“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
Proverbs 23:7
Welcome to Week Four of our 40 Day Soul Fast series!
If you’re joining us for the first time, you can review Weeks One, Two, or Three—or anything you may have missed by clicking here!
And don’t miss out on our deeply discounted Soul Fast resources…or an opportunity to meet in a town near you!
We are already nearing the halfway mark in our eight-week series!
This is where the rubber really begins to meet the road.
Hopefully by now you have a better understanding of the nature of your soul. As the seat of your mind, will, and emotions, your soul is the navigational center of your life.
So, if your soul is the helm from where you captain your life, then your thoughts are what sets it in motion.
You can harness your thoughts like a sailor harnesses the winds to take you wherever you want to go.
In the words of poet William Ernest Henley, “[You] are the master of your fate, [you] are the captain of your soul!”
In his timeless classic, As A Man Thinketh, James Allen observed, “All that a man achieves or fails to achieve is a direct result of his own thoughts.”
Believe it or not, your life moves in the direction of your thoughts.
Thoughts are the ever-present currents that move you either closer to or further away from your best future.
This is what makes faith so powerful: It is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen” (Hebrews 11:1).
The hopes and dreams you allow to fill your mind have substance; they are evidence of your world being transformed.
You’ve heard me say that God speaks to you at the speed of thought—but have you considered that thought moves at the speed of light? God whispers through His Spirit to your spirit, “Let there be light!“
As quickly as light illuminates a room, a single thought can illuminate your life.
You are always only one thought away from living the life of your dreams—one decision away from changing your destiny.
Like short-wave radio signals, your thoughts send messages out on a specific frequency and are transmitted back to you as an experience or occurrence in your life.
Your thoughts create a magnetic field around you—attracting either positive or negative experiences.
What you think has the power to literally transform your life. Your life is very literally what your thoughts make it!
James Allen wrote that a person “will find that as he alters his thoughts toward things and other people, things and other people will alter towards him.”
This is the basic premise of the Law of Attraction.
The Law of Attraction is based on the principle that we attract into our lives whatever we focus on as a result of the energy that is exchanged in the process.
All matter—seen and unseen—is comprised of energy.
The energy created by our unseen thoughts either attracts or repels the energy matter of what we ultimately see and experience as a result.
This phenomena is rooted in the findings of quantum physics, which found that nothing in the universe is static due to the fact that all matter is vibrating energy—raw energy that responds to the vibrations of our thoughts, so that consequently “what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen” (Hebrews 11:3b).
To repeat, it is the essence of faith: “The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
Everything you see began in the unseen realm.
The first book of the Bible tells us that God spoke the earth into existence—“the worlds were framed by the word of God” (Hebrews 11:3a).
Yet before God’s word ever was there were His thoughts. The source of all energy—and all matter—is the mind of God. The Creator—the Great Imaginarian—in Whose image you were created.
Your thoughts are powerful.
If you want to change your life, you must change your thoughts.
If you want to unstick or unclutter your life, you must first unstick and unclutter your thoughts!
- How are unhealthy soul toxins and debilitating soul ties created in the first place?
- How can you end up cluttering your soul simply by the thoughts that you think?
It is due to this exchange of energy that takes place when you give something your attention, entertain it in your mind, meditate upon it, and talk about it.
What you invest mental energy in is what you tie your soul to, both positively and negatively.
As currents of electricity create electromagnetic fields connecting positive or negative charges, your thoughts create similar fields.
Your positive thoughts attract positive attachments; your negative thoughts attract negative attachments.
The seed of a thought, like any seed when planted, will always result in an exchange of energy and therefore some kind of an attachment.
An exchange takes place through investments of time, energy, attention, and action in the form of thoughts, deeds, or words.
Exchanges can be both intentional and unintentional.
Sometimes we can be completely oblivious to what we’ve attached our souls—something may have taken hold in our mind because we inadvertently paid attention to it for too long.
I believe this is why Isaiah stated, “he who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil…will dwell on high” (Isaiah 33:15-16).
You have to be careful about what you pay attention to—what you spend time and energy thinking about and dwelling upon.
Your life will move in the direction of what you contemplate.
As it says in Proverbs, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (Proverbs 4:23).
What consumes your thoughts gives you a good indication of what ties your soul.
Our thoughts, intentions, motivations, and aspirations—whether they be secretly pondered in the heart, openly declared as a desire, or formally written as goals—mold and shape our personal universe into something either grand and beautiful or base and hideous.
Whatever you harbor in the innermost corridors of your thought-life will, sooner or later, reveal itself in the outer arena of your life.
Whatever is hidden will eventually be brought to light. First Corinthians 4:5 states that God “will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.”
Just as a seed is for a time hidden underground, it will eventually breakthrough the surface and it’s true essence will ultimately be revealed.
Everything you see in the natural began as a spiritual seed—a thought.
The temporal realm has its roots in the spiritual realm.
Grabbing hold of this profound spiritual truth will enable you to make some critical connections that can transform your life.
Once you understand that the spiritual realm is the “causal realm,” you will begin to grasp the massive power of your thoughts, ideas, words, and prayers—spiritual things that engineer, mold, and craft the current and future state of your temporal existence.
Proverbs tells us, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).
Your outer world is a direct result of your inner world.
Every circumstance in life is a result of a choice—and every choice is the result of a thought. All those things that fill your mind hold the keys to your reality.
Make it a habit to examine what your thoughts are chasing after, because your success and prosperity hinge on what lies within your mind.
You will never have more, or go further, or accomplish greater things than your thoughts will allow you.
Become the architect of your future.
Use your thoughts like an architect uses a blueprint. Think about every detail.
An architect not only thinks about the rooms in a house, but the types of windows, the size of closets, the location of outlets, and so on. Nothing is too insignificant.
Think big! Think detailed!
If you want to progress in life, you’ve got to think progressive thoughts. You’ve got to think beyond where you are.
Take the limits off your mind!
This is the challenge of creative thinking—you’ve got to open the spiritual channels of your mind so that God can download divine insights into your brain.
Spend some quality time with God this week and ask Him to enlarge your capacity for thinking and imagining—ask Him to help you take the limits off.
Do yourself, and the world, a tremendous favor by getting the toxins out of your soul by taking control of your thought life.
This week we are focusing on the characteristics of beauty, effortlessness, authenticity, focus, and order. Take some time to think about and discuss:
- What your thoughts are on your thoughts.
- How have you experienced “thinking for a change” in your own life?
“Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts…Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you.”
Proverbs 4:23-25 MSG