Thought life - Arrgh!

 My thought life is certainly one big area that has caused me a lot of trouble and pain, though, when it comes to being pure. You can't stop a thought coming up - consequentially, our thought life is one of Satan's biggest targets. And too often he succeeds in leading us to sin with our thoughts.

 One thing I want to make clear - your mind generates a bad thought before you can stop it. (Very occasionally, as you mature in this area, you may be able to stop a half-formed thought in its tracks.) At this point it is only temptation. If you do not quench that thought; if you do not acknowledge it as bad; if you continue to think thoughts along that line, then that is sinning. 

 Sometimes I get very discouraged about my thought life. I ask myself questions like, "Why can't I stop thinking bad thoughts?," "Why can't I get these thoughts out of my head?" and "Will I ever conquer my thought life and make it obedient to Jesus?" However, this is Satan tempting me to give it up as hopeless. So I must take courage in the power of Jesus again, and keep fighting the battle. Even King David said "How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?" (Psalm 13:2) But he also declared in that same Psalm, "I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me." (Verses 5-6, italics added by me.)

 And there's another important point - we fight a continuous battle. It will not be won in a short amount of time. Actually, our bad thoughts are part of our sinful nature, and will only die when we do. Our thought life (just like the rest of us) will not be perfect until we are resurrected for eternity.  But God tells us through Isaiah to "Give up your crooked ways and your evil thoughts. Return to the Lord our God." (Isaiah 55:7, CEV) If we stop fighting because we will never really 'win,' long term, the Devil gains a foothold and triumph after triumph. And so the battle must continue.

 If you were wondering, there are many verses in the Bible that talk about thoughts. Very few are commands; most are warnings. Here are some;

• "You used to let the different parts of your body be slaves of your evil thoughts. But now you must make every part of your body serve God, so that you will belong completely to him." (Romans 6:19, CEV)
• "Do not allow your weak thoughts to lead you into sinful actions." (Romans 13:14b, NLV)
• "A man is tempted to do wrong when he lets himself be led by what his bad thoughts tell him to do. When he does what his bad thoughts tell him to do, he sins. When sin completes its work, it brings death." (Wow, pretty straight forward! James 1:14-15, NLV)

 You must notice that in this post I'm talking about thinking unhelpful, distracting thoughts (dreaming romantic dreams, etc). There are however, many other avenues of bad thoughts - thinking nasty things about others, selfish thoughts, greedy thoughts, impure thoughts, inappropriately worried thoughts, etc. There are warnings and commands about these things too; take Hebrews 13:15b for example - "Do not let wrong thoughts about others get started among you." (NLV) Now, I know it warns against nasty thoughts about others among you, but guess where this gossip starts? It starts with bad thoughts in someone's head!! 


After saying all this (you still with me?), there is one last point to make. It is very important. If you don't recognise it, basically you're doomed to lose this battle over and over again. 
 OK, I'm going to say this slow: Think of your thought life as a big hole. Satan wants to fill it with bad thoughts. You know you shouldn't be thinking that kind of stuff, so you push those thoughts out of the hole. But now you're back where you started - a big hole that Satan desperately wants to fill with thoughts disobedient to God! And just because you pushed him out once, Satan ain't going to give up that easy, let me tell you! He will keep trying to fill that hole with junk. And at some point, we're going to just let him stay for a bit. So, what are we going to do to get Satan to stay out of our hole? FILL IT UP WITH GOOD, GODLY THOUGHTS!!!!!!!!! I'm sure we all know Philippians 4:8. But have you noticed that it's in the positive? It doesn't say ''Don't think about this, this and this kind of bad stuff," it says "Think about this kind of good stuff"! When we fill up the hole of our thought life with good, godly thoughts, there is no room for Satan's junk.


Phew! Hopefully you got something out of that huge post! I really, really, really don't want to just heap guilt on you. I simply want to challenge and encourage you. PLEASE, PLEASE tell me if you feel hurt or guilty (so you just feel horrid and dirty, not challenged) after reading my post. I won't be hurt or angry; you will be doing me a huge favour. And I promise not to publish your comment. Thanks!

