"Our thoughts—good and bad—affect what we say and do."

A thought by H. Norman Wright from his book, When the Past Won't Let You Go (p. 48). Harvest House Publishers. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

Yes they do.

Norman shares, "Jesus said, 'A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of' (Luke 6:45)."

Norman says, "No one has to be a helpless victim of their thoughts—even if they were stamped on their minds thirty years ago. Again, look at the promises in Scripture. Paul wrote, 'God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control]' (2 Timothy 1:7 AMP, brackets in original). Scriptural teachings about our thoughts aren’t just informative, they also encourage us. Making Scripture the basis for our lives will help bring us out of the past to experience the joys of the present and the hope for our future."

He goes on, "The first step is repeating the encouraging verse 2 Timothy 1:7 aloud. But we need to go further. How do we see ourselves living this Scripture? What would this mean? Complete this statement: “If I were reflecting a calm and well-balanced mind, I would…”

He then says, "Remember, though, our brain is used to our old thoughts. What it needs is constant reinforcement from us. Specific directions, words, results, and directives are what we need to help our minds learn a new way of thinking.1 Our goal is to learn to regard our thoughts as we might watch clouds floating by. Mental events float past, and we see them for what they are—thoughts that aren’t necessarily reality. We’re to live now and not in the past."

That's good, "regard our thoughts as we watch clouds floating by." That's a very good mental picture, isn't it?

Yes, yes!

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