Rivers of Water: Let Your Mind Dwell on These Things

“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” whined Martha, who was trying to be the perfect hostess to Jesus’ while He was visiting her house. (Luke 10:38-42) Martha felt frazzled because her thoughts were centered on her discouraging circumstances, rather than on what the Lord would have her focus her thoughts on. Philippians 4:8 lays out exactly what the Lord wants us to center our thoughts on.

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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. (Phil. 4:8)

As trials come up, take every thought captive, running your thoughts through Philippians 4:8 God’s standard for our thought life. Ask yourself about what you’re thinking:

Is it true?

Is it noble?

Is it right?

Is it pure?

Is it lovely?

Is it admirable?

Is it excellent?

Is it praiseworthy?

As we are faithful to take each thought captive and run it through these questions, we will think less Martha-like thoughts—thoughts of frustration and discouragement—and think more thoughts that produce joy and peace in our life. And we all can use more joy in and peace in our life right?

Now you might be dwelling on something hurtful someone did to you because it is true “whatever is true…” Philippians 4:8 However, we must not stop there. God wants our thoughts to fit all these criteria. If something is true, but not praiseworthy, God doesn’t want us to dwell on it. It is one thing to think about something discouraging when we are faced with it, like a huge bill that comes in the mail. We can’t just ignore it because it isn’t lovely, excellent, or praiseworthy. God isn’t saying that. What He doesn’t want us to do is to dwell on it. If we are going to park our mind on a thought God says that thought should be true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.

So what can we think on, and think about, that fits all these criteria of Philippians 4:8? Then answer: God and His Word.

This is what God wants us to fill our minds with and to dwell on. So when a trial comes up, instead of dwelling on the problem as Martha did when her sister would not help her, we can instead set our minds on Jesus and His Word as Mary made it a priority to do. Are you facing something big? Are you discouraged? Overwhelmed? Frustrated? Set your mind upon God’s faithfulness in your life, on His character, His goodness, His promises and as you do, your faith will be strengthened and you will see your problem in light of God’s greatness.

I remember when reading Chuck Smith’s book “Effective Prayer Life” he encouraged readers to begin prayer by worshiping God. For example, starting of a prayer praising God that He is a great God, nothing is too hard for Him, by His breath He brought the heavens and the earth into existence, etc. I love this because, when I start prayer this way, by the time I get to bringing my problems before God, they don’t seem to be that much of a problem anymore. It is when I just launch into prayer with my problems that they seem overwhelming to me. But as I set my mind first on God’s greatness, as I bring my problems before God I feel a peace and hope that I otherwise would have missed out on had I just launched into my problems from the start. So what we set our minds on is important. May we be diligent and faithful to set our minds on the Lord and His Word, and as a result, experience God’s perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3), regardless of our circumstances.

Question: What have you found to be a help in lining up your thoughts with God’s standard laid out in Philippians 4:8? Let me know in the comments below.

Rivers of Water

Let Your Mind Dwell on These Things

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