Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Max Lucado, from his book,  Begin Again   (p. 71). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) It sure can! Max says, " Choose it, won’t you? For the sake of your fresh start. For the sake of your journey. For Christ’s sake, and yours, choose it. The prayer is as powerful as it is simple: 'Lord, I receive your love. Nothing can separate me from your love.'" Max goes on, "My friend Keith took his wife, Sarah, to Cozumel, Mexico, to celebrate their anniversary. Sarah loves to snorkel. Give her fins, a mask, and a breathing tube, and watch her go deep. Down she swims, searching for the mysteries below. "Keith’s idea of snorkeling includes fins, a mask, and a breathing tube, but it also includes a bellyboard. The surface satisfies him. "Sarah, however, convinced him to take the plunge. Forty feet offshore, she shouted for him to paddle out. He did. The two plunged into the water where she showed hi...

A thought by Max Lucado, from his book,  Begin Again   (p. 60). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Good question. Max says, " Have they? Have bad things really happened to you? You and God may have different definitions for the word bad . Parents and children do. Look up the word bad in a student dictionary, and you’ll read definitions such as 'pimple on nose,' 'Friday night all alone,' or 'pop quiz in geometry.' 'Dad, this is really bad!' the youngster says. Dad, having been around the block a time or two, thinks differently. Pimples pass. And it won’t be long before you’ll treasure a quiet evening at home. Inconvenience? Yes. Misfortune? Sure. But bad ? Save that adjective for emergency rooms and cemeteries. "What’s bad to a child isn’t always bad to a dad. When a five-year-old drops her ice cream cone, it is a catastrophe to her. Her father has a different perspective." He goes o...

A thought by Max Lucado, from his book,  Begin Again   (p. 55). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Yes He does! Max says, " What a sentence worthy of a highlighter. Who does not need this reminder? Weak bodies. Weak wills. Weakened resolves. We’ve known them all. The word weakness can refer to physical infirmities, as with the invalid who had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years (John 5:5), or spiritual impotence, as with the spiritually 'helpless' of Romans 5:6 (NLT)." He goes on, "Whether we are feeble of soul or body or both, how good to know it’s not up to us. 'The Spirit himself is pleading for us.' "Imagine: your value to God is so great that your needs top the Holy Spirit’s to-do list. Did you have any idea that your needs are being described in heaven? The Holy Spirit 'prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what ...

A thought by Max Lucado, from his book,  Begin Again   (p. 48). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And that is such a great thought. Right before this thought, Max says, " Ah, but God is not angry with Job. Firm? Yes. Direct? No doubt. Clear and convincing? Absolutely. But angry? No." He goes on, "If you underline any passage in the book of Job, underline this one: 'I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you.' Job 32:5 (TLB) "Job sees God—and that is enough. "But it isn’t enough for God. He will give Job a chance to begin again." Max continues, "The years to come find Job once again sitting behind his mahogany desk with health restored and profits up. His lap is once again full of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren—for four generations! A new beginning indeed. "If Job ever wonders why God doesn’t bring back the children he has taken away, he doesn’t ask. Ma...

A thought by Max Lucado, from his book,  Begin Again   (p. 40). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) That's where we live, isn't it? Max says, " We are proud of our long hours and late flights. Weariness is a badge of honor. If we aren’t swamped and overworked, we almost hate to admit it. "The consequence? A society of exhaustion. People pushed and pulled in a thousand directions." He goes on, "Are you among them? You don’t have to be. Jesus has an invitation for you. 'Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest' (Matt. 11:28 NASB). "Rest. Isn’t that what we need? Rest for the soul. God has plenty to offer." Max continues, "The story is told about a poor man who lived in Eastern Europe in the early 1900s. Seeking a better life for himself and his family, he scraped together enough money to buy a third-class ticket on a steamship to New York City. He plann...

