What’s on your mind? That question challenges us from Facebook every day. If I answered honestly, there’s a lot of useless nonsense floating around up there. Massive amounts of song lyrics, movie quotes and decorating ideas are mixed in with the to-do list, what’s for dinner and wondering “where did I put that shirt I need to return? I know I put it somewhere safe…in a place I could find it”.

Then I open my devotional book and read Isaiah 26:3

“You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”

Where am I supposed to find room to “fix” my thoughts God? Can I delete the lyrics to “Ice Ice Baby”? Those don’t seem to be helping much in the real world, even though my cousin and I devoted an entire summer afternoon, cassette liner notes in hand, pushing play and rewind until we knew every word. Thankfully God designed our minds to hold more information than we can imagine, so it’s not about deleting what we don’t need. God desires for us to bring Him into our daily activities. He wants us to focus our thoughts on Him, so we can find the joy and peace that comes with following His plan for us. We often struggle to give up five minutes of brain time, much less an entire summer afternoon to focus on God. Joshua 1:8 tells us that we should think about God’s Word day and night.

Study this Book of Instruction continually.
Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure
to obey everything written in it. Only then will
you prosper and succeed in all you do.

The process of focusing on God is called meditation. Most of us have probably heard of meditation as a process of emptying your mind, but the Biblical definition of meditation is about filling your mind with God. This includes the truth He gave us in the Bible and remembering the things God has done for us.

The idea of adding one more thing to our to-do list can seem overwhelming, but there are some practical and real ways to take the things you already are doing every day and to focus them on God.

THE POWER OF MUSIC

Music is my favorite form of mediation. Music has the power to motivate us, inspire us and change our mood. We’ve already talked about how easy it is to remember the lyrics to your favorite 80’s tunes. Advertisers use music to make us instantly think of their product with just a few notes or an annoying jingle. I have a friend with a brain disease who has trouble remembering simple tasks or even being able to speak clearly, but when he sings, he can remember the lyrics and the words flow more easily. He also has involuntary movement or twitches, but singing or playing the guitar can help control his body. There’s no doubt that music has benefits that we don’t even understand. So why not use the power of music for uplifting your soul? There are so many amazing Christian songs that can help us dwell on the promises of God and who He is. Many of the lyrics come straight from scripture. So, make a playlist or turn on the radio! (I highly recommend WayFM!) Put in your air pods and start filling your mind with the things that are important to God and about God. This simple addition to your daily activity will transform your mind, which begins to transform your life.

Do you have trouble going to sleep or can’t go back to sleep because something has you worried or scared? Sometimes I wake up in the night and my brain quickly jumps into what I have to do the next day. Then I am awake for a few hours, thinking about things that I can’t do anything about until tomorrow. Next time this happens to you try this musical meditation solution. Pick a worship song, one that you know so well you don’t have to think about the lyrics. As you go to sleep or when you are woken up in the middle of the night, start singing the song to yourself. If you practice this enough, you will have your mind trained so the song pops right into your head when you wake up or as you’re trying to go to sleep. Your brain won’t even have a chance to start to worry. But you may begin to wonder why you feel sleepy every time you sing this song at church!

THE POWER OF REPETITION

There was a cartoon on Sesame Street when I was a kid, a mom sends her daughter to the store for three items. All the way to the store she repeats “a loaf of bread, a container of milk and a stick of butter, a loaf of bread, a container of milk and a stick of butter”. Decades later, this is still in my head. At the commercial break, McDonald’s was determined to make sure I knew the ingredients on a Big Mac were two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. Although these lists are useless, they demonstrate how much power repetition has on our mind. Many of the thoughts we are repeating are not helpful and are actually hurting us. Things happen to us during the day, and we begin to tell ourselves that we’re not good enough. Life is to stressful, too hard, or too scary. These lies actually distract us and immobilize us. We can’t move on and be productive when we are focused on the negative.

Rehearsing the promises of God replaces the negative thoughts and the lies with truth. So, find a way to keep God’s Word in front of you. You can write verses on post it notes and place them where you will encounter them throughout the day. Choose a verse for your phone or computer background. Subscribe to a verse of the day email or social media post.

When a lie creeps into your mind. Replace it with truth. Repeat it until you believe it! If you don’t have the verse memorized, it’s OK. You can read it or reduce the verse to a short concept that you can remember. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

These verses are taken from the New Living Translation. They have been reduced to a short concept of the verse. Look up some of your favorite verses and look for the main idea that you can use to remind yourself of who God is.

When you’re worried — Philippians 4:6
Don’t worry about anything. Pray about everything.

When you’re scared – Hebrews 13:6
The Lord is my helper. I will have no fear.

When you’re stressed – Matthew 11:28
Come to me, and I will give you rest.

When you need to make a decision – Psalm 32:8
I will guide you along the best path

When you lack faith – Mark 9:24
I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.

When you are grieving – Psalm 147:3
God heals the brokenhearted.

When you are tempted – 2 Thessalonians 3:3
God will strengthen and guard you from the evil one.

When you are weak – Psalm 73:26
God is my strength forever.

When you are anxious – Joshua 1:9
God is always with you.

When you experience trials – Romans 12:12
Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.

When you are angry — Ephesians 4:32
Be kind.

Verses About Who God is:

Luke 18:27
What is impossible for people is possible with God.

1 John 1:5
God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.

1 Chronicles 16:34
His faithful love endures forever.

Don’t forget to talk to God. Prayer is the activator. As we listen to Christian music and repeat God’s promises, we need to talk to God. We need to believe that the truths we are focusing on have power to transform our mind and our lives. When we focus on truth, it overwrites the lies. When we take intentional steps to stop letting doubt and worry distract us from moving forward, we find God’s BEST for us. And even Vanilla Ice knew that “anything less than the best is a felony”.