"We take every thought captive so that it is obedient to Christ." (2 Cor 10:5b, GW)
Signing off,

Cassie xoxoxo

Attraction vs. Crushes

OK, here it is! My views on attraction vs. crushes! Thank so much guys for sharing! Made me think, for one! (
So, if any of you were slightly confused, I want to clear something up. In my pages and post, I speak out strongly against crushes. But I'd like to say that there is a distinction between crushes and attraction to someone (I think we all agreed that there was). I will elaborate, but first let me say that this is only how I deffine attraction/crushes. There are many other ways of thinking about the distinction. And I'm not trying to say that my views are necesarily correct! (I will state it as a definite, but you may think differently.) It's just my oppinion!

In a crush, you are consumed. You give away a piece of your heart, fantasize about 'him' - really, you idolise that person. Basically, your life somehow starts orientating around that person (he's the one you dress to please, he's the one you dream about etc, etc). And that is not good.

However, I have no problem with attraction, as long as it does not consume or control you (which equals a crush). If you are attracted to someone, you find them appealing. It's someting slightly more than 'normal.' For example, I have a totally 'normal' friendship with the boys in my street, but I still feel attracted to the guy I had a crush on (and other boys). Sure, I don't dress to please him anymore, but there's still something there that's different to 'normal.'

Attraction to a certain person is completely normal and natural. It's part of your nature. In fact, without attraction, it would be very hard to get married! (if and when you are ready, of course).

Cassie xoxoxo

Keep 'Em Rolling!

Hey, I've had some absolutely FANTASTIC comments and thoughts, no kidding. They've made me think, for one. I'd love to hear from some more of you, too, before I post my thoughts. Remember: 1. Even if you don't have a fully developed view, any random thoughts are totally welcome, and 2. All mums welcome!!! Yep, ask your mums to write a comment!

Thanks,

Cassie xoxoxo

What Do YOU Think????

OK, there's something I've been pondering. I think I've got my view, but I'd like to - and others, I'm sure - hear what you guys think first, before just throwing my conclusion on you. So here it is: 'Is there a distinction between attraction and a crush? If so, where do you draw the line between them? How would you define the two?'

Hmm. Give it a real think. Take the minute to post in a comment what view you come to. There is no right or wrong answer. I honestly want to know what you think.


Cassie xoxoxo

New Page!

I've now put up my testimony as a new page! Go on, check it out, and tell me what you think!

Cassie xoxoxo

It Just Goes to Show...: A Real Life Example of Setting an Example

I'm hoping to get my testimony on this blog sometime, IF I EVER GET AROUND TO IT! Quite busy at the moment... that brings me to another post I hope to post sometime. Anyway, here's a post to tide all you wonderful viewers over; and whats better - it's a REAL LIFE story (we all love those, don't we!).



OK, so I think I've talked (somewhere!) about setting an example to others. But hey, does it really work? YES!!! I've been really encourage, because I've noticed that my younger sister is following the example that I've tried to set: When I do something wrong, big or little, even if the person that may be affected by my sin doesn't know what I did, I go and repent to them. And now she does it too! Maybe she sits on my beanbag when I'm not there, but then she comes and tells me, and says sorry. AWESOME!, right?! So it all goes to show, good example are followed (unfortunately, so are bad ones).


Hey, have you got an example of an example being followed? Tell us in a comment! Oh, and by the way, I haven't had many. So take 30 seconds to tell me what you think of my post (good or bad)!


Thanks!

Cassie xoxoxo

Think You're Busy? Well, Imagine If...

Yeppers, you know you've said it: 'I've just been so busy.' Well, that may be true, but imagine if...

• Imagine if you had to think about breathing.


• Imagine if you had to had to stop and go through a step-by-step process every time you wanted to swallow... or simply lift a limb.


• Imagine if you had to take time at night to grow yourself.


• Imagine if every person must spend an hour or two a day in a factory producing oxygen.


• Imagine if you must spend half an hour after meals only concentrating on working your stomach to digest food.


• Imagine if you had to spend your day going consciously through the process of healing when you got a scrape.


• Imagine if you must concentrate to do every thing your body simply does unconsciously, naturally. Imagine if you must work yourself to create plants, seeds, flowers, air, gravity, rocks, water and everything that 'just happens' and 'just is.' Wouldn't you be REALLY busy then!

Phew! Does that put your 'busy' life into perspective! However, praise to God, He has designed things so that we DON'T have to think about them! Aren't you just so glad!

Cassie xoxoxo