A Better Way to Think (Revell, 2011)
How many thoughts do you have each day? Depending on how active your mind is, you may have more than 45,000! In large part, those thoughts shape you. When your first response is emotional, that emotion is designed to alert and focus you rather than direct your actions. Author H. Norman Wright reminds us of St. Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 4:8- “Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right (TLB).”
Automatic thoughts are based on our core beliefs. Unfortunately, many people see God through the lens of their core beliefs and select Bible passages (out of context) that will justify those beliefs. Often they don’t reflect what Scripture teaches, yet we tend to view our core beliefs as absolute truth. This distortion leads to a negative view of life and God. Over time such toxic or hot thoughts become addictive to the mind, body, and emotions. Some sources of these thoughts include: all-or-nothing thinking, character assassination, suspicion/lack of trust, hopeless-helpless thinking, and assumptions.
While we can’t stop such thoughts from coming to mind, our job is to manage them once they arrive by involving God in the process and giving Him control. The author reminds us: “Your thought life is not your own. It, like the rest of you, belongs to God.”
But how can you ignite this change? Chuck Swindoll tells us that real change takes place slowly, that “certain techniques need to be discovered and developed in the daily discipline of living.” Such change requires deliberate practice and a vision that clearly perceives God’s presence, plan, and power, even in the face of apparently overwhelming of obstacles.
This book will guide you on that path.
