Aggressively Guard Your Thought Life
ICS Daily Devotions
Philippians 4:7-8 (NKJV) And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, 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 anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
The Bible says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7a). Therefore we are a product of our thought life. Our words and behaviour are expressions of our thought life. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak (Matthew 12:34), so we will speak about hopelessness when we are worried, stressed, or pressed down by a circumstance, and if we don’t refocus from the predominant thought on hopelessness, where we don’t see any possibility of a breakthrough in the situation, we will slip into depression.
Issues in life can be overwhelming, and dealing with multiple challenges simultaneously can put us under extreme stress, leading to panic attacks. Being overwhelmed with fear, anxiety, and hopelessness might even immobilise us.
We can only think of one thing at a time. Therefore, we can either think of things that lift us up or things that press us down into depression. Many things that go through our minds can steal our peace. For instance, much stress can be avoided if we stop trying to live up to everyone’s expectations, including our expectations of ourselves, especially if they are unrealistic.
The opening passage lists the eight items (true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtue, and praiseworthy) that we are to meditate on to replace the negative predominant thoughts that steal our joy and peace. God asks us to meditate on the truth and keep our eyes on Him so we can keep the peace.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NKJV) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Besides meditating on the truth, we also need to demolish the strongholds in our minds, cast down every argument and high thing that exalts itself, and take every thought captive. If we read the above Scripture bottom up, it tells us that a stronghold always starts with a thought, which develops into an argument or imagination that goes against what God says, and finally a stronghold.
The Greek word for “guard’ in the opening passage is a military term that means to surround and protect a garrison or a city. Therefore, we need to aggressively guard our thought life against anything that causes us to spiral into depression. God’s peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus when we are thinking of His Word, especially His promises.
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