Prayer To Change Our Day By Changing Our Thoughts
Sunday August 2, 2020
Sunday, AUGUST 2 – CHANGE OUR THINKING AND CHANGE OUR DAY
We are not shaped so much by our environment as we are by our perception of our environment - even the current Covid-19 pandemic environment The way we think is the most important motivation for how we face life each day. If we are not thinking correctly, it will be reflected in our emotional life and then in our speech and our behaviour.
In the Bible is the story of a man named Jeremiah. He expresses despair and bitterness as he wrongly perceives that God is against him and that God is the cause of his suffering and his difficult time.
I remember how I suffered and wondered. I
remember how bitter my life was.
I remember it very well. My spirit is very sad deep inside me.
Lamentations 3:19 - 20
Even though Jeremiah was having an awful time, God wasn’t the cause of his problems. Jeremiah wasn’t thinking rightly or truthfully assessing what was happening, so he did not respond correctly. Blaming God does not fix anything.
And Jeremiah remembered God and his whole way of thinking changes. Listen to these words
But then I think about this, and I have hope:
we are still alive because the Lord‘s faithful love
never ends every morning as he shows it
in new ways! You are so very true and loyal!
I say to myself, “The Lord is my God, and I trust him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for him.
He is good to those who look for him.
It is good to wait quietly for the Lord to save them.
Lamentations 3:21-26
What a turnaround! Did God change? No. Did Jeremiah circumstances change? No. What changed? Jeremiah’s perception of God changed, and his emotions followed suit.
Let’s pray today and ask God to help us have his perception of what is going on in our world and in our lives today. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we’re so grateful that life events don’t determine who we are. We can’t control people, places, or things. We certainly don’t seem to be able to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus as new places are reported every day of surges in virus infections. But what we can do in the power of your spirit is choose how we interpret and respond to what we are facing today.
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to
the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12
We’re grateful God that you promised to be with us through the fearful times we face. We need our minds to be filled with this truth so we can respond accordingly to whatever circumstances arise. We thank you for the presence and the guidance of your Holy Spirit who is more than willing to show us how to walk one step at a time through our day so we successfully do those things we should do and avoid those things we should avoid.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9
As we walk in Your ways God, we know that You will fill our hearts with peace and joy. We don’t have to live in dissatisfaction and discontent because of the restrictions and changes in the strangeness of this pandemic season. We can find and experience great joy as we walk these days with You.
Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.
Proverbs 16:3
And so God, when life is difficult, when we have moments where things seem to overwhelm us, help us to remember that with You any difficulty can be worked out and overcome. We are forever grateful that you care for us. Amen.
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