The Mind Connection

Joyce Meyer

• Publisher: Hodder Faith
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781473612761
• eBook ISBN: 9781473612747
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Are your thoughts random and meaningless, or do they affect your life in ways you have not yet understood? In THE MIND CONNECTION, Joyce Meyer explains that the quality of your thoughts directly affects your quality of life. What you think impacts your words, attitude, decisions and emotions. It's all connected: thoughts affect your entire life by influencing how you relate to yourself, other people and to God. Joyce expands on the wisdom of her bestsellers Battlefield of the Mind and Power Thoughts to show you how to develop and maintain the right mental position - no matter what you face. Through practical advice and Scriptural insights, she'll help you think with purpose and gain the confidence to claim the life you were meant to lead.

SECTION 1

How Your Thoughts Affect Your Outlook on Life

CHAPTER 1

The Life You’ve Always Wanted to Live

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

John 10:10

It was springtime and everything was beginning to blossom. Spring is usually a time of year that people really enjoy. The deadness and cold of winter is over, and spring reminds us of hope and new growth. Julie was doing spring cleaning, changing her closet from winter to spring clothes, and thinking about planting some colorful flowers in the yard. Everything felt bright and filled with hope, but then her husband, Charlie, came home from work with some bad news. He had been fired from his job! Julie found it difficult to have any empathy for him, because this was the fourth job Charlie had been fired from in a seven-year period.

Although Julie was normally very positive and peaceful, the news Charlie brought home was upsetting to her. He told her not to get upset, because he would get another job, but Julie knew there was a deeper problem that Charlie wasn’t willing to face and deal with. If he had been fired from one or perhaps even two jobs, she might have agreed that it was simply an irritable boss, or other employee problems—but after four jobs, she knew that somehow Charlie was to blame. Not only had he been fired from four jobs, he was also unable to keep friends. You see, Charlie was very difficult to get along with. He was negative, complained frequently, and had an ability to darken any atmosphere within a few minutes.

Charlie had been angry with his boss, who he said didn’t recognize his talents, and Charlie felt certain that he was being treated unfairly. He was angry with his coworkers, because, he said, they didn’t like him and had complained to the boss about him. Anger wasn’t new to Charlie; in fact, he had been angry about one thing or another for most of his life. He felt that he was not as naturally talented, nor as privileged as most of the people he knew, and he resented it. He often complained that life had dealt him a bad hand. “Life threw me under the bus” was a favorite self-pitying statement of his. He blamed his parents, teachers, and peers for his lot in life. He believed everyone was at fault but him.

Although it was true that Charlie had some disadvantages growing up, he also had the same opportunity that we all do to have and enjoy a good life. I like to say that how we get started in life is not nearly as important as how we finish. Our beginning may not be in our control, but the finish is!

The truth was that Charlie had been fired from his job because he was a very negative-thinking person. He had an entitlement attitude that made him feel he deserved better treatment without doing his part to deserve it. As he stood in the kitchen, telling Julie all about his perceived unfair treatment, he didn’t realize he was repeating the same pattern he had followed throughout his life—and he would repeat it again and again unless he was willing to stop blaming everyone else for his problems and take responsibility for the changes that he needed to make.

Enjoying Your Life Begins with a Choice

Although we do not always have the power to change every unpleasant circumstance in our lives, we do have the power to change our outlook. We can look out at life from our inmost being with our hearts filled with positive thoughts and attitudes, or we can respond as Charlie did—allowing the events of life to shape our thoughts and attitudes. This is a decision that only we can make—no one can make it for us!

I firmly believe that the bottom line of what we want from life is to be happy! We want to enjoy it! Sadly, we can waste most of life with the misconception that joy and enjoyment come from our circumstances, but the truth is that they come from our attitude toward each circumstance rather than from the circumstance itself. Obviously, nobody enjoys a troubling or painful circumstance, but if we look at it in a hopeful, faith-filled way, we can watch God work all things out for our good (see Romans 8:28).

Enjoying life begins with the thoughts you choose to think. Yes, it is that simple! No matter what is going on in your life today, if you will choose happy, hope-filled thoughts, you will feel happier. Our thoughts are intricately connected to our feelings, so if we want to feel better, we need to think better. Be honest with yourself. Think about what you have been mentally focusing on and how you have been feeling emotionally and even physically. I feel certain you will see a definite connection. Nothing good comes from thinking sour, critical, and negative thoughts, but something good always comes when we think according to God’s plan for our life. Of course, you cannot do that if you don’t know God’s plan, so let me take just a few paragraphs to share some of what God’s Word teaches.

---

Enjoying life begins with the thoughts you choose to think.

---

In the early pages of the Bible, we find this statement:

I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.

Deuteronomy 30:19

It is wise to quickly learn that life offers us blessings and curses, good and evil, and it is our responsibility to choose the good if that is what we want to have. This is what it means to be free! We have free choice, but we should also realize that each choice brings a consequence, and we cannot have one without the other. No matter what happened in your life prior to you being able to make your own choices, the fact is that if you make good choices, the results of those choices will ultimately overturn anything bad that has taken place before. We can overcome evil with good (see Romans 12:21). There are countless testimonies from people who endured horrendous circumstances early in life, but through a strong faith in God, good choices, and hard work have now turned their lives around for the greater good.

God offers each of us an opportunity to have a good life. His promises are for all who will believe! We all believe something, so why not make it something good?

---

We all believe something, so why not make it something good?

---

God has promised us salvation, redemption, restoration, joy, peace, His constant presence in our lives, and His power to assist us in all we do. He desires that we enjoy an intimate relationship with Him through Jesus Christ and good relationships with other people. He wants to prosper us, to make us strong in Him, and to see us enjoy our position of right standing with Him through our faith in Jesus. He sets before us life and death, blessing and cursing, and tells us to choose life! We don’t even have to figure out what to do—we just need to do what He suggests. Choose life! Choose blessing! Choose good!

