Turning Our Thoughts Away from Problem People and Praising God in Prayer – Purity 1728
Purity 1728 08/05/2025 Purity 1728 Audio Podcast
Purity 1728 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the sun shrouded in clouds over the ocean comes to us from an unknown FB friend who shared this view on social media back on August 16th, 2021. If this memory is yours, let me know and I will photo-credit you on the blog after the fact.
Well, It’s Tuesday and just like those wispy clouds can do nothing to block the brilliance of the sun, there is nothing that can stop us from feeling the brilliance of God’s love for us and the power of His Spirit in us when we are “looking in the right direction”. Lately I am experiencing a spiritual, mental, and physical revival of sorts as I have been intentionally focusing on and studying God’s love for me. Through Mark DeJesus’ work I have been reminded that our freedom and healing come to us “relationally” – which involves our relationship with God, with others, and with ourselves – and lately I have been really appreciating God’s love for me and been applying it to my relationship with myself and how I think about my relationship with others.
I have discovered that quite a bit of our thought lives can include anxious thoughts about the people in our lives – about what they are going to do, what they are not doing, about how they feel about us, about what they might think of us, about how we like them or don’t like them, etc. Of course, we could think that these thoughts are an expression of our love for them – because we care so much, right? – but if we examine these anxious thought streams we can come to realize that the only thing we really care about is how these people and their situations are going to affect us. While I can understand the idea that we should prepare ourselves for situations we will walk into, I am beginning to realize that it might be better to just turn our attention away from these individuals and their situations rather than mentally spinning in them and allowing their situations or disfunctions to affective our emotions negatively.
Thinking about other people’s problems and how they could affect our lives doesn’t give us peace and don’t solve their issues. So lately, when I get distressing thoughts regarding others and their wellbeing, I stop myself and intentionally turn my thoughts to something else. I acknowledge these situations and notice how they could affect me but then I turn from them rather than staying in thought cycles of anxious concern as form of self-love. “These thoughts are disturbing me, and I don’t have to let them. I turn my thoughts away from them and on to something else that doesn’t distress me and preferably builds me up in my sprit or is productive in some other way.” This simple process as increased my peace of mind and as me focused on loving myself. I highly recommend it, and I praise the Lord for revealing these things to me again in fresh new ways.
Speaking of praising the Lord, the Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah devotion for today talks about how praise can empower our prayer life and I am sharing it on the blog to help us all change the way we think about prayer and our relationship with God – to make it more about His love and letting it change our overall disposition from anxious to joyful. Dr. David Jeremiah writes.
“PREPARATION FOR PRAYER
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. – Psalm 100:4
The final editors of the book of Psalms appear to have grouped Psalms 93–100 together because of their consistent theme: the greatness of God over all creation (Psalm 95:3). Psalm 100 serves as a summary of the section, instructing the reader to “enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.”
Why is praise the proper introduction to prayer? Because praise recognizes that God is greater than everything, including what is happening in our life. When we come to God with our petitions and requests, if we have first spent time in praise of Him, we are prepared to receive from Him that which is His will. Praise says, “You are sovereign, O Lord, and You are good. Therefore, I can trust You with the concerns of my life. However You answer my prayers, I know that Your answers will be best for me.” Praise is the perfect way to prepare for prayer—the perfect way to acknowledge that God’s will is our greatest desire.
Practice incorporating praise into your prayer life and anticipate the peace that will result as you make your requests known to God (Philippians 4:6-7).” – David Jeremiah
The best atmosphere for prayer is praise. – Peter Anderson
Amen. Although regular prayer is a spiritual discipline, a good work, and evidence for our faith. The thing that makes our prayer life meaningful and evidence of our relationship with God is our attitude toward prayer and whether or not our prayer is an expression of our love for God.
While I instruct believers to practice gratitude as part of their prayer life, an attitude of and intention to praise the Lord is what really gives our prayer and thanksgiving power.
Of course, we could just go through the motions of thanksgiving and praise for that matter – speaking truth from a mental truth perspective but not from the heart – so we have to really just “be real” with our thoughts and emotions when we pray to the Lord – our prayer life needs to be a conversation with our best friend – the One who is awesome and loving- The One who literally saved our lives and has showed us such incredible truth and love.
So let your thanks and praise towards God be filled with joy and allow them all to make your prayers an expression of your love for God as much as it can be a petition for His help.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
(While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Overcoming Sin – Changing.
Ephesians 5:11-21 (ESV) 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says,
“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Today’s verses are the third of five passages of scripture that fall under the twelfth point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Overcoming Sin – Changing.
12. The apostle Paul gives us specific on what must be done.
Today’s Bible verses encourage us “to not even speak” of the dark sinful things that the secular world considers to be acceptable publicly or that is okay in secrecy or under the cover of the night.
Drunkenness and sexual immorality often take place in the evening hours and here the Apostle Paul is warning the church of Ephesus to “WAKE UP” to the realization of their sinfulness and to turn from them by walking in the Spirit and combatting the spiritual forces of darkness through righteous Christian living and praise.
As Christians, we can’t consider the ways of the world as an alternative way to live just because others are in bondage to them and can’t see their sin for what it is. Instead we have to wake up and stay awake to the truth of how what society calls normal and acceptable often goes against the truth of God ‘s word. We are to be the light of the world and speak not about the wicked things the world allows but to speak the truth of God’s love and righteousness with the hope that God will use us to wake up others to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “Day by Day Along the Way” By Jay E. Adams.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Adams’ books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 227
… some who were depending upon their own righteousness and despised others. – Luke 18:9
The Pharisee stood erect and recited his own virtues. Jesus indicated that this was not a prayer at all—he “prayed to himself!” The tax collector stood with head bowed in guilt and shame and, in remorse, beat his breast, saying, “God, show mercy upon me, the sinner.” Jesus says that the tax collector (the despised one) went home justified rather than the Pharisee (the honored one). He concluded the parable by declaring that “whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (v. 14). God has not changed His mind. The only way one may be justified is by faith. That faith rests upon a message that says men are sinful and, apart from trusting in Jesus Who died for sins, are condemned. Only by humbly confessing that one is a sinner who deserves hell, can he be saved. Let us thank God that those who, like the tax collector, recognize their sinfulness and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior will be justified before God! It is His righteousness, not ours, that justifies.[1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 235.
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