Pearls of Great Value

Why did Jesus put such an emphasis on our thought life? Why did Paul teach us, in his epistles, over and over, to heed our thoughts, to set our mind on things above? Philippians 4:8 has been one of my favorite verses on this: “Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart].” Philippians‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭AMP‬‬. 

Think CONTINUALLY on these things. To think means to ponder, to count, to regard, to claim. Continually means, to continue in, so basically..all the time. Why? Why is our thought life so important? Colossians 3:2 also sets this standard for us and says: “Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value].” Colossians‬ ‭3:2‬ ‭AMP‬‬. I love how the TPT version says it: “Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities, and not with the distractions of the natural realm.” 

Fill your thoughts with heavenly realities. See, this is the thing we often miss. Heavens realities. They are more real than the natural realm that we see with our physical eyes. 

I’m starting to realize something. It’s only the smallest of seeds inside of me, but it’s transforming my mind. My thoughts aren’t merely nothing. Just as heavenly realities are very much real and way more powerful than the earthly, (even though I can’t see them with my natural eyes),...the same way my thoughts are realities that have power. Yes, I can’t see my thoughts. Yes, it’s hard to imagine them as having a bodily form, but the reality is, the invisible is more powerful than the visible. Hebrews 11:3 points out this fact and boldly states: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” Think about this for a minute. Everything we see...was created by what we DO NOT SEE! It takes faith and having the eyes of our heart enlightened to grasp that the unseen is eternal and has realities more real than the natural. The TPT version opens this verse even further: “Faith empowers us to see that the universe was created and beautifully coordinated by the power of God’s words! He spoke and the invisible realm gave birth to all that is seen.” The invisible realm gave birth to all that is seen! I don’t know about you, but that is mind-blowing to me. This one verse is changing how I view life. It’s also giving me a new perspective on why my mind and thoughts are important to God. Why they need to be sanctified and made holy. I see why God set a high standard and bids us to guard our heart and mind. 

‭‭

So, back to our thought life. If our thoughts really are so powerful, why has this been hidden from us? Well, the truth is, it hasn’t been hidden at all. Satan has just deceived many in believing, oh, your thoughts are not really important, you can think about anything, no harm, no foul. Why would our enemy want us to know the power behind our thinking, or the power in our mind and heart? He doesn’t! He leads us astray and in the mean time bombards us with worldly ideas and thoughts and the more we think on those, the more we believe in his lies. We serve the one whom we obey. This goes for our thought life as well. Especially when you consider that every single action is first a thought in your heart. 

Look at the list in Phil 4. These are the things God wants our minds continually to be set on: •whatever things are true, 

•whatever things are noble, 

•whatever things are just,

•whatever things are pure, 

•whatever things are lovely, 

•whatever things are of good report, 

•whatever is virtuous and praiseworthy 

Did you notice it doesn’t once mention have your thoughts continually on what will I eat, what will I wear, what will I do? Nor does it say be continually worried and anxious. Nor does it say fill your thoughts with natural realities, like say for instance, sports, media, movies, politics. (Just to name a few of the big ones.) These all are a big distraction. What are distractions meant to do? Make you forget. A distraction is anything that directs your attention away from, and in this case, it’s away from heavenly realities. Distractions make it difficult to pay attention and more often than not they are the cause of confusion, agitation, and conflict. Satan loves this tool and he uses it liberally. 

So why does Satan work so hard to distract us? Why are our thoughts so important? Here is what my mind is trying to grasp but I haven’t quite got a hold on it. Maybe by sharing it, I’ll implant it deeper into my soul and get a bigger revelation of it. Here’s a question that is floating around in my heart: What if my thoughts are able to change the atmosphere around me? Stay with me for a second and I’ll explain. I’ve very recently discovered that our bodies have a magnetic field. I somehow missed that science lesson in school. Our whole body is actually an electro-magnetic system and each cell has a positive and negative receptor in the DNA. All our organs, in fact, have their own magnetic field and the human heart’s magnetic field can be measured up to several feet away from the body. One study has shown that the heart is about 100 times stronger electrically and up to 5000 times stronger magnetically than the brain. So, you could say the heart is more powerful than the brain. (and just as an interesting side note: in fetal development, the heart forms and starts beating before the brain begins to develop)! 

