I. Introduction

A. Illustration – J. I. Packer, in his book Knowing God, writes, Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, thinking over, dwelling on, and applying to oneself the various things one knows about the works and ways and purpose and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communication with God. Its purpose is to clear one's mental and spiritual vision of God, and to let his truth make its full and proper impact on one's mind and heart. It is a matter of talking to oneself about God and oneself. It is, indeed, often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneself out of moods of doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God's power and grace (as cited on PreachingToday.com).

B. Context – I believe the greatest struggle we as Christians face is the struggle to conquer our thought life, especially during the Christmas season. We face added stress and crunched time schedules this time of year, so we need help in understanding how we can have thought lives that honor God. In a presentation based on his book The DNA of Relationships, which just came out and which I’m going to buy and read, Gary Smalley gave some powerful keys to help us explode our inner power and enjoyment of life by learning to control our thought life. That’s what we’re looking at today. My prayer is that this will help all of us become positive thinkers, not just for this season, but all year long.

II. Exploding Your Inner Power and Enjoyment of Life

A. (NEW SLIDE) Proverbs 23:7 from the New American Standard says – For as he thinks within himself, so he is. It’s talking about a selfish, gluttonous man, which is why translations vary on this verse, but the truth that we have to glom onto is that as men or women think in their heart, so are they. (NEW SLIDE) We have what we have today because of what we’ve been thinking. Let me say that again: we have what we have today because of what we’ve been thinking. The implications are obvious – if we think we’ll never accomplish anything, we never will. If we believe that we can never change, we never will. If we believe that there are things that God can’t do, then we will never enable Him to do them. We have what we have today because of what we’ve been thinking.

B. Galatians 6:7 is one of my favorite verses because it’s cause and effect just like the Proverbs verse we just read. In the NIV, we read, (NEW SLIDE) Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whatever men or women sow in their heart, so shall they reap. (NEW SLIDE) Whatever thoughts we’ve been sowing, we are reaping right now. Let me say that again: whatever thoughts we’ve been sowing, we are reaping right now. Sometimes we’re kind of like a farmer who plants weeds and then expects corn to come up. We think that, because we have good intentions about what we will reap, or because we’re grabbing hold of the promises of God, it doesn’t matter what we sow. But we’re all reaping the results of whatever thoughts we’ve been thinking and allowing to grow in our minds.

C. Gary Smalley says that these two passages give us one of the greatest truths in life. (NEW SLIDE) It’s not what happens to us (our past, present or future circumstances) or what people do or say to us that causes our emotions. It’s what we think about after it happens to us!! It’s what you dwell on that causes your emotions. It’s your self-talk that causes your emotions. Smalley says to never try to change your feelings, instead use them to tell you what you’ve been thinking. It’s not what happens to you or what people do or say to you that causes your emotions. It’s what you think about after it happens to you. And this truth is incredibly liberating. When we believe that what people say or do or what happens to us causes our emotions, we are empowering Satan to manipulate us and allowing anyone who wants to do so to play us like a fiddle! We don’t have to be slaves to our emotions any longer. And this brings us to some other very important truths.

D. Ephesians 3:14-21 in the New Living says, When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. 17 And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more that we would ever dare to ask or hope. 21 May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen. Think for a minute about the implications of this passage. Does the Holy Spirit live within those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Yes! How much power does the Holy Spirit have? Unlimited! (NEW SLIDE) You and I have unlimited power, love, fulfillment and life when Christ’s Spirit lives inside of us. We have resurrection power. Resurrection power to work in our hearts and lives. Resurrection power to share His love with our world. We have resurrection power.

E. 2 Corinthians 10:5 in the NIV says, (NEW SLIDE) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (NEW SLIDE) We can take every one of our thoughts (beliefs, dreams, ideas) captive to the obedience of Christ. That’s what this verse is telling us. Paul isn’t going to tell us to do something that is impossible to do with God’s help. And that’s the key. (NEW SLIDE) You see, we can control all of our own thoughts because we have unlimited power. Think about that for a minute. We have unlimited resurrection power available to work God’s will within us, and part of that will is to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. (NEW SLIDE) So we can take all of our thoughts, all of our dreams, all of our beliefs, all of our ideas, under godly control because we have the unlimited power of the resurrection within us through the Holy Spirit. This is not prosperity theology or some New Age interpretation of Scripture. This is the plain teaching of Scripture. It takes some guidelines and some discipline, but by the unlimited power of the resurrection within us we can do it! It won’t be easy, but we can do it!

