Remember this…you cannot and will never grow beyond an infant’s level of faith if you don’t filter your thoughts. If there is one thing that I want my daughter to understand as she grows… it’s this. “If you can think it or dream it, you can do it. So be careful of what you think about.”

If you spend your days absorbed in worry, drudgery, hate, deceit, paranoia, disgust, or any other malformed way of life… you will become and live that life. I can’t number how many people I have dealt with in business who could not and would not trust anyone. In those relationships, I learned (sometimes the hard way) that these people didn’t trust anyone because they were untrustworthy. People who lie don’t believe anything that anyone else says. In essence – “It takes one to know one” has never rang so true.

Why do you think it was so important that Christ Jesus taught his disciples to set their eyes on Christ and heaven? He knew that if they stayed focused on the world, that they would become the world. I’ve heard a divisive debate among pastors who are either for or against preaching and teaching for or against sin.
The Apostle Paul, one of our most influential writers in the Bible, says to meditate on Love, Hope, Peace, and many other positive pursuits. Whether you like it or not, you are wired to become what you think about… and it’s no secret.

One of my favorite quotes that was given to me after I graduated from college was by the author, Frank Outlaw. I will confess that I know nothing of his writings, and I really haven’t felt compelled to look into them. However, the one writing that I believe hits the nail on the head has guided me through my faith life. It is a quote from him as follows:

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become your character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

– Frank Outlaw

Could it be any clearer? I also heard one of the pioneers of motivational speaking, Earl Nightingale, say, “You are but the sum total of your thoughts to this point in your life.” What he meant was that your decisions are influenced by your thoughts. Therefore, you become what you think about. Evil’s most devastating and effective tool is not violence… it’s destructive thoughts.

Did you know that prayer life is meditation on Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit? Did you know that meditation originates in your thoughts? Do you realize that God has told all of us in His Holy Word that we must meditate on Him night and day?

Now this sounds like a boring existence with people walking around all day with their head down and hands folded. You’re right. How could we possibly be effective people if we sat around all day with our eyes closed and head bowed?

Bold Living comes from being able to recognize God’s work in everyday life. The faith that moves mountains comes from the absolute trust that God is concerned about what your hands are on. Are you pursuing yourself or God?

I apologize on behalf of the church congregations across the United States that have turned religion into a guilt factory that insists on telling us over and over how bad and pathetic we are. The closer we get to God’s plan for life, the more we realize that we are not perfect, but He left the entire Christian Faith in the hands of you and me to carry forward. He knows we’ll fail from time to time, but He also knows that we’ll be ok as long as we depend upon Him for guidance.

If you choose to do this on your own… you will fail… you will be miserable.. and you will die a lonely, grueling death. Alone… you have no hope. With God… you have hope. Straight forward enough for you?

The 10 commands of God are our blueprint to contentment. We can have focus and purpose in our life if we’ll commit to living these ideals to the edge. We have to control our minds in order to gain control of our lives. You have to be patient… you don’t have a choice. It took you a long time to wire yourself to think and act a certain way. It will take time to re-wire and re-build your focus.

I guarantee that if you will set your thoughts on God, ask for Him to give you wisdom and courage to change… it will be over before you know it.

And for a special note to you guys who mess around with “harmless” pornography on the internet… it’s not harmless. Remember what I said earlier? You become what you think about. You’ve got to change your focus.
For us men, we like to consume things through our eyes. What we see influences what we think about. Keep your eyes up and focused on God.

So now that you’re convinced that you should focus on what God cares about… what in the world does God
care about? It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about the Story in the next entry.

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(You are reading the blog series by Live Bold. This is a living, unedited book being written in the wide open. Follow along. If you’re getting here late, go back to the archives under the LB NOW category and start reading. Each entry is numbered in sequence. Comments are welcome and some will end up in the final published book. May God’s hand be in all we do here at Live Bold.)
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