"Let the Spirit change your way of thinking" Ephesians 4:23
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In a recent article published by Runners World Magazine, it was said that creating ones' own mantra, or single word or short statement repeated frequently to aid concentration or help accomplish an objective, could help a runner achieve peak performance. Jim Afremow, Ph.D., sports psychology expert, said, "Thoughts affect feelings, and feelings affect performance. Change your thinking, and you'll change your performance." If that sounds almost too easy, know that there’s plenty of research to back it up. A few happy thoughts could help you push your usual 30-minute run to 35 minutes with ease.
And you know, Paul also knew that thoughts had the power to affect performance, especially spiritually. And that to accomplish the objective of serving Christ to the best of our ability, we had to change our way of thinking. And since Paul realized that we were powerless to do this on our own said, "Let the Spirit change your way of thinking." But how do we do that? John Piper says it this way, "We join the Holy Spirit in his precious and all-important work. We pursue Christ-exalting truth and we pray for truth-embracing humility."
And you know, Paul also knew that thoughts had the power to affect performance, especially spiritually. And that to accomplish the objective of serving Christ to the best of our ability, we had to change our way of thinking. And since Paul realized that we were powerless to do this on our own said, "Let the Spirit change your way of thinking." But how do we do that? John Piper says it this way, "We join the Holy Spirit in his precious and all-important work. We pursue Christ-exalting truth and we pray for truth-embracing humility."
In other words, in order to think those happy thoughts that we can use to press on when things get hard, we must read our Bibles diligently, habitually meditate on the words within, and continually pray that the Spirit would fill and transform our minds. It's only then that our mantras will be Christ-centered and effective - and we will achieve peak spiritual performance.
Heavenly Father, thank You for your Word that clearly tells us that, to effectively fulfill those duties to which we were called when we accepted You as Lord and Savior, we must develop a new way of thinking. And the only way we can ever do that is to grant You complete control over our lives. Help us to do that today as we tenaciously pursue training in the Word. It's in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen.
Happy Running!!!
Warrior - Hannah Kerr
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