"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:43-45
Growing up my dad always told me that success or failure is produced by the things we think about the most. Whenever I was struggling with something he loved to sit me down and give me advice. Being a teenager I didn’t appreciate his insights most of the time, but as an adult I look back now and realize just how smart he was. Don’t we all do that? I remember one time when I was making poor choices and he called me into the kitchen to have one of his talks with me. While I was sitting there he handed me the following poem:
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.” Author Unknown
Though at the time I didn’t heed his advice I kept this poem in a binder. Several years ago I came across it when I was rummaging through a box of memorabilia. It was at that moment when I realized just how true this poem was and how it correlated to the truth found in Luke 6:43-45. Many studies have been done that substantiate the truth found in both of these writings.
How we spend our mind time is where the fruit of our lives is produced! If we spend our time thinking about pain, failure, insecurities, and fears, we will produce the fruit of depression, resentment, anger, and frustration. If we spend our mind time thinking about success, healing, purpose, and victory, we will produce the fruit of love, hope, peace, joy, and fulfillment.
When it comes to making the decision where we are going to spend our mind time, the decision is completely up to the individual. No one else can give energy to your thoughts except for you! Research indicates that the brain produces between 7 - 9 thoughts per second and that our thoughts travel at the speed of light. This means that for every hour we spend in mind time at least 400 thoughts come into our mind. With each thought that enters we have a decision to make. We have to decide what thoughts we are going to give energy and time to based on what kind of fruit we want to harvest in our lives.
I want to encourage you to begin the process of evaluating where you spend your mind time. Take a day and journal your thoughts. Make an entry whenever you spend more than a minute on a specific thought and record the emotions those thoughts produce, and whether that thought focused you towards success or disappointment. You may need to do this exercise several times before you can determine the pattern of your thoughts, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you begin to see if your thoughts are producing words and actions that steer you in the direction of success and fulfillment or whether they are steering you towards failure and disappointment. Again the choice is up to you. What are you going to choose to think about today?
Prayer: Today I choose to evaluate where I spend my mind time. I believe by faith that I have the power to change the way I think which will change the results I get in my life. By faith I choose to focus on the life giving words of God and I say no to the thoughts of defeat and failure that bombard my mind. By faith I will give my mind over to the living Spirit of God so He can operate in me and produce His fruit in my life. I believe by faith that as I change the way I think I will reap a harvest of abundance in every area of my life. Amen.
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