Goal Setting

Joyce Meyer

Power Thoughts:  12 Strategies to win the Battle of the Mind

Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life.  If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continue to act as you have always acted.  If you continue to act as you have always acted, you will continue to get what you have always gotten.  If you want different results in your life or your work, all you have to do is change your life or your work, all you have to do is change your mind.

--Anonymous

Þ   One of my favorite sayings is, “Where the mind goes, the man follows.”  I wholeheartedly believe our thought lead us, charting the course for our lives and pointing us in certain directions that ultimately determine our destinations in life.  Our thoughts cause us to have certain attitudes and perspectives; they affect relationships; they determine how productive we will be personally and professionally; and they greatly influence the overall quality of our lives.  We absolutely must understand the power of thoughts!

Þ   Success in every aspect of life begins with a thought; so does failure.  If you think you cannot do or attain something, chances are you will not be able to.  Your mind has that much influence over your life.

Þ   Just think about it.  Take a moment now to consider the successes and failures of your life.  What kinds of thoughts were you thinking before and during your greatest achievements? And what kind of thoughts filled your mind before and during your most significant failures or missteps?  Can you see how your mind has worked either for you or against you over the course of your life?

Þ   Whatever we think and believe feels real to us, even if it is not true at all.  If we think something is true, we respond and act as though it is.  Our thoughts affect relationships, our self-image, our finances, our health (physical, emotional, and spiritual), our productivity at work and at home, the way we manage our time, our priorities, and our ability to enjoy life.

Þ   Let me be clear that I am not saying that we can think into existence anything we want.

Þ   No matter what is planned for us,……. It is impossible to change our lives unless and until we change our thoughts ……  very few people realize that we have the ability to choose our thoughts and decide what we want to think; most of us passively meditate on whatever comes into our minds without ever realizing that this may be a form of control to keep us from fulfilling the destiny for our lives. 

Þ   The intent of one’s heart may be pure and yet the mind is still confused….. to help transform this we must work on an entire renewal of mind and attitude.  This is accomplished by a complete, and diligent study of how to guard our minds is critically important to help us develop healthy thought patterns.

Þ   We will never become so spiritual that the enemy decides to stop harassing us, but we can become stronger and stranger against him as we grow in our relationship with God and others.

Þ   In this book I want to give you insights and strategies to help you build powerful mind-sets to empower you to live in a place of strength, success, and victory every day. 

Þ   Part 1 of this book contains some potentially life-changing truths and insights on the power of our thoughts and on the importance of the way we think.  You’ll see how important your thoughts are to your physical health, your emotional well-being, and your spiritual growth.

Þ   I’ll offer you twelve “power thoughts” that can revolutionize your life if you will believe them, allow them to take root in your mind, and act on them in your everyday life.  I am giving you tools that can make you strong where you have been weak, triumphant where you have been defeated, positive where you have been negative, courageous where you have been afraid, and successful where you have failed in the past.

Þ   You can think ‘power-enhancing’ thoughts or ‘power-draining’ thoughts. Don’t poison your life with wrong thinking patterns.

Þ   Make a journey towards a powerful life—a life in which circumstances do not determine whether you are happy or not and stress does not overwhelm you.

1.    I can do whatever I need to do in life through Christ

2.    God loves me unconditionally!

3.    I will not live in fear.

4.    I am difficult to offend.

5.    I love people and I enjoy helping them.

6.    I trust God completely; there is no need to worry!

7.    I am content and emotionally stable.

8.    God meets all my needs abundantly.

9.    I pursue peace with God, myself, and others.

10. I live in the present and enjoy each moment.

11. I am disciplined and self-controlled.

12. I put God first in my life.

1.    Maintain the right attitude when the going gets rough)

2.    Realize the rough times won’t last forever.

3.    Don’t make major decisions during a storm.

a.    When the storms of life arise, it’s best to keep your mind and emotions as still as possible.  Thoughts and feelings often run wild in the midst of crises, but those are exactly the times we need to be careful about making decisions.  We must remain calm and discipline ourselves to focus on doing what we can do and trusting God to do what we cannot do.

b.    “Let emotions subside before you decide.”  Do your best to let things settle down before you make major decisions.

4.    Stay in touch with the ‘control tower.”

5.    Try to keep things in perspective.

a.    When we lack proper perspective, we may consider minor situations to become major crises, or we may do the opposite and view significant situations as ‘no big deal.’  Either tendency can lead to problems.

b.    Don’t let the positive become the negative.  SEE THE BIG PICTURE.