F. Philippians 4:8 in the New Living says, And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. James 1:19 says Dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. What these passages are telling us is this: (NEW SLIDE) We can literally keep our mouths shut before we speak and conform our words to eight standards. What are those standards? True, honorable, right, pure, beautiful, adorable, excellent and praise worthy. We can run every thought through that grid by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Our lives can be transformed by realizing the power we have in us through the Holy Spirit to change the way we think and the way we speak. It’s hard work, but when we do it it’s liberating.

G. In James 3:8 tells us that no man can tame the tongue. And that’s exactly our problem – we try to control our tongues in our own strength, and that’s exactly why we fail! We can control our thoughts and our words through the unlimited power of the resurrection within us. Ephesians 4:29 in the NIV says, (NEW SLIDE) Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Now granted, all of us have different needs regarding what will encourage us and build us up. (NEW SLIDE) But the truth here is that the words coming out of our mouths can be honorable not unwholesome. When we use only words that build up, there is no more blaming, no more finger pointing, no more criticism. Instead, we will work together to move forward in Christ to fulfill His purpose and His plans for our church. (NEW SLIDE) As Philippians 2:14 says, In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing. (NEW SLIDE) If we put that into practice, no complaining, no arguing, no criticizing, and only saying what builds those up we’re speaking to, we will be empowering others (and ourselves) to believe in who Christ created them to be. We can control our thinking and our speaking by the power of the resurrection that is within us, and so allow our lives to be transformed.

H. So how does all this apply to the holiday season? These truths affect every part of our lives, but how specifically do they apply to the holiday season? With all the shopping, family and church events, school programs, and other activities that crowd the Christmas season, we can feel overwhelmed by the trials we’re facing. Romans 5:3-5 in the New Living says, We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us – they help us learn to endure. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. 5 And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. And James 1:2-4 says, Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. 3 For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything. Whenever I read passages like this, I like to tell God that I’m enough of a character already! But the truth is this: (NEW SLIDE) When we experience trials we can actually exalt and start thinking about how much joy we will soon have. God allows trials in our lives so that we can experience the joy of knowing Him better and becoming more like Him, and when we see trials from that perspective, it changes how we think about them. When we see our busy holiday schedules and activities and the trials that arise from them from God’s point of view, then it changes how we think about them. We begin to run every thought through the grid of eight standards. We begin to change how we think. (NEW SLIDE) Our thoughts determine who we are. That’s not psychological mumbo-jumbo, it’s Scriptural truth. Our thoughts determine who we are, and if we will take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ by the resurrection power within us, our hearts, our lives, our families, and even our church will be transformed.

I. I never said this would be easy. Changing a lifetime of bad thought patterns takes time. But I keep a copy of my notes from Gary Smalley’s presentation in my devotional book, so every day I do my devotions I read those notes. My thinking is still subject to the old patterns too much of the time, but it is gradually changing. Join me in this commitment to let the power of the resurrection through the indwelling Holy Spirit change the way we think and speak! Then not only will our holiday season be transformed, but our lives and our church will be as well.

J. Illustration – T. Henry Howard wrote, We cannot measure spiritual force by rules of philosophy or definitions of theology any more than by a carpenter's rule or chemist's scales. It is "with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." And yet, the character of a man's thoughts has much to do with success or failure in the spiritual life. He is influenced by what he thinks (as cited on PreachingToday.com). Will you join me in allowing these truths to begin to transform the way we think and the way we deal with others?

III. Conclusion

A. Please bow your heads and close your eyes out of respect for God and for each other’s privacy. Let’s spend a few quiet moments listening to what the Holy Spirit is speaking to our hearts about these life-changing truths.

B. What has the Spirit been speaking to your heart about your thought life? How well have you been at using the eight standards to filter what you say? How well have you been doing at taking your thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit? If you’re committing this morning to putting these truths into practice and allowing the power of God to transform the way you think and the way you speak, please raise your hand as a sign of this commitment. Review these truths daily so that they will begin to take hold of your heart and mind. Let’s pray together.