Dear Loving Savior, in Your Word You admonish me to think on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. In all of these things, I see very clearly Your personality shining through. In calling me to think on these things, You are asking me to ponder Your personality and assume Your traits as mine. In truth, I’m called to know what is real and to speak truthfully at all times. In being noble, You call me to rise up above every fray … no matter what it involves. To be right, I must seek Your wisdom and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. To become pure, I must strive to avoid sin so that I can become holy as You are holy. In doing what is admirable, I must be willing to undertake what others are unwilling to do. In excellence, I must give You and others my best and not my leftovers. And to be praiseworthy, I must devote myself to the important things to which I’ve been called.
As a consequence, I must watch closely what I allow to go into my mind via what I watch, read and listen to. I should dedicate myself to eliminating harmful inputs into my thinking and replace them with diligent reading of Your Word, use of devotionals to stimulate my thinking, praying and talking with you regularly and listening carefully to sermons and teachings. In my prayer time, I need to seek Your will and the way You want me to respond to my calling. I must learn to pray correctly … discerning Your will and not complaining when It does not line up with what I want. I need Your help and that of the Holy Spirit to focus my thinking on what is good, pure and true and reject what is selfish, evil and destructive. It will take a lot of effort and diligence to allow my mind to be renewed in the way that I think. But all things are possible through You.
It is no longer good enough for me to read and hear the messages from Your Word, but I must become inspired to put them into practice. No longer can I go to church and leave without remembering what the sermon was about. Help me search for the ways I can employ Your truths into my life. As I read Your Word, help me be diligent in focusing on how your words apply to me in my current situation and how I am being called to react and live differently. Each word that You speak should cause me to ask, seek and knock to find out their meaning for me. As I become more exposed to Your will and Your ways, my thinking will be transformed so I can become more faithful and obedient. Your traits are emblematic of what You want to see in my life. As I think more upon the things You encourage me to ponder, I know that I will become transformed into Your likeness. And it’s in Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN!!
Philippians 4:8 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.