Refocus

Philippians 4:⁸ “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (NIV).

The first of five things that we need to do to gain mental traction is Do Not Believe Everything You Think. The second is Guard Your Mind From Garbage. As it is said, if you compare a human being to a computer, the mind is like a processing unit. It is garbage in, garbage out. If you put trash in your mind, you are going to get trash from your mind. There are three main things you can feed your mind. Firstly, you can feed your mind good food, growth food, healthy food. Secondly, you can feed your mind junk food. Thirdly, you can feed your mind toxic food. So, what are you feeding your mind? You have to be deliberate about what you feed your mind. You have to be deliberate about guarding your mind against junk food and toxic food.

You should feed your mind only with good food, whatever is pure, whatever is of good report. Take junk food for instance, junk food is not necessarily poisonous, it is just filling. Imagine you get home, and you are really hungry, but there is no ready meal, so you need to make your meal. And because you are really hungry, even though you are preparing your meal, you decide to snack on other things while you wait. By the time your meal is ready, you cannot even eat it, because you are full. Toxic foods are things you should not even touch, things that corrupt the mind. For example, with occultic materials and pornographic materials, the objective is to corrupt our minds. Proverbs 15:¹⁴ “A wise man is hungry for truth, while the mocker feeds on trash.” (LB). What are you feeding on? Trash? Psalm 101:³ “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless” (ESV). Decide today not set before your eyes anything that is worthless. Guard your mind. For your mind to have traction, you have to guard it against junk and garbage.

To guard your mind there are two main things you need to do. The first is, Talk to the Lord. When you maintain conversational prayer with the Lord, your mind is guarded. You are going about your day, but you are saying to the Lord, ‘Lord, I love and adore You. Please give me wisdom, insight, and understanding. Help my temperament.’ Your mind is guarded. The second is Concentrated Focus. When it comes to your mind, whatever you resist, persists. So, what should you do if not resist it? Change your focus. When it comes to your mind, you do not resist, you replace it. If you do not like what is on the television, do not stay there fighting, just change the channel. Similarly, if you do not like what is flowing in your mind, replace it. Refocus your concentration on something else. Talk to the Lord and change the channel.

Prayer: Father, I choose today by Your grace to hunger for the truth, in Jesus Name. Amen!