In the past two days we have practiced praying and worshiping. How did it go? Chances are that in the middle of Bearings 1 and 2 you became distracted by thoughts flying into your head. They may have been regrets about the past or worries about the future clouding your mind. Maybe a list of things that you felt you should have been doing at that particular moment or later in the day. Perhaps you have a continuing hurt of some kind you are going through right now, an illness, loss of a loved one or divorce. Maybe you are worried about how you are going to make ends meet or something you saw in the news.
We can do something about the swirling thoughts that rob us from our peace and focus. Having tried many things over the years, some things worked a little bit but not really, then bingo. The answer again was in the Bible.
“We break down every thought and proud thing that puts itself up against the wisdom of God. We take hold of every thought and make it obey Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NLV)
Here is how to do it.
Find quiet, comfortable place where you are alone. Kneel to do your prayer and worship. After your worship bearing or during if you are having trouble focusing, take a thought in your hand. Yes, sweep your arms together broadly as though you were catching a chicken or something wild. It may run from you. Catch the thought in your hands. Now you have it in your hands. It is out of your head and in your hands. Hold it up to God. Present it as part of your living sacrifice. Open your hands as though you were releasing a dove to fly. Release the thought to God, putting it in His hands. Now you have lost this part of your life to God. This means that you will have faith that you have placed that thought in God’s hands. You are no longer the controller of it. You will follow the Holy Spirit regarding it. He will guide your path. He will let you know what to do about it. Whether it is asking Him for forgiveness, forgive another, maybe you need to do something or not do something. You will know when you put your faith in Him with your thought.
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Luke 9:23-24 ESV
You may wonder how what this scripture has to do with this thought that is interrupting your worship. This thought, no matter what it is has to do with yourself and not God. When you hand over your thought to God you are denying yourself the control of what to do about the thought.
If your thought is a feeling of guilt or regret about something in the past. Present the thought to God and ask Him for forgiveness then accept that you are forgiven for that specific thing. If you continue to feel guilty that is you passing judgement on yourself. You want to maintain that control over punishment. If you punish yourself enough maybe God will be easier on you. But in reality, God has forgiven you and you are lacking the faith it takes to believe that you have been forgiven therefore putting your own love for control between you and God. Instead deny yourself that control, exercise your faith in God that you are forgiven and open the door to the peace He is offering you.
If your thought is a worry. Capture it in the same manner, put it on a platter and serve it up to God. Exercise your faith that God will see it through, will let you know what to do, or God may even make you not care about it anymore. This is the one that happens most often to me. I will suddenly no longer see the thought as a problem and it simply disappears or is resolved.
No matter what the thought, no matter how big or small present it to God and have faith that he will help you with it in some way.
Do this for all the thoughts that float into your mind during prayer and worship. You may have to repeat the process a bunch of times as I did when I first started doing this. Now I hardly have any more negative thoughts and I am certainly no longer afraid of them. Because I know that God will accept my thought, help me with it, resolve it or make me not care about it anymore. Either way we both win. God gets me to deny myself for him and I get rid of my annoying thought.
If the same thought comes back, simply repeat the process. You are exercising your faith. Just like any muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets.
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 ESV
Believe in those rewards. If you believe in punishment you need to believe in rewards! When you exercise your faith you are showing God that you believe in Him. You cannot believe in Him if you never rely on Him and trust Him.
Look for Bearing 4: Be Still and Know that I Am God – Christian Mindful Meditation
