It’s much better than mere “positive thinking".
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Biblical thought replacement is how I describe taking my sour thoughts and replacing them with biblical promises and assurances. For example, when I’m feeling unable to meet the needs of life, family, ministry, etc., I replace my incapable thoughts with biblical thoughts such as “I can do all things through Christ” (Philippians 4:13). Or, when life begins to get me down, I remember to “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4).
The powerful aspect of these spiritual pep talks is that they’re not just empty bromides or nice thoughts, they’re from God’s Holy Word, the Bible. I can count on them!
As mentioned in the title of this article, doing this gives me more time and more energy.
Here’s how biblical thought replacement gives time and energy:
1. I don’t waste so much time and energy in worry, fretting and anxiety.
Worry, fretting and anxiety can be a huge time drain. For some, worry is a hobby—a pastime they seem to enjoy. But it is a very expensive hobby. It robs the worrier of time and energy. It can even rob us of our health.
When tempted to worry, I love to remember “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28 NLT)
I’m not saying that I do biblical thought replacement faithfully and perfectly all the time. I’m also not saying that I understand exactly how “all things work together for good.” Sometimes it seems impossible for good to come from difficult experiences.
But I believe the promise because it is God’s word, not just pie-in-the-sky hopeful thinking.
The goal is not to hide our heads in the sand. We must not simply avoid problems. The goal is not to worry and instead to determine a plan of action to resolve issues, if there is anything we can do.
If there is nothing I can do, then I try to simply rest in God’s promise that “all things work together for good.”
2. Less time and energy is wasted in conflicts and broken relationships.
So much time and energy is absorbed by conflicts, arguments and the resulting broken relationships. We can save much time and energy through biblical thought replacement about relationships and conflict.
To do so, we need to understand where conflicts come from. The book of James answers that question:
“What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.” (James 4:1-2 NLT)
So, it says that conflict comes from “evil desires” and envy. The antidote then is to replace these with humility, generosity and a servant attitude.
When tempted to be prideful, stingy and want others to serve me, I try to remember Scriptures like these:
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:10 ESV)
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38 NIV)
“Whoever wants to be the most important person must take the last place and be a servant to everyone else.” (Mark 9:35 GW)
3. Positive emotions create more energy.
The better we feel emotionally, the more energy we have, emotionally as well as physically and even spiritually.
Think about it. When do you have the most energy:
When you’re feeling joyful, grateful, hopeful, capable, loved?
Or, when you feel ungrateful, hopeless, incapable and unloved?
The answer is obvious.
So, to help us feel these positive emotions, we can practice biblical thought replacement from the Bible. For example:
We can replace joylessness with this: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4 ESV)
We can replace ungratefulness with this: “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT)
Search the Bible and find verses that are special to you. An easy way to do that is to use a simple internet search like this: “Bible verses on ______________.” When I did a Google search for ““Bible verses on joy” it came up with 701,000 web pages! The top 3 were:
Each of these is an excellent listing of Bible verses on the topic. Perfect!
Has biblical thought replacement helped you? I’d love to hear about it. You can leave a comment below.
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