Power Thoughts: 12 Strategies to Win the Battle of the Mind (11 page)

The same principle applies to your thinking. If you will exchange your “I can’t” thoughts for “I can” thoughts and begin to say “I can do whatever I need to do in life because God strengthens me. I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, and whatever He asks me to do, I can do,” you will see remarkable changes begin to happen. If you will build into your character the thought that, with God’s help, you are able to do whatever you need to do in life, you will have more zeal and enthusiasm about facing every day. I have found that I even have more physical energy when I think “I can” thoughts. It helps me to not dread anything that is an energy drainer.

It’s never too late to begin saying, “I can.” Don’t think or say things like: “My marriage is in too big of a mess. It will never work,” “There’s no point trying to clean this house. It’s in such bad shape it just overwhelms me when I walk in and look at it,” or “I can’t get out of debt because I am in too deep.” “I will never own a home or have a new car,” or “I can’t enjoy my life because I have too many personal problems.” Some of the challenges you face may be very difficult ones, however God never allows more to come on us than we can bear, but with every temptation He always provides a way out! (see 1 Corinthians 10:13). That Scripture not only says He provides a way out, but it also says that He gives us strength to bear up under our challenge patiently. That means we can go through it with a good attitude!

Your attitude is actually more important than your challenges in life. If you will change your attitude to a more positive, faith-filled one, you will find that your trials are not as bad as you thought they were. I challenge and encourage you right now to consistently believe you are able to do anything that comes your way, with God’s help. You must also believe He wants to help you and will help you if you ask Him to do so. The devil may provide one of those “flashing thoughts” I mentioned that says, “You don’t deserve God’s help so don’t bother asking.” You can remind him that God doesn’t help you because you deserve it, but because He is good, and while you’re at it, why not remind the devil that you know he is a liar!

Think about It

Which “I can’t” belief in your life do you need to exchange for an “I can”?

Overcomers Everywhere

On July 2, 1932, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, a baby boy was born. Six weeks later, a couple adopted the infant, but when he was five years old, his mother died. His father moved from state to state, looking for work and taking his young son with him. At age twelve, the boy landed his first job at a restaurant counter—and loved it. When he was fifteen, his father wanted to move again, but by then the young man was working at the Hobby House Restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and didn’t want to leave his job. So he dropped out of school, moved into the local YMCA, and went to work full-time.

Several years later, his Hobby House boss offered him an opportunity. The man owned four Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) outlets that were failing. In four years, with hard work and determination, the young man turned the restaurants around financially, sold them back to KFC, and received a portion of the profits from the sale—he was once a high school dropout, but now he was a millionaire at age thirty-five.

Who was this man? Dave Thomas, who started Wendy’s old fashioned Hamburgers and became an innovative and respected leader in the fast-food business. And, by the way, he also earned his GED forty-five years after he dropped out of school.

The world is filled with people like Dave Thomas, people who have overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. They have faced tragedies, sickness and disease, accidents, poverty, and deprivation in every area and yet they have pressed through and become some of the world’s most respected and admired individuals. I can assure you that they did not do so by thinking,
I can’t.
They had to make a decision about what they wanted out of life and think accordingly. Then, they had to work hard to accomplish their goals. I don’t believe any of them could have expended the effort they needed to or made the sacrifices they made had they not believed wholeheartedly that they could do what they wanted to do.

A lot of people start out in the right direction, with great “want to,” but no ability to push through when challenges arise. We hear and read about the ones who start out and keep going to achieve amazing results, especially in the face of tremendous odds. But even in the everyday, ordinary aspects of life, we all have obstacles to overcome. It’s easy to see how much working out at the gym has improved your friend’s energy and body shape and then decide, “I’m going to do that.” But when it is time to go, will you do it? When you get so sore that you have to fall in a chair to sit down and pray that you can get up will you keep going? When something that sounds like more fun comes along, will you keep going? There will be plenty of opportunity to think,
I just can’t do this. It’s too hard.
But, if the thought
I can do whatever I need to do in life
is ingrained in you, then it gives you the determination to press through the difficulties.

God does not want us to be afraid or discouraged in the face of difficulties. In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul wrote to his young associate Timothy that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but that He has given us power, love, and a sound mind. Timothy faced many challenges in the huge tasks in front of him and, no doubt, had days like you and I do—days when he was overwhelmed, days he thought he could not take any more pressure. He had fearful thoughts, he worried, and in my opinion, his stomach problem that Paul mentioned may have been an ulcer due to stress. The young man was overwhelmed! In the midst of such pressure, Paul encouraged him, writing to him to keep his mind filled with peace, balance, discipline, and self-control (see 2 Timothy 1:7). Paul knew Timothy needed to think properly if he was to accomplish God’s will.

It is impossible to think “power-draining” thoughts and then be powerful when situations arise that call for extra strength. I want to encourage you to think and say at the beginning of each day, “I can do whatever I need to do in life through Christ.” Don’t fear the day, but instead look forward to it with passion, zeal, and enthusiasm.

Think about It

How can you push through and overcome a particular obstacle in your life?

Throw Away Your Excuse Bag

One of the reasons many people do not enjoy life, miss out on some of the blessings God wants to give them, or feel badly about themselves is that they do not finish what they start. They never taste the joy of a goal accomplished or a desire fulfilled because they do not press past the challenges that arise. Most of us would not want to say, “I am a quitter,” so we make excuses or we blame the failure on someone or something.

