“How can I control my thoughts?”

December 2017 – Grace & Truth Magazine

QUESTION: How can I control my thoughts?

ANSWER: The apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5 spoke of “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” This should be your goal. Controlling your thoughts is not simple, however. In fact, humanly speaking, it is impossible to do by yourself. You may often find yourself saying, or at least thinking, “What I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do ... To will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find ... with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin” (Rom. 7:15,18,25 NKJV).

The flesh, the old nature – whatever we want to call it – that’s me, at least that’s what I was until I got saved. Then I received a new nature, in fact was made a partaker of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). That is what I am before God and how I should live, but sadly enough the old, fleshly nature is still there and will be present until the Lord takes me to Himself. It is the nature I should be putting to death with its deeds, thoughts included, according to Colossians 3 – an excellent chapter to read often.

Our minds are assaulted daily with many suggestive thoughts we cannot readily escape: the billboards we see as we drive along, the music that floods so many businesses, the clothes or strategic lack of clothes of a person walking by, my memory of a sin I enjoyed committing long ago, ideas, likes, dislikes and thousands of other things. Yet, there is an old saying that you can’t keep birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building their nests in your hair. While this principle is right, how does a believer apply it in the matter of one’s own thoughts?

A very important thing to do when we realize the impossibility of controlling our thoughts by our own strength or wisdom is to seek the Lord’s help. David set before us a good example in this when he prayed in Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”

Another excellent suggestion that we glean from the psalms he wrote is found in Psalm 139. Verses 17 and 18 of that psalm tell us, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You.” David meditated on God’s thoughts; they were precious to him. Apparently he would be thinking of them at night when he laid down; he would fall asleep while enjoying them, and when he awoke he would still be with God in his thoughts. I have found that if I pray when lying in bed I tend to fall asleep quite quickly – apparently Satan doesn’t appreciate saints speaking to God or being occupied with His interests!

The apostle Paul had experiences similar to those of David. He advised the Colossians to “seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:1-2). He recommended to the Philippians to “rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4). He went on to encourage them not to worry about anything, but to earnestly and thankfully commit everything to God. God’s peace would then guard their hearts and minds though Christ Jesus. Further, there were positive things that should occupy their minds. One of our problems is that we too often have our minds occupied with things that are negative, not good for us at all. “Finally,” he told the Philippians, “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you” (vv.6-9).

No, we are not told that we can control our thoughts. But we are told what we are to fill our minds with and are given the assurance that the God of peace will be with us. What a wonderful prospect!

Going back to the Psalms we are assured that “in the multitude of my anxieties [or “anxious thoughts,” JND] within me, Your comforts delight my soul” (94:19). Being occupied with anxious thoughts will never bring us peace and control over them. God does not promise us this, but He does give us far better things to fill our minds. If we fill them with Christ and the things of God, our minds will be too occupied with good to be self-occupied.

Let’s not be concerned with birds that fly over our heads. Rather, let us keep ourselves occupied with our Lord Jesus Christ and with all the good things God gives us in Him and with Him. God will thus help us control our thought life to His glory and our joy.

Answered by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.