Examining Thoughts

I was thinking yesterday about my thought life. Thoughts are important because they are powerful. They begin as small sparks but can go on to start huge forest fires. Thoughts in themselves are not necessarly wrong but a wrong thought 'exercised' can lead to sin. The greatest freedom comes when we realise or can identify the source of a thought. Some thoughts originate with us and some are fired at us from Satan and his hordes. Others are God ordained and are designed to steer us in the right direction similar to how a small rudder moves a great ship. Its the seemingly insignifiant thought which can sometimes have the greatest impact. Why am I here? What is life about? Can kickstart the quest for God and meaning in life. Other thoughts if harboured can lead to jelousy, hatred, revenge even murder. A circumstance comes along and the hordes of hell will play it for all its worth. They will bombard with feiry darts to bring the reeling soul into bondage. If recognised early they can be fought off but its a life long battle. King Davids fall began with a wrong thought about another mans wife. Time and time again in the gospels Jesus is recognised as knowing the thoughts of men. Jesus knew what men dwelt upon and the thoughts 'exercised' that shaped them. Wouldn't it be interesting to actually calculate the types of thought we have in just one day. How many would be acceptable to God? How many did we dwell on that we should have flung out right at the start? Practically when a wrong thought comes we can call it as such and reject it. On the other hand when a good thought comes we can meditate opon it and yeld a harvest for the Lord. Paul uderstood the battle is in the mind and gave believers this excellent advice "Take every thought captive to make it (the mind) obedient to Christ"2Corinthians 10:5. Not always easy but a must if we are to make true progress with God and those around us.