The year 2020 was historic worldwide for so many changes that we never imagined would happen, it was a year of great uncertainty, especially when the news were not the most encouraging. Little by little our thoughts turned towards distrust, fear, negativism and uncertainty about what was going to happen to our lives. It was a year of battle for many.
When we read Jeremiah 29:11 NLV: “For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for well-being and not for trouble, to give you a future and a hope.”, it is easy to read and believe this promise when we are in our best moment, because we trust that all the good will always be there, but when we are in the middle of any difficulty, we begin to doubt if the written promise will really be fulfilled.
When we are told that we were designed to be victorious, healthy, strong, and creativewe feel assured that everything will work out for the best, however, we will not always have all those virtues. This is when we must not let circumstances and trials contaminate our minds and make us believe that we are unable to overcome them.
Negative thoughts are like a seed that is planted in our mind, which little by little generates thoughts of conformism, of defeat, making us believe that we will not be successful and that our future will be unpromising. Therefore, it causes us to slowly drift away from the ways of the Lord. Although we may be in church, hear preaching and praise, our mind may be elsewhere. Our mind only listens to what God has prepared for us, therefore, our thoughts can cause our hearts to harden and get upset.
It is in those moments, when our mind is being our worst enemy, when we must surrender to God and let Him take control of our thoughts. Apostle Paul knew that the mind was a battlefield, so he exhorted us to always put on the helmet of salvation and to fight with our thoughts: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)
To renew our mind we must pray, and we must let God speak, since usually when we pray, we only speak and ask God for everything we want. However, it is important to have moments of silence, because it is in those moments where we give Him the opportunity to speak to our hearts and we can hear His voice. In Matthew 6:6 we find: “But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” We need moments of intimacy to be confident that we are protected by our Heavenly Father.
After a storm there is calmness, so let’s trust that this 2021 is a year of fulfillment of promises. A year in which we must be connected with God, and our hearts must be clean and willing to be molded, we should not be afraid that God will break us in some area of our life, because He only wants to restore it for our well-being. We should reprogram our thoughts, control our mind, protect it, and meditate on the word of God, day and night, so that the extraordinary plans that God has in store, are fulfilled.
