Philippians 4:8a ~ True

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to start off with some jokes I read at Readers Digest online .

With our Scripture for this week talking about thinking on things that are

good, I thought a few good clean jokes were in order.

My criteria for these is that they make me laugh out loud.

The first one, I had heard something similar, but I appreciated how they

expanded it!

Also...this joke reverberated, much to my horror,

of my morning today at 5:00 a.m....

We had been seeing "evidences" of something underneath our sink and

in our pantry...

My sweet husband set two traps late yesterday afternoon ~ out of sight, of course...

I go traipsing (don't you just love that word?) down our stairs this morning

to our kitchen....

I rounded the corner in the semi-dark and I heard a squeaking!!!!

I saw for a split second the trap on the OUTSIDE of our pantry....

It was NOT placed on the outside....

it was placed on the inside....

The pantry door was closed tightly.....

I yelled and screamed at the top of my lungs and

took the stairs two at a time, I think,

while waking my said sweet husband....

I think he thought someone was attacking me!!!!

I curled up in our bed in the fetal position and covered myself up with the

covers and said ~ "You kill it!" ~ UGH UGH UGH!!!

My hero did and I was able to stop breathing hard and my heart returned back

to its normal pitter pat after the "deed was done".....

Then...I had to RETURN to the kitchen....stepping very carefully and sweeping

the kitchen floor with my eyes at an accelerated pace....

Shewwwwwweeeeeeeeeee..........

Now on with the jokes....

Squirrels had overrun three churches in town. After much prayer, the elders of the first church determined that the animals were predestined to be there. Who were they to interfere with God's will, they reasoned. Soon, the squirrels multiplied.

The elders of the second church, deciding they could not harm any of God's creatures, humanely trapped the squirrels and set them free outside of town. Three days later, the squirrels were back.

It was only the third church that succeeded in keeping the pests away. The elders baptized the squirrels and registered them as members of the church. Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter.

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Some neighbors of my grandparents' gave them a pumpkin pie as a holiday gift. As lovely as the gesture was, it was clear from the first bite that the pie tasted bad. It was so inedible that my grandmother had to throw it away. Ever gracious and tactful, she still felt obliged to send the neighbors a note. It read "Thank you very much for the pumpkin pie. Something like that doesn't last very long in our house."
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Nancy was Catholic, but her fiancé, Chris, was not. Since my friends were planning to be married in the Catholic Church, Chris made sure to listen carefully throughout their prenuptial sessions. At one meeting the priest turned to Chris and told him, "Since you are not Catholic, we shall have the ceremony without Eucharist."

Later that day, Chris was noticeably upset, so Nancy asked what was wrong. "I don't understand," he said. "How can we have the ceremony without me?"
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hehehehehehehe!!!!

Did anyone notice that I added a little "a" after our Scripture verse?

hmmmmm.....I wonder what that could mean?

After praying about our next verse,

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things."

I want to take each focus of thought, separately.

This week, we are going to talk about "whatever is true".

But first I want to start with talking about our thought life.

The following is from www.preceptaustin.org,

the online Bible Commentary I use ALOT!!

(Their link is also found on my left sidebar under "links" ~ "Online Commentary".)


"PHILIPPIANS 4:8
THE GIFT OF THOUGHT
READ: Philippians 4:4-9

Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, . . . meditate on these things. —Philippians 4:8
In some ways humans are inferior to animals. I have seen some incredibly strong men, but never one 'as strong as an ox'. Men can run 100 meters in under 10 seconds, but that doesn't begin to compare with the speed of a cheetah. There are people who have an uncanny sense of direction, but even they can't explain how migrating swallows can return unerringly to the same place year after year.

Yes, some animals are intelligent, but none of them can think as we can. No animal could ever have developed today's amazing society with all its medical and technological advances.

A human's unique ability to think enables him to have thoughts about God and eternity. The famous American poet Walt Whitman found this to be troubling. He said that he often envied the cattle that graze contentedly in a meadow, because they never worry or dwell on troublesome thoughts.

As Christians, we know that the ability to think is a God-given gift. But sad to say, we can misuse it by entertaining thoughts that are vulgar, foul, and mean. Paul told us to meditate on whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, praiseworthy, and of good report (Philippians 4:8).

Lord, help us to discipline our thoughts. —Herbert Vander Lugt

Of all God's creatures only man
Can worship, meditate, and plan;
The gift of thought sets him apart
To love the Lord with all his heart. —D. De Haan

Godly character is shaped by Godly thoughts."

**The Gift of Thought**

WOW ~ have you ever "thought" about that before?

It is a wonderful gift that God has given us.

To be able to be intelligent ~ the most intelligent creature that God made.

How do we use that gift?

What do we focus our thoughts on during the day?

I have been involved in a couple of weight-loss programs. (cough, cough ~ ahemmmmm)

One in particular, asks you to write down every thing you put in your mouth during the day.

What would our page in our journal look like if we carried it around for a day a jotted down

a one word description of what we are thinking about at that given time?

We may need more than one page in a journal or even more than one journal!!!

But, what would those one-word descriptions show us?

Our last 4 verses have been teaching us how to have peace,

how to have joy,

how to have contentment.

Another way to look at these 4 verses, is to say that it teaches you how to do

spiritual warfare

in times of trial and temptation.

• Rejoice
• Be Gentle
• Don't Worry About Anything
  
• Pray About Everything
• Be Thankful
• Think On True, Noble, Right, Pure, Lovely, Admirable, Excellent And Praiseworthy Things
  

Then you will have the peace of God which will guard your hearts and minds.

• No Tormenting Thoughts
• No Discontentment
• No Nervousness
• No Jitteryness
• No Queasy Uneasyness

(exceptwhenyoucomedownthestairsat500inthemorningandhearthesqueakingofamouseandthetraphasmovedaconsiderablespacefromwhereyouputit.)

As Paul draws to the conclusion of his letter, in this verse he deals with the

greatest conflict that every believer encounters -

the battle for the control of our minds.

Proverbs 23:7

Solomon wrote that "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

–(King James Version)

Do you want to know what a man or woman actually is?

Solomon has given us the "test". It is not what he or she says,

but what he or she thinks about!

Paul is not preaching the "Power of Positive Thinking",

but rather that the Christian's thought life should be focused on the

great truths of the Bible.

"Many things in this world are deceptive and illusory, promising what they can never perform, offering a specious (misleadingly attractive) peace and happiness which they can never supply. A man should always set his thoughts on the things which will not let him down." ~ Barclay

"Since as fallen creatures we are prone to Satan’s lies and deception, the only way we can know the truth and walk in it is to steep ourselves in God’s Word. We should know the Word so well that we automatically run everything we encounter through the grid of God’s Word. We live in a day that is geared toward emotions and strongly influenced by the supposed “virtue” of tolerance. Our culture assumes that love means being tolerant and accepting of everyone and everything, even if God’s Word plainly declares that something is an abomination. If you go with the flow, you will be carried far from God’s absolute standard of moral truth as revealed in His Word." ~ Steven Cole

Steep ~ "to soak food or tea in water so as to extract its flavor or to soften it."

We need to steep ourselves in God's Word.

"In the final analysis whatever God says on any given subject is true! The unchanging God and His unchanging holy Word is the final test for truth!"

Sow a thought, reap an action.
Sow an action, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny!

Until next week,

Debbie G.

Resource ~ www.preceptaustin.org