Your life is a printout of your thoughts.

From my 2011 Journal. Since childhood, I’ve been taught that deeds are important—whether good or bad. Remember that little chorus, “O be careful little hands what you do”? Within the last 10 years, as I’ve been listening to people’s memories, I’ve begun to understand how much our words might have an even greater impact. (See Derek Prince’s book Blessing or Curse—You Can Choose.)

But after reading Surviving Death by Scott Degenhardt, I became convicted about how much our thoughts can impact the universe as well. For one thing, if you think something, it has the potential to turn into words, which often morph into deeds. (Ever notice how you can think about doing something, and then you decide to ignore it, and then all of a sudden you find yourself getting up and doing that very thing?) I marvel that a thought has that much power over my body.

I could quote the verse “as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7 KJV), but somehow I’d come to believe that as long as I didn’t SAY something or DO something, it was okay. But here’s where I got convicted. I have found myself critiquing and then criticizing people’s choices in my head. I would never dare say something out loud, but I indulged the thought. What if we all had the ability to read everyone else’s thoughts? Would our thought life change?

Here’s the thing . . . thoughts are not really private. The God of the universe knows my mind. And sometimes my thoughts get expressed in my triggered emotional responses.

I am He Who searches minds—the thoughts, feelings and purposes—and the [inmost] hearts.  Rev. 2:23

God, by Jesus Christ, will judge men in regard to the things which they conceal—their hidden thoughts. Rom. 2:16

How does one confess a lifetime of guilt in one’s thought life? Sigh.