Think of a magnifying glass. Allowing the sun to shine through the glass onto an object  intensifies the heat. How do I know this? My cousins taught me as they fried earthworms to my protest.

When we focus on the Lord, who is the Sun of Righteousness, the reflection of His character is intensified through our lives. It is when we focus on ourselves instead of Him that our hidden flesh is manifested.

Centering our focus on the Lord brings inner stability and strength to endure. Hebrews 10:36 says that when we endure our trials, then we are doing the will of God. His desire is for fulfillment and completion of His will and purpose in our lives.

Our flesh hates endurance, and looks for ways to distract us so we lose focus. Humpomone is the Greek word for endurance. Note in my Bible. “…capacity to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances, not with passive complacency, but with a hopeful fortitude that actively resists weariness and defeat.”

The moment we act independent of the Lord, we have lost our sensitivity to His nearness. We cease to hear His still small voice, checking our spirit to warn us, but also to encourage us. John 15:5 should be a verse that is etched in the walls of our heart.

I had a hidden leak in my old mobile. It took me a while to realize it was there, until a wet spot appeared. After the flooring man took up the vinyl planks, the subfloor was laid bare to dry out. 

I wrote strategic verses all over the floor. I wanted to stand on them. It was a prophetic statement to me to always be standing on His word. We also do that through memorizing and meditating. That causes His word to be implanted or etched on the walls of our heart. That is another way the Holy Spirit checks our thoughts ~ He brings that word into our mind to stop us in our tracks before we sin.

Do you ever allow your thoughts to just wander without purpose or intention? We might call it day dreaming, or not being present in the moment. Since the Lord is Always Present, He is our center. Every breath we take, we are breathing in His Presence.

Since He is Present, He fills our space in time. Jeremiah 23:23-24 says, “Am I a God near at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him? says the Lord; do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.”

Knowing that the Lord is Present with me is so comforting and assuring. I know that I am never alone ~ ever. It also means that since He knows my thoughts before I think them, I can trust Him to stop me in my thought process. I don’t have to rely on myself. That truth took me years to put into practice.

How does being thankful in the midst of chaos bring glory to the Lord? For one, we are acknowledging that He is Present. We are created to praise Him. Isaiah 43:7. Another way is that we are offering a sacrifice. Our thankfulness is always to Him. It is a form of worship that pleases Him as a sweet savor.

The writer of Hebrews said that thanksgiving is the fruit of our lips. Now we know that our lips are the vehicle which allows our words to be expressed from. David’s prayer in Psalm 141:3 is a good one for us to adopt. It says, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.”

Genuine thankfulness comes from a heart that is set on the Lord. In Psalm 16:8 David wrote, “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.” David’s focus kept him centered.

I really appreciate the psalms that David wrote that say “I will” in them. I have been memorizing Hebrews 13:7-21. Verse 15 says, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

We know from 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that giving thanks in everything is God’s will for us. Yet there are times when we don’t feel thankful. That is where intention needs to come into play. Taking our cue from David, we can say, “I will praise You Lord right now in the midst of this chaos.”

Psalm 34:1 says, “I will praise the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” This was written when David pretended madness before Abimelech. 1 Samuel 21:10-15. 

I love to use Psalm 139:14 in my worship declarations. It says, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”

When a fiery dart is not quenched, it penetrates and seeds into our heart. That seed-lie constantly seeps into our unconscious. However, it will shout when we face an impossibility. The hidden lies rise to challenge our faith through doubt, fear, and unbelief. 

How many times does ‘I can’t’ come out of your mouth when faced with a difficult situation? That reflects the lie that it is up to us. Buried lies bear fruit. Hosea 10:12, 13 says, “…Break up your fallow ground…You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own way…”

John 15:5 clearly says, “…without Me you can do nothing.” Our way is absolutely independent of the Lord. It opposes His way. Psalm 18:30 says, “The way of the Lord is perfect…” Ours is seriously flawed.

Here is the truth. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This is the affirmation I use. “Through Christ I can do all things.”

1 Chronicles 28:9 Amplified says, “…For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts…” Are you willing to face the fact that there may be lies embedded in your subconscious that rule your beliefs, intentions, thoughts, actions, and attitudes?

In 1993 I learned that not all of my thoughts were of my origin. That means that if we receive a fiery dart lie, it is designed to control us for the rest of our lives. Unless we recognize its control. We certainly won’t know what lies made it through until we are confronted by the truth.

Bank tellers are trained with real money in order to discern a counterfeit bill. Satan counterfeits truth through implanting lies through his fiery darts. For instance, let’s take our heart. Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” Where does the enemy seek to set up camp through his fiery dart lies? In our heart.

Our thoughts rule our emotional, physical, and spiritual health. That means that if we are stuck in any of the three ~ there is hope! Luke 1:37 says, “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

We can get stuck in the rut of our old patterns of thought. We can come out of that rut by shoveling loads of truth onto those undisciplined thought patterns. It will then become our highway of freedom from thoughts that do not serve us now.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says that our past is passed. If you find yourself in cycles of defeating thoughts, they are coming from your past perceptions. Our heart is our belief system. To change our unproductive beliefs, we must bring truth into our heart. 

Ephesians 4:23 Amplified says, “And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind (having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude).” Note the word ‘constantly’ translates to diligence. We will not change unless we first recognize the need to.

Back in 2016, the Holy Spirit took me through months of meditating in the middle of the night. He would wake me up and give me a phrase from a verse to meditate on. When I would get up in the morning I typed it all out.

The title to this devotional became one ebook. I ended up with 35 of them. Then He had me formulate them into five paperbacks. This title became chapter one of Victorious Garden: true heart forgiveness.

I love 2 Timothy 1:7. The Amplified says, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but (He has given us a spirit) of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.”

Are your thoughts disciplined, or do you allow them to have their own way? Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” 

2 Peter 1:5 says, “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith…” Then he listed seven inward graces: virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. 

Our faith is grounded and increased through God’s word. Romans 10:17. James 1:22 adds personal application. It says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves.” How does deception creep in? We don’t allow His word to change us. We see it as a way others need to change, but we don’t allow it to pierce our heart.

Hebrews 4:12 says His word pierces, “…even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Without embedding truth into our heart, our old thought processes will never change. We will continue to loop the lies we have believed about ourselves.