A thought by Max Lucado, from his book,  Begin Again   (p. 25). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) That is so true, we hope! Max says, " When you lost your job, flunked the exam, dropped out of school. When your marriage went south. When your business went broke. When you failed. The voices began to howl. Monkeys in a cage, they were, laughing at you. You heard them. "And you joined them! You disqualified yourself, berated yourself, upbraided yourself. You sentenced yourself to a life of hard labor in the Leavenworth of poor self-worth. Oh, the voices of failure." He goes on, "Failure finds us all. Failure is so universal we must wonder why more self-help gurus don’t address it. Bookstores overflow with volumes on how to succeed. But you’ll look a long time before you find a section called 'How to Succeed at Failing.'" "Maybe no one knows what to say. But God does. His book is written for fail...

  A thought by Max Lucado, from his book,  Begin Again   (p. 16). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) So what is it? I want to know? Max says, "We are blind. We can’t see the future. We have absolutely no vision beyond the present. I’m not talking nearsightedness or obstructed view; I’m talking opaque blindness. I’m not talking about a condition that passes with childhood; I’m describing a condition that passes only with death. We are blind. Blind to the future." He goes on, "It’s one limitation we all share. The wealthy are just as blind as the poor. The educated are just as sightless as the unschooled. And the famous know as little about the future as the unknown. "None of us know how our children will turn out. None of us know the day we will die. None of us know if another pandemic is on the way. We are universally, absolutely, unalterably blind." Later he says, "There are times in life when everyt...

  A thought by Max Lucado, from his book,  Begin Again   (p. 13). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Yes it is. Max says, " If worry is a burlap bag, fear is a trunk of concrete. It wouldn’t budge." He goes on, "How remarkable that Jesus felt such fear. But how kind that he told us about it. We tend to do the opposite. Gloss over our fears. Cover them up. Keep our sweaty palms in our pockets, our nausea and dry mouths a secret. Not so with Jesus. We see no mask of strength. But we do hear a request for strength. "'Father, if you are willing, take away this cup of suffering.' The first one to hear his fear is his Father. He could have gone to his mother. He could have confided in his disciples. He could have assembled a prayer meeting. All would have been appropriate, but none were his priority. He went first to his Father. "Oh, how we tend to go everywhere else. First to the bar, to the counselor, ...

  A thought by Max Lucado, from his book,  Begin Again   (p. 9). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Max says, " The guide ahead of him had a machete and was whacking away the tall weeds and thick underbrush. The traveler, weary and hot, asked in frustration, 'Where are we? Do you know where you are taking me? Where is the path?' The seasoned guide stopped and looked back at the man and replied, 'I am the path.'" Max goes on, "We ask the same questions, don’t we? We ask God, 'Where are you taking me? Where is the path?' And he, like the guide, doesn’t tell us. Oh, he may give us a hint or two, but that’s all. If he did, would we understand? Would we comprehend our location? No, like the traveler, we are unacquainted with this jungle. So rather than give us an answer, Jesus gives us a far greater gift. He gives us himself. "Does he remove the jungle? No, the vegetation is still thick.  ...

A thought by Max Lucado, from his book,  Begin Again   (p. 7). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) That is a very good question for some. Maybe you? Max says, " Though the answers are abundant, three come quickly to mind. "The first would be a person. Not just any person. You don’t need someone equally confused. You need someone who knows the way out. Someone you can trust. "And from him you need some vision. You need someone to lift your spirits. You need someone to look you in the face and say, 'This isn’t the end. Don’t give up. You can begin again. There is a better place than this. And I’ll lead you there.' "And perhaps most important you need direction. If you have only a person but no renewed vision, all you have is company. If he has a vision but no direction, you have a dreamer for company. But if you have a person with direction—who can take you from this place to the right place—ah, then you h...

A thought by Max Lucado from his book, Begin Again   (pp. xii-xiii). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And maybe that is what you need? Max says, " Sometimes all we need is a little hope.  "That’s all Noah needed. And that’s what Noah received." He goes on, "The old sailor stares at the sun bisected by the horizon. One could hardly imagine a more beautiful sight. But he’d give this one and a hundred more for an acre of dry ground and a grove of grapes. Mrs. Noah’s voice reminds him that dinner is on the table and he should lock the hatch, and he’s just about to call it a day when he hears the cooing of the dove. This is how the Bible describes the moment: 'When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf!' (Gen. 8:11). "An olive leaf. Noah would have been happy to have the bird—but to have the leaf! This leaf was more than foliage; this was promise. ...

