Note to the reader: I wrote this from the point of view of a Bible believing Evangelical, which is what I am. This piece has nothing to do with Norman V. Peele's The Power Of Positive Thinking. __________ Thoughts End Up Becoming Things. By JAG July 30, 2021 When you invite a thought into your mind, hold it there, and mix sympathy with it, that idea then becomes a nurtured thought that will take root in the garden of your mind and begin to grow. At some future point that thought will take on Real World substance and effect what you physically do ~~ after all, you nurtured it with sympathy and agreement, you gave it support, you encouraged it, and you told it, "You are most welcome to take up permanent residence inside my mind", therefore that thought is going to play a big role in your life in Real World. If that guest-in-your-mind-thought is a positive constructive Faith-in-God thought, then it will produce Faith, Hope, and Confidence, resulting in such beliefs as I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Both Fear-thoughts and Faith-thoughts end up becoming things. Here, to illustrate the principle, is how a Fear-thought becomes a physical thing: The Fear-thought: BASED UPON DEMONSTRATABLE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCES, STATISTICS PROVE THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT PERCENT CHANCE THAT I WILL BE SERIOUSLY HURT DUE TO AN ACCIDENT WHILE DRIVING MY VEHICLE. Now if you do the following: (1) Invite that Fear-thought into your mind (2) Hold it there and dwell upon it (3) Mix sympathy with it (tell yourself over and over, yes its true) (4) Keep on doing (1), (2), and (3) (that is, keep on nurturing that thought (5) Then that Fear-thought will take root in the field of your mind . . . (6) And begin to grow strong and . . . (7) Soon it will produce Real World physical realities. You will begin to experience debilitating fear, anxiety, and frustration ~~ and if you keep on doing (1) through (6) up there, at some point the sustained fear, anxiety, and frustration will start producing Real World physical effects such as headaches, sweating, trembling, shaking, stuttering, and twitching. This ugly reality will greatly reduce your ability to get things done in Real World. Now lets look at what a Faith-thought can produce: A Faith-thought: GOD LOVES ME AND GOD IS MY FATHER, AND MY LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER HAS PROMISED TO ALWAYS BE WITH ME, AND TO HELP ME WITH ALL MY PROBLEMS, AND HE HAS PROMISED THAT ALL MY PROBLEMS WILL EVENTUALLY BE WORKED OUT BY HIM FOR MY ULTIMATE GOOD, AND SO I LIVE MY LIFE FULLY TRUSTING IN HIM BECAUSE I KNOW HE WILL ALWAYS BE WITH ME AND TAKE GOOD CARE OF ME BECAUSE HE LOVES ME. If you invite that Faith-thought into your mind, hold it there, mix sympathy with it, and keep on doing this, then this powerful Love-Faith-Thought will take root in the soil of your mind and grow strong and powerful. It will produce Real World realities: you will have more Confidence, more Faith and Trust, you will Laugh and Smile more, and you'll be able to get things done much easier. Your Real World accomplishments will increase in numbers and quality. You will be happy. You will enjoy living. Might even become a Mover and Shaker World Changer. Many have done that ~ so it is doable. And this Love-Faith-Thought will attract a host of its relatives ~ cousins, nephews, aunts and uncles, and they will take up residence in your mind. Relatives like Hope, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, and Faithfulness. By the way, do we humans have a subconscious mind? i don't know if we do or not. Some confidently say we do. Some also assuredly say Bigfoot walks about in Real World. Lets assume that Bigfoot is a zany myth and that we do have a subconscious mind where "all the material not currently inhabiting our conscious mind is stored. Every memory, skill, experience, feeling, thought is housed in our subconscious mind."__off the web. If this is true, then our minds have sort of a basement (or attic if you prefer) and there in that subliminal basement we store our brain-stuff. This seems harmless enough. Anyway, our subconscious mind is just one more good reason to always put only good positive uplifting thoughts into our minds. The thoughts we humans put into our minds and hold there and nurture, will determine if we live a life of Faith, Hope, and Love or a life of Doubt, Despair, and Loathing. Therefore God Himself speaks to us about this and says: "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable ~ if anything is excellent or praiseworthy ~ think about such things." (Philippians 4:8) In conclusion, one of the most comforting uplifting and encouraging thoughts we can ever hold in our minds is the truth that God loves us and sent His Son the Lord Jesus to die in our stead on Calvary's Cross. