You are what you think. The Bible teaches that as we think, so are we. Our bodies respond to the kind of thinking that takes place within us.
Negative, toxic, doubting, unbelieving, hopeless, fear-based and unloving ways of thinking are detrimental to your health and sanity. But God has created our bodies to thrive in amazing vitality and wholeness when our lives are built upon ways of thinking that add life to your temple.
Quite often, the condition of our health can be traced back to the quality of our thought life; not just the thoughts we present to people, but what we really think within ourselves, about our life, God and others.
The solution is not only to removing toxic thinking, but filling your life immediately with thoughts that produce life and health.
The following are six kinds of thoughts that can add life and health to your body. You can start activating them today.
Just like physical exercise, these thoughts need be practiced every day. They may not come natural to your patterns, but they are natural to who God says that you are.
1. Gratitude
Start every morning off with gratitude. Before your feet hit the floor, take a deep breath and begin to thank God for all that He is, all that He has done and all that He is doing. Begin to look at your life through the lens of appreciation, for this will form your expectation throughout the day.
When you are grateful, you are less prone to be stressed and angry, two toxic mindsets that are harmful to your health.
2. Forgiveness
All day long, forgiveness needs to become a way of living. You will be bombarded all throughout your daily interactions to become more embittered at people and life. Jesus spoke of forgiving 70 times 70, meaning you will constantly need to forgive and carry the power of grace in your life.
The moment we let the trap of being offended gain a foot hold, a seed of bitterness creeps in and sets up shop to defile you. Bitterness, unforgiveness and anger are major disease causers, because your body was created to live in love, grace and forgiveness.
Every day, let go of those who have hurt you and wronged you. In fact, before you go to sleep at night, just release all the people in your life who could potentially be instruments of bitterness in your life. Your body will thank you for it.
3. Thoughts That Promote Self-Nurture
You cannot wait for others to affirm you for you to come to peace and self-love.
Our bodies need to be nurtured, and you can do this by how you speak and think to yourself.
I encourage people to do a very simple declaration over their life and health. It is very simple. It says:
- God loves me.
- I love myself.
- I love my life.
- I have what it takes to overcome.
Sometimes I repeat it until it sticks.
This simple phrasing helps us focus our attention on what matters; God’s love for me and His flow in my life to help me overcome. It stirs up gratitude in my heart. It focuses my attention to His love so that loving relationship becomes a priority throughout the day.
To nurture myself, I must say yes to God’s love for me and accept it into my being. So many people, including myself, can often be so unkind to ourselves. One day I felt God speaking to my heart, saying, “The thoughts you allow in your mind about yourself are so harsh and abusive, you may want to call family protective services. You are being trained to be abusive to yourself.”
Wow did that open up some revelation in my heart! I was not being a good friend to me. Satan had trained me to be an enemy to myself in my thoughts. To reverse this, I began to look at myself like I would look at someone else; thinking, “What does this person need in love to break forward?” It’s sometimes easy to see that for someone and give that out, but often hard to see that toward ourselves, where it is so desperately needed.
So I decided every day to allow only thoughts about me that are based on love. The Bible says that love is patient and kind, so I decided to welcome thoughts that are kind toward me and thoughts that promote patience toward me in my journey. What a new way to think, but one that has been so refreshing and freeing!
4. Face Your Fears
Every day, do something that scares you. Step into something that you have been avoiding. Face something that has been tormenting you and crush it.
Facing our fears is so good for our bodies, because our physiology has a stress response built in. So many spend their lives avoiding anything that activates their stress response, thinking that’s the answer. When in fact, stress can be good for you. It challenges you to grow, rise to the occasion and develop a sense of faith you did not carry before.
Certainly, chronic stress and anxiety are not good. But why not turn the tables on your fears and get excited about the new challenge ahead of you, which will cause you to grow!
Don’t try to live in a cocoon; get out there and face your fears!
5. Process Your Grief
Every day you have disappointments, losses and unexpected pains that comes your way. Its important to put into your daily regimen, times where you process those things out with God. Take some time to cry, mourn and cast your cares upon God.
Keeping that stuff pent up or ignoring it all the time is deadly to your health and well being. At some point, you will snap and explode if those areas are not addressed. I have ministered to hundreds of people that have never simply grieved.
Go ahead and mourn; grieve the losses of your life and disappointments. Then get back in the game and love on others.
6. Thoughts That Lead You to Love on Someone
Every day of your life, give who you are to someone and love them. Take some time to love someone that even stretches your ability to love. Find someone who you can give of yourself in time, finances or energy and bless them.
Selfishness and being self-consumed are not good for your overall health and they keep us in isolation. Get out there and help someone. Put yourself in a position where you are able to get out of your battles and help those who are struggling in their own life.
Above all, let’s make it our aim to develop a new training to think in ways that are helpful to our overall health and wholeness. The Bible has been speaking to this for centuries.
“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, even as your soul is well” (3 John 1:2, MEV).
“Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think on these things” (Phil. 4:8, MEV). {eoa}
Mark DeJesus has been equipping people in a full-time capacity since 1995, serving in various roles, including teaching people of all ages, communicating through music, authoring books, leading and mentoring. Mark’s deepest love is his family: his wife, Melissa; son, Maximus; and daughter, Abigail. Mark is a teacher, author and mentor who uses many communication mediums, including the written word, a weekly radio podcast show and videos. His deepest call involves equipping people to live as overcomers. Through understanding inside-out transformation, Mark’s message involves getting to the root of issues that contribute to the breakdown of our relationships, our health and our day-to-day peace. He is passionately reaching his world with a transforming message of love, healing and freedom. Out of their own personal renewal, Mark and Melissa founded Turning Hearts Ministries, a ministry dedicated to inside-out transformation. Mark also founded Transformed You, a communication platform for Mark’s teachings, writing and broadcasts that are designed to encourage people in their journey of transformation.
For the original article, visit markdejesus.com.
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