Praying About new Thoughts

On busy days consider picking 1-3 prayers so that you can focus on them often when you have time. But even when you have time, focus on opening up your heart to Jesus. The words are of mild importance, your desire to do what God wants is of great importance.

Consider praying: "Father, show me how wrong thoughts poison my life."

Consider praying: “Father, take away my spirit of lust and help me to turn from worthless things.”

Consider praying: “Father, help me to make no exceptions. Help me to turn aggressively from sin in every situation.”

“Father, help me to always raise the standards in turning from lust.”

“Father, show me what my life can be like if I run instantly from lust.”

“Father, take away my love of pleasure.”

“Father, show me how to fight sin and fill me with Your love.”

“Father, help me to run from sinful pleasures. Teach me how to make You my pleasure.”

“Father, help me to run from lust and help me care about souls”

“Father, help me to hate sin and help me to forgive.”

“Jesus, thank you for the cross. I will think about Your cross.”

“Father, take away my spirit of discouragement, and fill me with Your strength.”

“Father, help me to be content. You are a great and mighty God.”

“Father, help me to love and help people more than I love pleasure.”

“Father, help me to turn from lust and help me to be kind.”

“Father, show me new ways to think and help me to be humble.”

“Father, help me to fight lust always and help me to be patient.”

Always pray each prayer with sincerity and a strong desire to change.

What you do is 51% of quitting. What you stop doing is only 49%. Because, if you don't replace the bad stuff with good stuff... you will always have a vacuum (empty space) in your life that needs filling.

Pray the Lord’s prayer. For more on the prayer for fighting lust.

Quote: Matthew 6:22-23 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"

Say "Lust equals darkness - good thoughts equal light."

Say: I believe that pure thoughts will lead to a great life.

Say: I reject satan's lies. I accept God's view that lust destroys.

Secondly, if you are tempted to fall, never say, “This is the last time.” Instead say, “I am rebelling, and there will be a lot of destruction because of it.” Satan wants you to lie about what is going on. Be honest.

When life runs us over we can obey the Bible and 16 “Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

This year I will be praying over each of the fruits of the Spirit. Reading each fruit then praying: “Father, fill me with Your love.” “Father, fill me with Your joy.” “Father, fill me with Your self-control etc.”

Say: I believe that pure thoughts will lead to a great life.

It takes 66 days on average to form a new habit. Consider picking which prayers you want to be habits for you.

 

The Bible says to earnestly desire spiritual gifts. Here is a list that we can consider today. Your current gift may or may not be on this list but it is a start.

Exhortation: people with this gift are enthusiastic about the Lord and they can motivate others

Shepherding: looking out for the spiritual welfare of others

Service/Helps: helping those in need of practical assistance (Romans 12:7 NIV)

Mercy: The person with this gift shows acts of compassion

Giving: People with this gift will give freely and with joy to further His kingdom

Leadership: encouraging and helping others to build the kingdom of God (Romans 12:8 NIV)

Hospitality: Making people feel welcome, appreciated, and wanted (1 Peter 4:9

Knowledge: teaching and discipleship. The ability to learn, know and explain God’s Word

Discernment: being able to recognize the truth about a situation

Evangelism: the building up of the church so others will be led to Christ

Point #1 we should be thinking and praying about these types of things instead of worldly pleasures. #2 This is not a complete list, consider doing a Google search on Spiritual gifts to get a bunch more ideas. #3 When you find something that you think might be your gift, start to pray about it several times per day. We should always be doing something for God or be preparing to do something for God. When we do nothing, addiction rules. #4 There are spiritual gifts “tests” online. These tests are no substitutes for prayer, but they might give you some ideas.

Finally, God created someone very special when he created you. Your job is to find out more about that.

 

James 3:17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is, first of all, pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

If your thoughts often stray toward lust, it is vital to have a daily plan for what you will think about instead. First, daily Bible reading should be a habit. Second, we can sometimes form our plan from that study, (or you could save the first article in this thread). In this example from James, we could choose to pray and focus on wisdom, being pure, peace, love, and kindness as well as 5 other Christian traits.

Consider dedicating a page in your quitting notebook and titling it “Daily Plan.” Next, write out as many of the 9 things to think about that appeal to you. Then pick one for today. For today's example, I am picking peace. Consider praying:

“Father, take away this spirit of lust and fill me with Your peace.”

If you set an hourly alarm to remind you to pray and think about “todays” plan, you will learn a ton. #1 With your first alarm you may be reminded... I hate that I am driven ruthlessly by lust. Peace is way better. #2 With your 2nd alarm you may be reminded: People like me more when I stay calm. #3 With your 3rd alarm you may be reminded: Focusing on good things makes me think less about bad things. With your 4th alarm you may be reminded: With peace, I can enjoy a simple walk in the park, a clean TV show, a simple conversation with a friend.

But I really can't tell you the most important benefit to focusing on “todays” Christian plan, because the #1 thing it adds is that it allows the Holy Spirit to snap us out of our self-centered existence for a few minutes. Then, He can give us a little push in the exact direction where we need to go.

If we do that every hour this year... we will be thinking in a new way.

 

If temptation starts, our thoughts start a downward path. But we can always choose to “instantly” reverse that path and start climbing an upward path.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

The only sacrifice that is acceptable to God is a total sacrifice. To be a total sacrifice should we strive to think new thoughts?

Second, the way you think is the way you live. Consider putting prompts in your phone to remind you to think right. It helps if there are verses and prayers, easily accessible on your phone to look at when prompted.

Third, look for ideas and prayers that are based specifically on scripture. They usually work the best.

Fourth, if you wake up every morning and your goal is to be a living sacrifice... What would your life look like?

Fifth, consider setting a goal to “Think right” every day this week. It will lead to living right, and eventually lead to quitting for good.