Every single one of us has an “excuse bag.” It’s a little invisible accessory we carry around with us all the time. Then, when something that seems difficult arises, challenging us or giving us more than we want to deal with, we pull out an excuse, such as:

• “That is just too hard.”

• “I don’t have enough time.”

• “I hadn’t planned on this today.”

• “I can’t see how that would ever work.”

• “I just don’t feel like it.”

• “I have too many personal problems and too much going on in my life right now.”

• “I don’t know how to do that.”

• “I have never done this. I don’t even know anybody who’s ever done this.”

• “I don’t have anyone to help me.”

• “I’m afraid.”

I urge you today to throw away your excuse bag! Go get a “can-do bag” and fill it with biblical, faith-filled reasons you
can
do what you need to do. Stop making excuses and start doing what God is telling you to do. Stop looking at all your weaknesses because His strength is made perfect in our weakness. It is through our weakness and inability that God shows His strength. God actually chooses people on purpose who absolutely cannot do what He is asking them to do unless they allow Him to do it through them. You don’t need ability, you need availability and a “can-do” attitude.

Think about It

What excuse do you use most? Will you determine today that you will stop making excuses and start believing God gives you strength to do what you need to do?

I Did It!

Until I turned sixty-four, I’d never exercised in a serious way. I had walked and done a few things to stay in decent shape, but I was not dedicated to exercise. I had reached into my excuse bag many times over the years, and come up with all kinds of “reasons” I could not exercise. But, the Lord spoke to me and encouraged me to begin a serious workout program so I could be strong for the last third of my journey through life. I already had good eating habits, but when it came to going to the gym several times a week, I used the excuse that I simply could not do that because of my travel obligations. I truly couldn’t figure out how I could manage to put serious workout time into my already busy schedule. I finally decided to do what I could do instead of focusing on what I couldn’t do.

The thought of getting started with a serious workout routine was overwhelming to my mind, so I had to put Philippians 4:13 to work in a very practical way and discipline myself to say, “I can do this. I can do whatever I need to do in life, and God says I need to be on a serious workout program.” I had to take the challenge one day at a time because if I looked at my calendar for the year, it looked as if I was attempting something that was truly impossible. I strongly urge you to face your challenges one day at a time. Looking too far down the road only tends to overwhelm us in our thinking. Trusting God requires that we believe He gives us our “daily bread.” In other words, we receive what we need as we need it and usually not before.

As I started seeing the benefits of working out regularly I felt it was important enough to me that I needed to eliminate a few other things I was doing that cluttered my schedule to make room for the exercise. I quickly discovered that if we want to do something strongly enough, then we find a way to do it.

I still continue to this day to have challenging times with the workout program. I still get sore and some days I have to go to the gym by sheer determination, but I refuse to give up. At one point after I had been working out for three or four months, my coach put me on circuit training. I didn’t even know what circuit training was, but I quickly found out that circuit training is doing five exercises in a row, as quickly as you can. It took me thirty-five minutes to do seventy-five lunges on each leg, one hundred bench presses, seventy-five dumbbell dead lifts, seventy-five abdominal crunches, and seventy-five exercises with a pulley. After that, I was so sore I thought I might not survive.

When my coach had originally told me what he wanted me to do that week I quickly said, “That is going to be too much for me.” I reminded him of my age and that working out was fairly new to me. He said, “Don’t let your mind get in your way; you can do whatever you decide to do. Our motto here is ‘No excuses, only results.’” With that encouragement, I thought,
Okay, I’m going to get a good mind-set about this. I can do this.
I had to tell myself over and over again, “I can do this.” I got started and did okay, but by the fourth set, I began to get dizzy. I told my coach, “I’m getting dizzy” and he responded, “Then you don’t have to do all five sets. You can stop with four.” Something rose up in me when he said that, and I said, “I am not quitting with four sets. I’m going to do the fifth one.” And when I did, I was so proud of myself!

The same principle that applied to me as I began working out also applies to many other areas of life—getting out of debt, cleaning and organizing your house, solving marriage problems, disciplining your children, being on time for work, or completing a project. Whatever you need to do in life, you can do it. Remember, Philippians 4:13 says you are ready for anything and equal to anything because God gives you strength. Nothing is too much for you when He is on your side.

Think about It

What have you been wanting or needing to do that you haven’t done yet because even the thought of it overwhelmed you?

You Can Handle It

As Christians we often hear people quote Romans 8:37 which says, “Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.”

For years, I have pondered what being “more than a conqueror” means. I’m sure other people have other perspectives, but I have come to the conclusion that being more than a conqueror means you have such confidence that no matter what comes up in your life, you know that through Christ you can handle it. You know before you are ever faced with a problem that you’re going to have victory over it. You believe you can do whatever you need to do in life. So therefore, you don’t dread things, you don’t fear the unknown, you don’t live in anxiety about what’s going to happen in situations. It doesn’t really matter what the specifics of the situation are, you know you can handle it through Christ. For you, defeat isn’t an option!

If you will begin to think every day,
I can handle whatever life hands me. I can do whatever I need to do in life. I am more than a conqueror. I am equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me,
even before you get out of bed in the mornings, just let it roll over and over in your mind, your confidence will skyrocket and you will find that indeed, you can do whatever you need to do in life.

Right thinking is the first step toward a better life. Wishing won’t work. Being jealous of someone who has what you desire does no good. Self-pity is a waste of time and energy. Discovering God’s will through an accurate knowledge of His Word and beginning to think as He thinks is the beginning of a new life for anyone who desires one.