By Jerry Savelle

So how do you handle those thoughts that seem to overwhelm your mind? The same way you handle any thoughts that you allow to enter into your mind that are contrary to God's Word.

The greatest battles you will ever fight in your life are between your ears. Your mind is the battleground. Your mind is like a computer. It has to be programmed. And it is being programmed either with negative thoughts, ideas, and concepts, or positive thoughts, ideas and concepts every day of your life.

According to this law of God in Galatians 6:7, man determines his own happiness or misery based upon the seeds that he sows.

There are both positive seeds and negative seeds. And you and I stand in a very strategic place where we are the only ones in our lives who possess the authority to determine which type of seeds we will sow. You have been given that authority. No one else can determine that for you.

You have no one else to blame for the way you live right now but yourself. If your life is one of happiness, it's because you've sown seeds of happiness. If you live a miserable life, it's because your seeds have been negative seeds.

We can say, "Well, it's my wife's fault; it was my father's fault; I was abused; this happened to me when I was young." But that's not what the Bible says. It says that a man's harvest in life depends entirely upon the seeds that he sows. So you have to take responsibility for your life. You have to take the responsibility for your outcome.

Now the kind of seeds I want to talk to you about is not necessarily money, even though we call money seed. We all know and understand the laws of seedtime and harvest where our finances are concerned. But I'm not talking about that. The kinds of seeds I want to talk about are thoughts, ideas, and concepts.

A thought is a seed. And that thought will grow, and it will affect your life. The problem is, most people dwell on negative thoughts, ideas, and concepts. And the result is they live lives of misery.

Many go back into their past, recall all the negative things that have happened to them, and use them as a crutch, and blame everybody else for their failures and their life of misery. But if you really want to change your life, then you're going to have to get a revelation of the fact that you, many times, are your own worst enemy. No matter what you might have been taught in the past, the seeds you decide to sow make you responsible for your success or failure, your prosperity or poverty, or your victory or defeat. Your mind is the battleground.

Philippians 4:8 (KJV) says, 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. In the Amplified it says we are to fix our minds on them. Fix your mind on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of a good report. The Message translation says, You'll do best by filling your minds on the best, not the worst.

A single thought that you dwell on and allow to drop into your spirit could change your destiny. Thoughts like this: You'll never amount to anything. You're just a loser. Your daddy was poor and you'll be poor. If you keep dwelling on thoughts like these and they drop down from your mind and into your spirit, then they will control your destiny. And you'll wind up seeing yourself as a loser, never amounting to anything, always being poor when that is not God's destiny for you. Your future is bright in God. And if you're living anything less than a bright, wonderful, happy, prosperous, successful life, then it is far short of what Jesus bought and paid for at Calvary.

A single thought can often lead to disaster. A thought that is negative and not cast down and replaced by God's Word can limit a person for a lifetime. Once a negative thought is received into the mind and then it drops down into your spirit, your spirit will do its utmost to execute that thought. Or in other words, make it come to pass. Your spirit is designed by God to produce. And if you feed it negative things, then it has no choice but to cause those negative things to come to pass. If you program it with positive things, then in the same manner, it is designed to produce positive results. Your spirit is like a manufacturing plant. You put positive things in your mind and in your spirit, and your spirit will work day and night endeavoring to make those things come to pass. It's designed by God to produce whatever you've programmed into it.

Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.

What are the most dominant thoughts in your heart? What dominates your thinking? Then that's what you're going to become. If you constantly think, "Well, because of my race I'll never be able to achieve this, or because of my background, or because of my lack of education, or because of the side of town I was born on." If those are your most dominant thoughts, then that's where your limitations came from. They're seeds. Those thoughts are designed by Satan to restrict you and confine you and limit you to a life that is way below your privileges as a child of God.

3 John 2 says, "I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers." You will never enjoy the kind of success that God says is yours if you can't first see it in your soul and in your spirit. You have to be able to see it on the inside first.

Your soul is made up of the mind, the will, and the emotions. A prosperous soul is one in which the mind is renewed to God's Word, the will is conformed to God's will, and the emotions are under the control of a reborn spirit.

Your greatest limitations are those which you create in your mind by not casting down the thoughts, the ideas, and the concepts that are contrary to God's will. Everything you experience outwardly is directly proportional to what you see and think about yourself inwardly.

In the example of the man who was lame for 38 years in John 5:1-8, Jesus ministered to the man's spirit, soul and body. Notice what Jesus said. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

Three commands: Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. What I'm about to share with you, I learned from Dr. Oral Roberts. Jesus was giving a command to each part of that man's being. The command "rise" was directed to his spirit ...because this man's spirit was down. And if you can't get this man's spirit to rise, then he'll never rise in his body. In other words, He's saying, "If you don't get up on the inside, then you will never get up on the outside." Then the next command was directed to his soul (the mind, the will, and the emotions): take up thy bed. What He's endeavoring to do is to get this man to change the image in his mind and start seeing himself carrying the bed instead of the bed carrying him.

Spirit man, you rise! Soulish man, get a new image! Now if you can get your spirit and soul in agreement, then the body will walk. Did you hear what I said? That last command was to his body: "Walk!" The moment his spirit rose, his soul got a new image, then his body got up and walked!

What happened? Jesus changed this man's thoughts, his ideas, and his concepts that he had held fast to for 38 years. That tells me that in one moment, 38 years of wrong thinking can be changed.

Some of you have many years of wrong thinking, but as of now, hallelujah, you're not going to be thinking like that anymore, talking like that anymore, nor living like that anymore. Limitations are going to be removed, and a new you is on the horizon! You have control over your thoughts. Choose to meditate on positive thoughts, ideas and concepts. How? By filling your mind with the Word of God. Don't let Satan dominate your thoughts during this Holiday season. You have control over your thoughts. You choose what you allow in your mind. Every time you're in your car, put a Word of faith tape on. When you're getting ready in the morning, put a faith-inspiring tape on and read a faith building devotional to start your day off. Become consumed with filling your mind with the Word of God. As a result, you will develop a prosperous soul and there will be no more limits in your life.

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