A Thought About Thoughts...

"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness....For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:1,2,8,9


On Saturday evening, as I was finishing up my time on the treadmill, I knew that I needed to spend some time downstairs in the basement as well before calling it quits for that night. I had decided to start things off by doing a little jump roping when I got down there. But when I got downstairs I realized that some things had gotten put in the way of where I usually had room to jump rope, and I was left with a tiny problem - I had no place to jump. What to do, what to do? Well, I'd just have to forget it for that night and come up with a different plan. As I went to put down my jump rope and move on to something else, I got this crazy thought, "What about outside?". There's plenty of room out there, right? Yes, the outdoors are very spacious. But also very cold! However, I decided the fresh, freezing air would only make me jump faster in order to get back inside and jumping faster is a good thing, so before I had time to convince myself of how crazy I was, I grabbed my jump rope and bounded up the stairs and out into the freezing cold. And let me tell you, it was freezing cold! If you would have pulled into our driveway at around 6:00 that evening, you would have seen a once very sweaty and now very frozen Bekah, furiously jumping rope in the middle of our garage like my life depended on it. I did my 200 jumps and bolted back into the warm basement, proud of myself for coming up with a plan "B" and also laughing at how ridiculous I must have looked. And I was thankful. Thankful for my God who has such different thoughts than I.

You see, I know that my flesh did not come up with the idea to go outside in the freezing cold to jump rope. Trust me - my natural man did not enjoy that. =) And all the times that I "hear" thoughts that say, "You can do this! Stick with it. Don't quit now. Keep pushing!" or "You don't need that food. It won't satisfy you. You're not hungry. You've eaten enough. Resist the temptation - flee from it!" - those thoughts don't originate in my sinful body, either. I cannot take credit for them, because they aren't mine. They're God's thoughts, and He's teaching me how to hear them, believe them, and act upon them.

Because I always have the choice. I didn't have to go outside and jump rope. I could have stayed inside and spent a few precious minutes wasting the intensity of my heart rate while I tried to come up with a different plan, simply because I didn't feel like going outside. But I got the crazy thought and went with it! No time for debating or questioning...just do it!

I've found that it's so much easier for me to push myself with exercising as opposed to eating. I can push myself to do just one more rep pretty easily. But ask me to stop eating before my plate is clean, and honey, I'm gonna pick a fight with you! I have to constantly fight the lie that says, "It's healthy, therefore you can eat as much as you want." Wrong! I should be eating until I'm satisfied, whether my plate is clean or not.

Why do you spend money for that which doesn't satisfy? Come to me; I am the Bread of Life and the Living Water. My thoughts aren't your thoughts; and my ways are not your ways. Delight yourself in Me.

How am I ever going to learn to think God's thoughts? How am I going to learn to just follow His ways, whether it seems logical to me or not? (Like jumping rope outside...leaving healthy food on my plate...having peace in spite of a plateau...) The answer is simple - by walking in the Spirit. Back to that again, huh? Yes. Because according to God's Word, the Holy Spirit makes known to us the the thoughts of God.

"For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God...But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But He that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he man instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Cor. 2:11, 12, 14, 15, 16

The Holy Spirit, being one of the God-head, knows the thoughts of God. He thinks them, and when I listen to His voice speaking to me and I believe what He says, I'm thinking God's thoughts, too. How amazing is that? He is the still, small voice that encourages me to keep going, keep pressing, keep moving and pushing harder. He is the voice that tells me to flee temptation (namely, chocolate and carbs!) and run to Christ! He is the voice that encourages me to do anything good, anything spiritual, anything that will please my Father in heaven. He is the One speaking those "crazy" thoughts in my head that always seem to go against everything my flesh is feeling.

I've got to learn to think like Someone else. Someone far greater than I. Someone who doesn't struggle with a sinful flesh, but Who took on and crucified my sinful flesh so that I might become the righteousness of God. It's that thought pattern that I must learn to follow. Die to live, resist to overcome, endure to achieve, lose to gain, fall to rise, etc. He is right; those are not my thoughts. Lord, help to listen to your Holy Spirit and simply obey.

Thoughtfully ~ Bekah