{"id":5681,"date":"2021-05-16T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-16T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5681"},"modified":"2021-02-16T18:56:41","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T00:56:41","slug":"what-jesus-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5681","title":{"rendered":"What Jesus Says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sometimes I feel like a cartoon character with Jesus on one shoulder whispering affirmations in my left ear and a little devil on the other shoulder whispering in my right ear. Unfortunately, I\u2019m a little hard of hearing in my left ear and don\u2019t always hear what Jesus says.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All day long Satan is trying to bombard me with negative thoughts about myself. You are too fat. You are too ugly. Who would want you for a friend? No one loves you. You aren\u2019t good enough. You will never amount to anything. You made a big mistake and it\u2019s unforgiveable. You are all alone. Nobody cares about you. These ideas seem to come through loud and clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Jesus is trying to send me different messages. He says: \u201cYou aren\u2019t worthless or I wouldn\u2019t have died for you\u201d (John 3:16). \u201cI forgive you for the mistakes you\u2019ve made\u201d (1 John 1:9). \u201cI don\u2019t condemn you\u201d (Romans 8:1-2). \u201cYou are not a loser\u201d (1 Corinthians 15:57). \u201cYou are never alone because I will never leave or forsake you\u201d (Hebrew 13:5). \u201cI love you and always will\u201d (Ephesians 3:18). Too bad I can\u2019t always hear what He is saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are shaped by our thoughts (Proverbs 4:23, Proverbs 23:7). Whatever thoughts we allow in our minds will influence our behavior and outlook on life. Negative thoughts hold us prisoner and keep us from moving forward in faith. So we must rule over our negative thoughts or they will rule over us (2 Corinthians 10:5). The only way to do this is by replacing the lies Satan tells us with God\u2019s truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeding on God\u2019s Word can knock that little devil off our shoulders and out of earshot. John 1:1 tells us, \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.\u201d Jesus is the Word. We need to abide in \u201cthe Word\u201d and let \u201cthe Word\u201d abide in us. We need to listen to Jesus, not to Satan, because Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.\u201d ~Philippians 4:8 (KJV)<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world\u2026 Sometimes I feel like a cartoon character with Jesus on one shoulder whispering affirmations in my left ear and a little devil on the other shoulder whispering in my right … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5681"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}