A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book,  Winning the War in Your Mind   (p. 127). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) That is very true, isn't it? Craig says, " There are sad moments in life that we can get stuck in forever. They are not the moments we want to freeze-frame, but too often we do. Those formative moments can become the lens through which we view what happens for the rest of our lives. They form our cognitive bias, the frame we use to define our reality. We need to unfreeze our frames. We need to go back and rewrite the narrative we have been telling ourselves." He goes on, "So how do we reframe our past? We thank God for what he didn’t do. We look for God’s goodness. "Thanking God for what he’s done is easy for most of us. But I’ve learned to also thank God for what he didn’t do. "To discover those blessings can take a long time, but when you finally have that aha moment—wow!" He tell...

  A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book,  Winning the War in Your Mind   (p. 121). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here are some steps. Craig says, " Experts in the psychotherapeutic world share steps that help us to reframe, to take control of our thoughts and overcome our cognitive bias, such as: Stay calm . If you react, you will probably react the way you’ve always reacted.  Identify the situation . What exactly, and truly, is happening?  Identify your automatic thoughts. If something at my house breaks and I know it will be an expensive repair, my automatic response is to panic just a little bit. But while I cannot control what breaks, I can control how I perceive it. So instead of just thinking my automatic thought, I identify that thought. I can take it captive and make it obedient to Christ. Then I take an additional step:  Find objective supportive evidence. I want to deal in realit...

A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book,  Winning the War in Your Mind   (p. 116). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And that is so true. Craig says, " We could say a lens with a distorted view will make lies seem like they’re true. "I wonder how often you see what you expect instead of what’s really there—reality the way reality really is." He goes on, "Social psychologists have a name for our distorted lenses. They call it a cognitive bias. The term refers to a standardized, consistent pattern of deviating from reality in how we see and process things. If you have a cognitive bias, you create a subjective reality. That construction of your reality, not actual reality, will dictate how you respond and behave in the world. "That’s a kind of scholarly way of thinking about cognitive bias, but you don’t need that explanation. You see people with a cognitive bias all the time." He gives an example, ...

A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book,  Winning the War in Your Mind   (p. 105). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) We do a lot of that. Craig says, " Automaticity is the ability to do things without thinking about what you are doing. When repetition allows an action to become unconscious, automatic." He goes on, "When you take a shower, you don’t wonder, What part of me should I wash first? How do I wash my hair? There are so many things to think about. No, you get in the shower and do everything you need to do without thinking. While one part of your brain is taking care of cleaning you up, another part is thinking about the day to come or the day you just had. Automaticity. "But automaticity is also why you keep doing things you don’t want to do. Repetition has led to negative, harmful things becoming automatic." He continues, "The goal of meditating on God’s Word and on our declarations is autom...

  A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book,  Winning the War in Your Mind   (p. 103). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Okay, that is good to know. Craig says, " He is very repetitive. He knows that if he tells you a lie often enough, you will eventually believe it. Craig goes on, "So how will you overcome his lies? How will you replace the old rut with a new pathway? The answer is repetition. "You are going to write it, think it, and confess it until you believe it." He continues, "Speaking your declarations once will not really do anything. You have been told lies over and over, and you now need to tell yourself the truth over and over. Meditate, chew, ruminate, swallow, repeat. As Napoleon Hill said, 'Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind by repetition of thought.' Repetition is what created the old rut. Repetition is what will create the new trench. "Write it, think it, confe...

A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book,  Winning the War in Your Mind   (p. 83). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Okay, that makes since. Craig says, " We focus solely on the behavior by making a commitment to start or stop doing something."  He goes on, "You’ve done this too, right? You’ve decided, perhaps even declared, that you were going to change. I’m going to quit smoking on January 1st!  This year I’m going to eat healthy and exercise every day!  I’m going to stop dating anyone who is mean to me. In fact, I’m not going to date at all!  I’m tired of wasting my time on social media and comparing my life with everyone else’s. I’m getting off for good this time!  That’s it. This is the last time. I will never look at pornography again!  I’m not going to exaggerate or lie or gossip to get attention or feel better about myself.  No more! I’m going to read the Bible every morning ...

