Power Thoughts: 12 Strategies to Win the Battle of the Mind (23 page)

Think about It

Do you have an area of instability that could be hindering your promotion in life?

Sources of Discontent

I often think about why so many people in the world, especially Christians, are discontent. Discontentment and emotional instability go hand in hand. I have found that if I am discontent, then I easily get upset, but if I choose to be content no matter what is going on, then my emotions are balanced also.

We have periods of contentment, but being
consistently
content is another matter entirely. I think it is safe to say that I only know a small group of people I would consider to be consistently peaceful and joyful and consistently content. I believe our thoughts have a lot to do with our moods. Some thoughts improve our moods and increase our level of contentment, and others send them spiraling downward, making us unhappy and discontent. We can think ourselves happy and we can think ourselves sad! Since this book is about the power of meditating on certain thoughts, let’s apply the principle to contentment. How we talk to ourselves definitely affects our emotions, so if I talk to myself properly, I can stay content and emotionally stable.

One of the main thought patterns that causes discontentment is focusing on what we don’t have and what people are not doing for us. When we think about what we are not and begin to compare ourselves with other people, we also become discontent. On the other hand, when we get ourselves and our needs and desires off of our minds, life always looks brighter.

We must choose to think about how blessed we are. Just a few days ago I was talking to the Lord and pondering my blessings in life and I had a fresh revelation of how blessed I really am and of all God has done for me in my life. Had I been thinking about what I did not have, and what I still need, that moment of realization would have evaded me.

The apostle James writes about another source of discontentment when he states that we are discontent because we try to get what we want for ourselves rather than asking God for it and trusting Him completely. We see what others have and become jealous, which creates discontentment in our hearts. We should only want what God wants us to have and we should trust Him enough to believe that if we ask for something and don’t get it, the only reason is that He has something better in mind for us. When we pray, we also need to realize that a delay is not always a denial.

The apostle Paul told Timothy that godliness with contentment is great gain, something to be desired and sought after (see 1 Timothy 6:6). I fear that we seek many things that do us no lasting good and often fail to seek the things that will truly satisfy us. The Bible says in Psalm 92:14, 15 that the righteous will bring forth fruit in old age—the fruit of trust, love, and contentment—and that these fruits will be living memorials to show that the Lord is upright and faithful. I believe that totally trusting God and loving people is the pathway to contentment, so it is interesting to me to find them linked together in this passage. Clearly, not trusting God and not loving people are sources of discontentment and will make us unhappy.

I have seen people who at the end of their life only had regret about the way they had lived and felt no satisfaction and contentment, but I think it is beautiful to see an elderly person who says, “My life has been good. When it is time for me to die, I can die happy.” People who are discontent have never developed a habit of being appreciative and thankful. Honestly, just to be able to walk, see, and hear is a great blessing and one that people who are crippled, blind, or deaf would be extremely content with. If you were in the hospital you would be content just to sit in your own home in your favorite chair. We always think we will be content when… but why not choose to be content right now?

Even if you don’t have what you want or need right now, keep a positive attitude and remain hopeful. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12), but those who refuse to give up hope remain joyful. Be content with what you have, refuse to focus on what you don’t have; love others; and stay hopeful concerning what you want and need.

Think about It

What are your blessings? List five.

What have you been complaining about lately?

Are you jealous of anyone or anything they have?

Make a List

To help you achieve and maintain a new level of contentment in your life, I encourage you to make a list of everything you have to be thankful for. It should be a long list, one that includes little things as well as big things. Why should it be long? Because we all have a
lot
to be thankful for if we just look for it.

Just the other day I was thinking about my elbow, which has been hurting for quite a while. I thought about how tired I am of the physical therapy I have had to take for it and of the doctor visits concerning it. But, then I thought about my age, how well I feel most of the time, and how many of my body parts have absolutely nothing wrong with them. I thought of all the really desperately sick people in the world and of all of the hospitals that are filled with people who have pain and disease—and I started to feel very blessed indeed. You see, it is simple, when I focused on what hurt, I felt sorry for myself; but when I focused on what works well and what is pain-free, I suddenly felt very blessed. I was aggravated about needing to get physical therapy for an elbow, but then I remembered that at least I wasn’t receiving chemotherapy or radiation to fight cancer, and suddenly I felt much better. I wasn’t happy about my elbow, but my level of contentment increased dramatically. I know the elbow will get well and that God will give me the ability to do whatever I need to do in the meantime because I have meditated on the power thought suggested in this book, “I can do whatever I need to do in life.”

Deborah Norville tells a story in her book
Thank You Power: Making the Science of Gratitude Work for You
about a man named David, who found himself discouraged. He had moved to Manhattan with high hopes of landing a well-paying job and living in a nice apartment, only to end up with a meager salary as an assistant and living with a friend because he couldn’t afford a place of his own.