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" ~ and that God has long term huge enormous good plans for us ~ to make us conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus (Romans 8:29) and when this process is finally at last finished, we will then be able to do the utterly amazing, and our Real World accomplishments will be breathtaking and awe-inspiring ~ we're going to the stars, my friend. [] PS Thank You Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit for loving us and saving us. __________ Agree or disagree with the OP? ``
My dad used to say, You are who you hang around." The word "reprobate" is an interesting word. But, it is what you wrote about. If we allow evil thoughts into our minds, they become normalized and tucked away into the subconscious to become who you are. To change the reprobate mind, we have to pour into our minds good instead of evil. Even with that, once the evil takes hold, it's very difficult to change it.
To the thread: Here is one example of a Faith-Thought that changed reality and its taken directly from the New Testament {Matthew 14:22-33} The Apostle Peter actually walked on water because of a Faith-Thought in his mind. Lets start with some basic facts: (1) Human beings cannot walk on water. (2) Peter was a human being. (3) Peter walked on water. ~ How did Peter walk on water? ~ Answer: Peter had Faith-Thoughts focused upon Jesus’ call-out to him telling him to “Come.” ~Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water. Peter’s mind was NOT blank at the time he got out of the boat and walked on the water. ~ What was Peter THINKING about? ~ Answer: He was thinking a Faith-Thought about Jesus’ call-out to him telling him to “Come.” Remember the narrative? The disciples saw Jesus coming towards them and He was walking on the water. They were scared. Peter called out to Jesus and said if it’s you Lord, tell me to come to you on the water ~ and so Jesus told Peter to “Come.” Therefore Peter’s mind (Faith-Thought) was strongly focused upon Jesus’ word to him to “Come” and therefore with that Faith-thought in his mind, Peter got out of the boat and actually walked on water. So? So a Faith-Thought in the mind of a human being did, in this case, give a human being the ability to walk on water. Now if anybody can find even one (1) flaw in that up there, I would be more than willing to take a serious look at whatever anybody finds incorrect with what is written up there. And don’t forget Luke 17:6 where Jesus said, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can SAY to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you.” Does not “SAY” require a Faith-Thought” within the mind? There is a whole class of passages that gives specific examples of people whose faith-thoughts changed their reality. ~ here is just one of ‘em: “Go”, said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight . . .” Mark 10:52 So? So the man did in fact have FAITH-THOUGHTS , , , and his Faith-thoughts did in fact change his reality.. The Lord Jesus, did in fact, specifically tell the man that “your faith" has healed you.” That is, your Faith-thoughts have changed your reality. Mark 10:52 Point of clarification: I have nothing to do with any New Age Garbage or Eastern Mysticism and nothing to do with Norman Vincent Peele’s The Power Of Positive Thinking and nothing to do with television preachers who hawk their miracle-promises of riches and healings, and such like , , , however I personally am not going to allow those false teachers to rob me of blessings by preventing me from talking serious what the Lord Jesus Himself said about the power of faith and the power of SAY. “You can SAY to this Mulberry tree by uprooted and planted in the sea and it will obey you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed.” Luke 17:6 You might be thinking “Okay, but where are you going with all this?” Answer: I’m not going anywhere with it. I just know I need to increase my faith in God so I can do more to push forward Jesus’ Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations and so I’m a seeker and learner about the power of FAITH to get that done. And that’s all I want to do with this line of thought. Best Regards. JAG