Choosing good does not mean that it merely falls on us with no effort on our part, but the effort we make is one that is divinely directed and energized by God Himself. He never asks us to do anything without empowering us to do it.

My father sexually abused me for the better part of about fifteen years. Although my mother was aware of what he was doing, she did nothing to stop it, and that, of course, left me abandoned, abused, lonely, and fearful. Like we all do, I finally grew up and was able to leave home, thinking I had left the problem behind me. However, after suffering mentally, emotionally, and relation-ally for about twenty-five more years, I learned through God’s Word that although I left the problem, the results of it were etched in my soul. The despicable way I had been raised had affected my thinking and, through that, all the other areas of my life. My attitude was much like Charlie’s. I was filled with self-pity and anger about my past, totally unaware that it daily affected everything I thought, said, felt, and did. How tragic it is when the answer to our problems is right in front of us, but we either lack knowledge or we are too deceived to see it.

One does not have to endure tragedy in order to develop bad habits in their thought life. I think it is safe to say that most people tend to let outside forces control their thinking instead of generating their own thoughts from within. It is quite possible that most people don’t realize that they can choose their own thoughts and make the effort to do exactly that.

I like to say, “Nothing good happens accidently.” You can catch disease, but you cannot catch health. In the same way, we cannot catch good thinking, but we can choose it. We will need to choose good, positive, and godly thoughts on purpose every day that we live. I don’t think they will ever come so automatically that we never have to put forth an effort. But I do know, from God’s Word and experience, that if we leave our minds empty and fruitless, our enemy, the devil, will be more than happy to fill them with every kind of life-stealing thought that exists.

In an effort to show how the enemy attacks our minds, let me share how I just realized that the devil was attacking my mind with negative thoughts while I was trying to write this book instructing others not to do so. The Holy Spirit caused me to recognize that I have been having vague, negative whisperings in my ear all morning that have gone like this: “You don’t have the creativity you need today. Just put off writing until tomorrow.” The devil is covert and sneaky, so I stopped for a moment and prayed over my mind, asking God to protect it from negative, energy-draining thoughts. The Bible teaches us to cover everything with prayer (see Ephesians 6:18), so that’s exactly what I did! You and I can interrupt the devil’s plans through prayer. God helped me refocus my mind and convey His message accurately.

We are not beyond the devil’s ability to tempt us, but we can always resist him in Jesus’ name. There are days when the battle of the mind seems relentless, but victory always comes to those who refuse to give up. Thomas Edison said, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”¹ Thankfully, I am pretty familiar with the devil’s tactics and have had many years to practice resisting them, but I do realize that for many of you the journey to right thinking is just beginning. I urge you not to be discouraged on the difficult days, because your diligence will pay off with huge benefits in due time. Thomas Fuller said, “All things are difficult before they are easy.”² Don’t be defeated by the difficulty of any task. Any day that we don’t give up puts us one day closer to success. Good thinking begins with a choice, so I urge you to make yours today and every day of your life.

---

Any day that we don’t give up puts us one day closer to success.

---

Life-Energizing Thoughts

The way to put off your old life and put on the new, enjoyable life that God offers us is by renewing your mind and attitude daily (see Ephesians 4:22–24). “Daily” sounds daunting, doesn’t it? Don’t you wish Scripture said, “Do this once and you will enjoy victory the rest of your life”? However, it doesn’t say that, and if we truly want to live life to the fullest and enjoy each moment of it, we will need to form a habit of thinking life-energizing thoughts instead of life-draining ones. One of the simple ways to practice this is by thinking about what you do have instead of what you don’t have, and being grateful for every blessing, no matter how tiny or insignificant it may seem.

Here are some quotes to consider on gratitude:

If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get.

Frank A. Clark³

If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily.

Gerald Good⁴

The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.

Eric Hoffer⁵

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you”?

William Arthur Ward⁶

An unwillingness to count his blessings was one of Charlie’s biggest problems. I think we would all agree that he probably wasn’t thankful for much, if anything at all. All of his blessings were clouded by his negative attitude. Instead of thanking God that he had a job, he resented not having a better job. Instead of realizing his parents did their best for him, he believed they didn’t love him enough to provide better opportunities. He compared everything about his life to those who had more than he did, but he never realized how much more he had than a majority of people worldwide.

What happened to Charlie in the long run? He did lose one more job and was on the verge of losing another when a Christian man he worked with invited him to go to church with him and his family. Julie already attended church regularly, but Charlie had always refused to go. This time he said yes, and it turned out to be just the right thing at just the right time. He had been miserable long enough; he was finally ready for a change. When the opportunity came at the close of the service to receive Jesus Christ as His Savior, Charlie took a bold step and joined with many others in saying yes to Jesus. Gradually, over the years, as Charlie learned about the new way of thinking and the new life that Jesus offers us, he did change. He and Julie went on to have two amazing children, and Charlie held on to his job and was even promoted several times. I love stories with good endings, don’t you? I wish everyone’s story ended in victory, but sadly many don’t. The opportunity for a great life is available to everyone, but not everyone is willing to do what it takes to have it.

Good things are available to each of us, because God does not play favorites by doing good things for one person and not for another. No matter how bad life has been until now, it can change. Always remember that you can ove...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• SECTION 1: How Your Thoughts Affect Your Outlook on Life
• SECTION 2: How Your Thoughts Affect the World Around You
• SECTION 3: How Your Thoughts Affect Your Physical and Emotional Health
• SECTION 4: How Your Thoughts Affect Your Walk with God
• Afterword
• Notes
• About the Author
• Joyce Meyer Ministries Addresses
• Other books by Joyce Meyer