“Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.” Proverbs 4:23 TEV
“The thoughts you allow determine the life you live.”
My thoughts today are about “the power of suggestion.”
In a few days, two football teams will play for the NFL Championship in Super Bowl XLVI and the buzz has already started for the Super Bowl commercials. The cost of a commercial for the 2012 Super Bowl is reportedly an astronomical $3.5 million per 30 seconds. Any advertiser who will pay that kind of money is investing in the power of suggestion on a scale of influencing a TV audience hoped to exceed last year’s viewers, which numbered 111 million. They are counting on placing their company or product in the thoughts and minds of those watching.
Advertising taps into your thoughts suggesting a want or need, to then convince you to satisfy that desire with their service or product. Here’s why that works: your thoughts govern more of your life than you might imagine. Thoughts eventually shape your desires, and then your desires ultimately influence your choices, until your choices dictate a direction for your life.
Your mind is such a fertile field, giving a rich harvest of any thought you plant there. Truly, the mind is an area where you “reap what you sow.” The Bible warns those whose hearts “imagine evil.” Proverbs 12:20 KJV. The wise King Solomon advised his son, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.” Proverbs 4:23 TEV. The Bible is right. What happens to you or is said about you cannot shape your life unless you allow them to do so. Circumstances do not have such a power; your thoughts – the persuasive, internal interpretation of circumstance – shape your life for a moment or for a lifetime, for better or worse.
Jesus said what goes into a man does not defile; what comes out of a man defiles. See Mark 7:15 NKJV. Ironic isn’t it? A person can be less careful about what they allow into their mind than what they place in their mouth. A pure life is impossible with impure thoughts, as is an impure life impossible with pure thoughts. You can be ”. . mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV. You have God-given power to capture and direct every thought in “obedience to Christ.”
The Apostle Paul gave sound advice, “Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9 NLT. The thoughts you allow determine the life you live.
You can be different than you’ve been. Change begins internally before it is evidenced externally. “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is.” Romans 12:2 NLT. How does God transform you and change the way you think? Don’t be misled; this is more than the power of positive thinking. Life change comes through Godly thinking! Fill your heart and mind everyday with the Word of God and truth, because, “The Word of God is living and powerful . . and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 NKJV. See Psalm 1:1-3 NKJV.
My prayer for you today is that your thoughts will be His thoughts.