A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book,  Winning the War in Your Mind   (p. 70). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And that is what we want or is it? Craig says, " Of course, you already knew that, but you may never have understood why. As a neural pathway forms in your brain, thinking a thought or taking an action can go from very difficult to very easy. With enough repetition, falling into a neurological rut will become automatic. "God created neural pathways to be a good thing. When you learned to drive, you were unsure of yourself; you fumbled through it, going too easy on the gas and slamming on the brakes, turning the wrong way when you drove in reverse. Today driving is simple for you." He goes on, "Have you ever been driving on a long road trip, gone deep into thought, and then after several minutes went by, suddenly snapped out of it? Who was driving while you were momentarily checked out? Well, you w...

A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book,  Winning the War in Your Mind   (p. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And that is what we need to know, isn't it? Earlier Craig says, " Satan will whisper accusing questions and deceptive statements. He schemes to twist your mind, because if he can, he then diverts you from your purpose, distracts you from God’s voice, destroys your potential. "If he can get you to believe a lie, your life will be affected as if that lie were true." He continues, "Unfortunately, Satan’s lies are easy to believe. Why? Part of the reason is that because of sin, we have a flawed internal lie detector. God warned us: 'The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure' (Jer. 17:9). 'There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death' (Prov. 14:12). " That’s definitely the problem, so what’s our solution? How do we access God’s power t...

A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book,  Winning the War in Your Mind   (p. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Good question! Craig says, " Know this: You cannot defeat what you cannot define. You have to identify the lie that has become a stronghold for you. You must realize the negative impact it’s had on you and others. "Do you see how you have become a prisoner of deception, locked up by a lie you believe is true? If you are going to change your life, you have to change your thinking. Demolish your strongholds." He goes on, "If you want to truly change your life, you cannot just change your behavior. Even if you change your actions for a while, the original issue will just reestablish itself. That’s why Christianity has never been about behavior modification; it’s about life transformation. "We’ve all experienced that frustration, right? We make a New Year’s resolution or some commitment to start ...

A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book,  Winning the War in Your Mind   (p. 20). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) That is so true. Craig also says, " If, on the other hand, you think you can, odds are you will. The same is true with your problems. If you dwell on them, they will overwhelm you. But if you look for solutions, you will find some." He goes on, "If you feel like a victim, you’ll think like a victim, and the direction of your life could be one of misery. But if you believe that by the power of Christ you can overcome, then with his help you can. Consider this:  Who you are today is a result of your thoughts in the past.  Who you become in the future will reflect what you think about today." He continues, "Whether it’s self-doubts or worrying or responding poorly to a bad day or a tough season in life, we all wrestle with negative thoughts that try to hijack our emotions and decisions." He...

A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book,  Winning the War in Your Mind   (p. 12). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Do you believe that? Craig says, " (Some still do. Don’t believe me? Google it. You’ll find there are 'Flat Earthers' today.) Because they believed the wrong idea, it impacted their lives as if it were true. People would not venture too far out in the ocean for fear they might sail off the edge. Why? Once again, a lie believed as truth will affect your life as if it were true." He goes on, "Growing up, a lot of us were told that going swimming right after eating wasn’t safe. Our parents made us wait thirty minutes after a meal to get in the pool. The only problem is that it’s not dangerous to swim after eating. That was and is a lie. Right now you may be thinking, No, I’m pretty sure that’s true. But it isn’t! Yet we believed it, so the lie affected our lives as if it were true. "Missing ...

A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book, Winning the War in Your Mind   (p. 1). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Yes it does! Craig says, " So you might read that and think I’m being an overly dramatic preacher using hyperbole to get your attention. But this is no exaggeration. Our lives do follow the direction of our thoughts. The better we grasp that truth, the better equipped we’ll be to change the trajectory of our lives. But don’t take my word for it. Both the Bible and modern science provide evidence that this is true. So throughout this book, we’ll unpack both Scripture and what we’ve learned from scientific research. Here’s a brief example of both: "In Philippians 4:8–9, the apostle Paul writes, 'Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Wh...