One Saturday morning, while out on a job assignment, David decided to start counting things that made him happy. He started by smiling at the sight of a mother walking her baby, then realized seeing a jet make its way across the sky made him happy. He noticed fabulous aromas from cafés he passed, and enjoyed bright, colorful displays in store windows. By the time he completed his assignment, he was once again happy—and he was actually thankful he had moved to New York.

More than twenty years later, David is a successful entrepreneur, but he’s never forgotten the day that turned his life around—the day he learned about the power of being thankful.
¹

Get out a piece of paper right now and start listing things you have to be thankful for. Keep the list and add to it frequently. Make it a point to think about the things that you’re grateful for when you’re driving the kids to an activity or waiting in line at the post office. You can only learn the “power of thank you” by practicing it. The Bible says we are to be thankful and say so. Meditating on what you have to be thankful for every day and verbalizing it will be amazingly helpful to you. Next time you have lunch or coffee with a friend, purpose to talk about the things you are thankful for instead of recounting all of your problems. Or, at the very least, if you do need to talk about a problem, be sure to follow up with things you are thankful for. By doing this you will at least keep things somewhat balanced and in perspective.

Think about It

In what specific situation do you need to begin to practice the power of thank you?

Sounds Good, Doesn’t It?

Do you want to be emotionally stable and consistently content? If that sounds good to you, you can think yourself into it. Stop meditating on wrong things, getting upset and then thinking and talking about how unstable and discontent you are and repeating that cycle over and over again. Start thinking and saying, “I am emotionally stable and consistently content. No matter what is going on in my circumstances, I am able to remain calm and loving while I trust God to take care of it.”

How do you see yourself? What do you want to be? Where do you want to be this time next year in spiritual growth? Make some decisions and start ordering your life instead of letting it order you. Come into agreement with God and His Word. Think what He thinks and say what He says. Will it be easy? Probably not, but it will be worth it. Will you ever backslide in your commitment to think and say positive things? Yes, you probably will, but always remember that when babies are learning how to walk, they may fall down and cry but they always get back up and try again. We are like babies any time we try something new. Thinking your own thoughts and choosing them carefully and purposefully may be new for you. If so, then you are in the baby stages. Just remember, when you fall, all you have to do is get up and try again.

Meditating on this power thought for at least one week will help renew your mind to the idea that stability and contentment are important and to be desired. It may (and probably will) take longer than one week for this principle to become rooted in your life, but start with one week and after you finish the twelve power thoughts, go back through them again and again until you find yourself with a new life that you enjoy much more than you did the old one. First we realize we should be stable and content, and then we begin to believe that we can be, and then we actually become what we believe.

Think about how wonderful it will be to get off the roller coaster of emotions that make us joyful one day and suddenly steal our joy the next. Up one moment and down the next… up and down… up and down! It is not the way Jesus wants us to live. It is not the life He died to give us. Take steps today to embrace and enjoy the life He has for you—and that includes being content and emotionally stable.

Think about It

In what specific ways do you want to grow in emotional stability? For example, do you want to become more patient, more peaceful, more secure in who you are? Do you want to learn to remain calm and respond appropriately to crises, instead of overreacting?

Power Pack

“[And it is, indeed, a source of immense profit, for] godliness accompanied with contentment (that contentment which is a sense of inward sufficiency) is great and abundant gain.”

1 Timothy 6:6

“I have learned how to be content (satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or disquieted) in whatever state I am.”

Philippians 4:11

“Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].”

1 Thessalonians 5:18

POWER THOUGHT

8

God meets all my needs abundantly.

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers.”

3 John 2

I
believe it is important to develop what I call an abundant mind-set—one that believes God will always provide whatever we need in every situation. This is God’s promise throughout Scripture, and part of His nature is to provide for His children. In fact, in the Old Testament, one of the Hebrew names of God is “Jehovah-Jireh,” which means, “The Lord Our Provider.”

You and I are God’s children. He is our Father, and He delights in providing for us just as natural parents delight in helping their children. Dave and I have four children. They love us; we love them; and so we share all we have with them. We could not even imagine leaving them in need while we enjoy abundance—and God is certainly much better at parenting than we are.

God owns everything and is able to do anything. Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness of it” and in Psalm 50:10–12, He Himself says, “For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills or upon the mountains where thousands are. I know and am acquainted with all the birds of the mountains, and the wild animals of the field are Mine… If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are Mine.” Clearly, all the resources of heaven and earth are at His disposal, so there is nothing we need that He cannot provide. He loves us and wants to take care of us. If we love Him and do our best to progressively learn and obey His ways, He will make sure our needs are met. In fact, there is no one He would rather share His blessings with than His children.

Think about It

Do you believe God loves you and wants to provide for you?

How has He provided for you in the past?

More than Money

Paul promised the believers who were partners in his ministry that God would liberally supply all of their needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (see Philippians 4:19). He didn’t promise God would give them everything they wanted, but he did assure them God would meet their every need.