Intentional Series: Thoughts

 

Thoughts.

That inner critic. Some of you may know who I am talking about.  That voice that continues to bring up the things that you could be doing better. That you failed at. It seems to follow you around relentlessly.  If you don't have that inner critic berating you on a daily basis, I'm guessing you have a close friend or family member who does.  It's seems to be louder in some types of personalities versus others.

I'm one of those people.

In every circumstance. In every event. In every situation. There is this inner critic that points out how I could have done it better.  If you struggle with this voice, you can attest to the truth that this can be exhausting. And defeating.

So what do we do?  And if we don't struggle with this, how can we help those who do?

You'll see this many times woven throughout these Intentional Living posts:  fight it with Truth.

This verse was running through my head this morning and I felt it so fitting for combating that critic who only wants to point out the errors.

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable,
whatever is right,
whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute,
if there is any excellence
and if anything worthy of praise,
dwell on these things."
Philippians 4:8, NASB
 

Dwell.  That word jumps out to me. According to Webster's, another word for dwell is to exist.  So, it's not about going to these types of thoughts listed about: honorable, right, pure, etc. and then leaving them for less desirable thoughts. But to exist, to dwell on these things.

So simple.  But not easy.

Guess what? It takes intention. (you knew I was going to get there eventually!)

For those of us who are berating ourselves with all the things we are doing wrong, what if instead, we dwelt in the thoughts of things that have gone right, the things about ourselves that are lovely, the actions that we have taken that are honorable? Not to the end of building ourselves up, but to the purpose of pointing it all back to Jesus. The One who is the reason that we have anything lovely, or right, or honorable about us at all.

For those of you who have these types of people in your life, those family and friends who are constantly being beaten down by their thoughts, remind them of this Truth. Speak the above truth into their lives this week.

Each week, as I put an intentional challenge out there for you, I am also challenging myself to do the same.  And this week's in particular will be a true challenge of intentionally dwelling on thoughts of praise, right thinking, excellent thoughts.

Let's fix our eyes on the Creator of all beauty, honor, purity, and goodness. And intentionally dwell in these thoughts this week.

With Intention,
Nichole