Learn to think ‘right’

Your mind can work for you or against you. When it works for you, it helps you to stay positive, reach your goals, and enjoy each day. But when it works against you, it can make you negative and discouraged, hold you back, and cause you to think thoughts that result in self-sabotage. So teach your mind to work for you instead of against you. An important way to do this is to make an intentional decision that you’ll begin to think positively – in terms of faith and not fear. Now, your brain won’t be able to fulfil this new role overnight. You may be asking it to undergo a radical transformation, and that takes time. But determine that with your diligence and God’s help, instead of working against you, your brain will go to work for you and become a positive force in your life. Dr Caroline Leaf, a cognitive neuroscientist, points out that the brain takes eighteen years to grow, and a lifetime to mature. Don’t miss this point! While every organ in your body was fully formed when you were born and got bigger as your body grew, your brain actually takes a full twenty-five years to grow. And once it’s fully formed, it continues to mature until the day you die. That means no matter how old you are, your brain is still growing. This is great news, because it means you don’t have to stay stuck in old or wrong thought patterns. Your brain is still maturing, which means you can still improve in your thinking. As the Bible says, ‘The thoughts of the righteous are right’ (Proverbs 12:5 NKJV).

Prayer Point

Father, thank You that with Your help, I can change my thought patterns. Reveal those habits in my thinking that are harmful and that increase anxiety, and help me replace them with a mind that’s always tuned to You. Thank You that You equip me to move out of old, unhelpful mindsets to ones that are focused on Your will and goodness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Meyer, Joyce, Power Thoughts (Brentwood, TN: FaithWords, 2010), 24, 25. University of Rochester Medical Center, ‘Understanding the Teen Brain’, accessed 3 March, 2020, University of Rochester Medical Center website. National Center for Biotechnology Information, ‘Maturation of the adolescent brain’, accessed 3 March, 2020, National Library of Medicine website.