Enemies of Inner Peace

Text:            Philippians 4:8

By:               Uto, Joel

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INTRODUCTION

Man is a created being composed of Spirit, Soul and body – 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

In the soul is mind or heart, will, emotions, intellect etc. The
soul should be kept blameless ie made clean and pure- verse 23.

• God urges us to keep our minds with all diligence for out
  of it are the issues of life Proverbs 4:23; Again, the way a man thinks in his heart so, is he Proverbs 23:7
• Mind and heart is being used interchangeably as regards thinking
• The centre of thinking or thoughts is the mind or heart.
• The outcome of thoughts or thinking are the actions reflected.
• Christ affirms that out of the heart (mind) proceeds evil
  thoughts Matthew 15:19
• The power of positive thinking suggests the influences the
  heart applies and actions that would arise from there.
• The mind or heart is filled with positive (good) and negative
  (bad) thoughts from the day man fell from the glory of God
  at the garden Genesis 3:22 [cf Romans 3:23]. 

THE MESSAGE OF PAUL: IN PHILIPPIAN 4:8

• Offers guidance on how we should focus our minds.
• He draws a conclusion to the messages he began from upper
  verses to verse seven
• In the upper verses if you read, he
  told the brethren in Christ to be standfast (firm), united,
  helpful to one another, rejoice, prayerful with thanksgiving.
  Essentially that the peace of God in Christ will be in
  their minds always. Christ is our peace.
• Apostle Paul wants brethren (Christians) to cultivate a mindset
  that reflect God’s character and promote spiritual growth.
• Positive thinking accordingly should be as follows;
• Whatsoever things that are true to God’s word. John 17:17
  John 8:30-32. The standard to gauge truth is the Word and so
  our thoughts should be the Word.
• Whatsoever things that are honest (noble, honourable in
  character) should be our thinking. For example the thought
  to cheat at all is a dishonesty and not upright thinking Proverbs 11:1. Couples must not think to cheat each other. “Na where man dey work naim dey eat” should imply “what is legally paid you.”
• Whatsoever things that are just. Our thinking should
  be fair, right and justice filled. Just thoughts or thinking are
  upright, honest, impartial, true and morally pure. God is
  just in all His ways whom we are imitating 1 John 1:9
• Whatsoever things that are pure. Our thinking should devoid
  of evil, negativity about yourself and others. Our negative
  thoughts toward one another could produce negative results
  in us. God requires pure heart from us to see Him. Matthew 5:8
• Whatsoever things are lovely regarding nature and glory
  of God should be our thoughts.
• Whatsoever things that are of good report and if there be
  virtue (goodness) filled with excellence and praiseworthy should be the thinking of the Christian. Only two of the twelve spies to Canaan brought good report. Our reports from assignments should be truthful hence it is a good report.
• Positive thinking builds, motivates for success and achieving extraordinary feats. Virtually all inventions we enjoy today were positive thinking of someone. According to Mohammed Ali “what you are thinking is what you are becoming”. In other words, think about heaven and you will become heavenly!

SOME APPLICATION OF POSITIVE THINKING

• When faced with anxiety or negativity. Try to think positive
  and pray for good thoughts
• Practice gratitude by thinking positively about admirable
  qualities of one another
• Choose uplifting conversations to Meditate on.
• Meditate on Scriptural Passages, Messages and inspiring
  quotes John 5:39.

CONCLUSION

Positive thoughts are those that are true, noble, righteous, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praise
filled.

May God guide Our thoughts in this way in Jesus Christ Name, Amen.

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