And now dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Philippians 4:8

I recently heard a phrase that has really brought life to this verse – watch your thoughts, for they drive your life.

The Christian life is one of spiritual battle that takes place in our minds. What we fix our thoughts on determines whether we fight well or suffer defeat. Paul’s letter to the Philippians is thought to be his last letter. Although he was writing it from the awful conditions of an ancient Roman prison cell, it is a letter full of joy and confidence in God. Paul is giving the Philippians and us the secret of successful Christian living – watch your thoughts!

The first thing Paul tells us to fix our thoughts on is truth. When we fill our minds with the truth of God’s Word it will help us to defeat the attacks of the enemy. Fear and doubt are the breeding ground of defeat, because they call into question the truth of God’s Word. When Eve doubted God’s Word she fell into sin. It is the same with us. Doubt about God robs us of joy and peace, and can lead us into sin.

When doubts arise, we don’t conquer them by the power of positive confession and blind faith. We use our God given intellect to reason, to read and to study His Word and then we place our trust in Him. His Word cannot fail, because He never changes and His Word never changes. The more we study, understand and apply God’s Word to our lives the more truth we will have. There will always be doubts this side of eternity, that is why we need to cultivate faith in God’s Word. It is His Word that is our helmet to protect our minds, our body armour to protect our hearts and our sword and shield to defend ourselves against doubt attacks.

Fixing our thoughts on what is true is fixing our eyes on what God says.