You might be thinking, so what? Okay. Have you ever walked into someone’s presence and instantly known they were having a bad day? Or felt the happiness and joy of a person even though they haven’t spoken? Or you meet someone and instantly click? How is that possible? Well...our thoughts and emotions affect the hearts magnetic field, which energetically affects those in our environment whether or not we are conscious of it. Our feelings and our thoughts are realities that can be felt up to several feet away from our physical body!  

 What if my thoughts are able to change the atmosphere around me? Turns out..it’s very possible. Turns out, my thoughts already are affecting the atmosphere around me. Turns out, God has a plan in all of this. See, the body is constantly communicating with itself, like the moving of limbs subconsciously, or to maintaining its temperature, or to sweat, or to digest, to sleep...and so forth. Likewise, we are also meant for communication and to communicate with each other. Our hearts do this without our even knowing. Research has shown that our magnetic field actually carries information that is shared with others. Remember how the Bible says that we are all a part of one body, Christ is the head and we all make up the body? With this picture in mind, I can see how communication in Christ’s body (His church) is supposed to reflect how our physical body works. Or maybe, our body is just a reflection of how Christ’s body works?

It’s amazing. Completely amazing to me how science proves the reality of heavenly things. Our heart, our thoughts, affect reality. Our hearts are designed to create! I can’t quite grasp it. The heart can change both the electrical and magnetic fields by feelings of gratitude, compassion, grace, truth, etc. What if we lived with this reality in mind? What if we lived life aware that our thoughts are flowing around us and making an impact, even when we don’t express them? Wouldn’t we make a strenuous effort to make a positive contribution every hour? Wouldn’t it help us to concentrate how we might keep our thoughts right so that they are God-thoughts? I propose we think as hard of God as we can, especially in a crowd, in confidence that His presence can and will be felt. 

I just have this sense that we can cooperate with God in more ways that our minds can comprehend. I don’t think we’ve done anything but tip our toes into the water of His wonders and grace. Imagine. Just for a minute, imagine God painting His goodness in magnetic vibrancy inside of you. And like a sunset that touches our soul, Gods paintings are always with purpose. The one inside you is meant to touch hearts even more powerfully. It goes out from you penetrating everyone you come close to. “Jesus said that whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”(John 7:38 ESV)

To know that God is there working right along side you, doesn’t that gives you a sense of worth and security? I pray that God will open our souls and help us entertain His glory and after a while we will see His glory be reflected in the world around us.

‭

So, what are you imagining and thinking on? Remember always, that God can do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can ask or imagine, according to the power that works within you. He can do this, but we need to come to the point where we realize not only do we have to be aware of what we’re thinking upon, we also have to start imagining. Imagining with God again. We have to value our hearts thoughts because they have the power to change the world. Connect your imagination to Gods kingdom and see if it doesn’t create realities that astound you. Let us be aware of the unseen. It is more real than that which we see. What we come into agreement with, we give permission and power to. Let’s come in agreement with Gods thoughts, Gods word, and Gods kingdom. Let’s oppose the enemy’s thoughts and start to recognize when he wants to use our minds for his purpose. I don’t want to join in with evil plans.

What are we thinking about? Who are  we agreeing with? Can we see how important it is? For your internal world creates a reality around you. 

The sense of being led by an unseen hand, guided on a perfectly prepared way, grows upon me daily. I can’t help but ask, I can’t help but to pray: Fill me with more Lord! I want more of You, and I want it in every way that Your Spirit gives it. No more of this crawling around in the dirt as a caterpillar when I’m meant to soar as a butterfly! Amen!