6.    Don’t make it personal.

a.    Automatically blaming ourselves when something goes wrong or thinking everything that goes wrong is intended against us as individuals is called ‘personalizing’ and it makes positive thinking very difficult.

7.    Anticipate the best.

8.    Accept a few ‘Grays.’

a.    If we want to stay positive, we have to realize that everything is not black or white.  Life has some gray areas, some ‘in-betweens.’

9.    Practice ‘On Purpose Thinking’

a.    We can choose what we want to think about.

b.    We can choose power-enhancing thoughts—not power-draining thoughts.

c.    Learning to think great thoughts on purpose is the key to a great life.

10. Three Keys to ‘On-Purpose’ thinking.

a.    Set your mind and keep it set

                                               i.     To set your mind is to determine decisively what you will think, what you believe, and what you will or will not do—and to set it in such a way that you cannot be easily swayed or persuaded otherwise.  You need to keep it set and not allow outside forces to reshape your thinking.

                                             ii.     We should always be open to learning, growing, and changing, but we must consistently resist the temptation to conform our thoughts to the world and its ideas.

                                            iii.     People who have set their minds will stick with their decisions, realizing that they have to make it through the hungry times in order to eventually get the result they desire.  This same principle must be applied to every area in which we need to make a change.

b.    Renew your mind.

                                               i.     Many times the areas of thinking you find most challenging to renew are the ones that hurt you most and keep you from receiving the best for you.

                                             ii.     Let me be quick to say that you should not feel condemned if you are struggling with your thought life right now or if you face struggles in the days to come.  Condemnation only weakens you, and it never helps you make progress.

Þ   An emotional person is one whose conduct is ruled by emotion rather than reason.

o   A person who lives by emotions lives without principle.

o   Emotions won’t go away, but you can learn to manage them.

o   You can have emotions, but you can’t always rely on them.

Þ   Make emotional maturity a priority in your life. 

Þ   Instead of riding the emotional roller coaster, which only exhausts us, we need to become stable, solid, steadfast, persevering, determined people.  Renewing your mind to think and believe that you are stable and content will help you get started.

Þ Feelings change, not only do they change, they lie!

Þ If you wanm;lm;mlkmkmt to be a mature, disciplined, well-balanced person, you must be determined not to walk according to what you feel.

Þ People often ask me, “How can I learn contentment and stability?”  The answer is Patience and Self-Control.

Patience

Þ Wait a little while, until the emotions settle down, before you do or say something, then check to see if you really believe it’s the right thing to do.”  Emotions urge us toward haste, telling us that we must do something and do it right now!

Self-Control

Þ Is a fruit of our new nature and all we need to do is develop it.  We can develop self-control by using it, just as we can develop muscles by using them.

Þ Exercising self-control is a form of freedom, not a type of bondage.

Þ You’re free to do what you know is wise.

Þ Discipline and self-control will help you be what you say you want to be, but never will be without the help of self-control.

Þ Practicing self-control will help you feel better about yourself; you will have more self-respect.  You will also have more energy when you don’t allow your emotions to control you.

Þ Usually the wisest course is ‘WHEN IN DOUBT, DON’T!”

Þ Remember to be lead by peace, not excitement.

Þ Emotions must not be allowed to take precedence over wisdom and knowledge. 

Þ Control your emotions and don’t let them control you.

Þ Start thinking and saying, “I am content and emotionally stable.”

Things to think about

1.    What do you believe is the most important thought or attitude you need to change in your life?

2.    What do you consider your biggest mental or emotional challenge when storms arise in your life?  Is it fear, anxiety, overreacting, or something else?

3.    When was the last time you blamed yourself for something that wasn’t your fault?  Was there another way you could have viewed the situation that didn’t make you the villain?

4.    Do you get your feelings hurt a lot?  Could it be that you are personalizing some situations?  How can you avoid that in the future?

5.    Think about a challenge you are facing right now.  How can you expect the best?  What are two good things that could emerge from this challenge?

6.    What one thought do you believe limits you more than anything else?  Do you believe you can change it?

7.    Worry, reasoning, and insecurity were some of the enemy’s most effective devices against me.  What are his greatest devices against you?

8.    Think about a person or situation that is difficult for you and make a list of positive elements about it.  Keep it with you and read it (aloud, if possible) when you are tempted to give in to wrong thinking.

9.    What are the most obvious ways your thoughts affect your moods?  Can you think of a person or situation you tend to be negative about?

10. What one thought do you believe limits you more than anything else?  Do you believe you can change it?

11. Have you taken personal responsibility for your thoughts and attitudes?  If not, write down that today is the day that you begin to take responsibility for how you think, jot down the date, and sign it as if you are making a contract.