10 February 2019
Two-Minute Features | 17 February 2019 | 03 February 2019

We Can Choose Our Thoughts, Our Focus (TMF:1065)

Friday, February 15, 2019
Peace to Live By: We Can Choose Our Thoughts, Our Focus (TMF:1065) - Daniel Litton
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       You can choose not to think about something by casting it on God. Instead, think about good and positive things. When we have healthy thoughts, when we are thinking thoughts that are good for us to think, we are happier in our daily lives. And you don't have to always be thinking about something. You can choose to just focus on the present, what is in front of you. The movie screen in your mind doesn't always have to be playing something. Instead, we can focus on now, on what is in front of us. One problem often for us is that Satan puts thoughts inside our minds that are bothering to us, and of which may be disturbing. Once we think the thought, we have to make a choice to not think about whatever it is. It is when we choose to think about the negative or evil thought, that we allow it cause us problems, to bother us. James has told us, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:7, 8, ESV). By resisting Satan and staying close to God, we can keep our minds in a better position.

Developing the Big Picture Perspective (TMF:1064)

Thursday, February 14, 2019
Peace to Live By: Developing the Big Picture Perspective (TMF:1064) - Daniel Litton
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       In looking at our minds, as Christians, from a ‘big picture’ perspective, there is an overall mind that we want to develop. The Apostle Paul called it the Mind of Christ. As a matter of fact, he told the Corinthians that they already had been given this new mind (see 1 Corinthians 2:16). It is important for us to take all of the areas of our mind and bring them into obedience to Christ. That is, we don't want to have any thoughts we are thinking or enjoying which Jesus would not approve of. And constantly thinking about negative things will keep you downcast and will cause you to get upset over time. And when there is a lot of negativity in our minds, this often shows forth in our speech and actions. And people will notice you are unhappy and bothered about something. We should cast down any thoughts that make us worry or have anxiety. If its a thought that is bothering us, we don’t have to think about it. The Apostle Peter told us we are to cast all our cares on God because he cares for us and wants to deal with them himself instead of letting us deal with them (see 1 Peter 5:7, ESV).

Disappointment Can Lead to Depression (TMF:1063)

Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Peace to Live By: Disappointment Can Lead to Depression (TMF:1063) - Daniel Litton
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       Sometimes people are wanting something in life, and they don't get it, and then they become depressed. This is because they are unwilling to accept God's timing versus their own will and timing. And if we seek the wrong thing and obtain it, this can cause us to become depressed because the thing we have obtained brought death to us instead of life. The good news is that anyone can change his or her mind, change the way he or she thinks. It may be difficult because of the strongholds in your mind, but it can be accomplished. And it will take time. There is no quick fix, no way to immediately solve the problem. Bad habits take time to purge from our system. And God understands that, and isn’t standing over us demanding perfection from the get-go. He will work with us as we seek to eliminate bad habits, wrong thought patterns, from our minds. Paul said we are to “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5, ESV).

The Natural Way vs. The Spiritual Way (TMF:1062)

Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Peace to Live By: The Natural Way vs. The Spiritual Way (TMF:1062) - Daniel Litton
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       Many folks believe that you have the Bible, and then you also have a certain, ‘natural’ way that things work (which is really the way the world thinks). Typically, they take both ways into account, and apply to their lives the way that they think best fits their needs. Like, for instance, the world might say we should get vengeance on a person, while the Bible clearly tells us not to get vengeance on anyone. But, we who really want to follow Jesus should never mix both ways into our actions. We should never intermix the ways of the world with the ways of God. We should always have the Bible filter out what we think and do, and make it have first place above everything. When we allow our minds to become too unkept, depression can often set in. Really, depression is the result of a lot of bad thinking. It can come upon you when you aren't keeping proper watch of the thoughts in your mind. You have entertained wrong, incorrect thoughts when you become depressed. You have either been focusing on the wrong things, or you have let an outward circumstance or a series of circumstances to bother you to the point that you no longer feel like doing anything much at all.

Introduction to Our Minds in Christ, Part 2 (TMF:1061)

Monday, February 11, 2019
Peace to Live By: Introduction to Our Minds in Christ, Part 2 (TMF:1061) - Daniel Litton
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       Nonetheless, I recall getting out of the rental car and seeing the ship fixed there in the harbor, and my, what a site it was to see! It almost looked like the RMS Titanic sitting there. I suppose a great ocean-liner such as this can parallel with our own personal growth in our lives. There’s no doubt that people often realize they have issues inside themselves, but a lot of times they aren’t sure how to resolve them. These issues are like the old, abandoned and unkept parts of the ship. These are the places people don't want to go. These are the areas of our minds that we have done little work on, and really, could use much more work. We've been kind of negligent in this or that area, and we know it. We want to make improvement, but we never seem to find the time to do so. But it doesn’t do us any good when we just patch the rust of the problem, only for it to come back later in time. We must get at the root of underlying problems if we want to have success and victory over them. We can’t just lock up our problems in our own Isolation Ward in the back of our minds, never to deal with them. The Word of God tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2, ESV).