless” or that “we cannot do anything right.”  We must realize these are lies straight from the enemy and have to be rejected using the truth of Scripture which tells us in Genesis 1:27 “So God created humankind in his own image” and Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through him [Messiah] who gives me power.”

The last kind of thoughts are evil thoughts.  This is where we have given so much spiritual ground in our lives to the enemy by consistently giving in to temptation and have allowed ourselves to be ruled by our flesh and sin.  This allows a consistent pattern of evil thoughts leading to sinful behavior to be present in our lives.  We each need to be repenting of our sin and failure daily to prevent this from happening.  

As you can see, our thoughts are crucial.  They are the foundation upon which our lives and spiritual health are built.  We must ask ourselves “Am I leading a Ruach HaKodesh filled life of purity?”  or “Am I allowing my flesh and the enemy to reign?”  I pray each of us seeks to have our thoughts surrendered to the control of Yahweh, so that they may be true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable, admirable, virtuous, and praiseworthy.