35. YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK
Wise men and
philosophers throughout the ages have disagreed on many things, but many are in
unanimous agreement on one point: "We become what we think about."
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "A man is what he thinks about all day
long." The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius put it this way: "A man's
life is what his thoughts make of it." Proverbs 23 verse 7 in the Bible
states, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."
I want to ask you,
“What are your thoughts made up of?”
Friends, welcome to
Intervention Radio for Undergraduates, a program produced by VISION BUILDERS to
help undergraduates contact divine intervention for academic victories. Every
week on Intervention Radio we bring you inspirational messages and study tips
to help you be your best academically.
Today, God is set to
bless you by removing every barrier against your academic success and
fulfillment. This is Intervention Radio for Undergraduates, and I am your host
Tope Banjo.
Did you know that your life aligns with whatever dominates your thought
life? Are you happy with present condition of your academic life? On today’s
broadcast we will examine how your dominant thought patterns mold your academic
life and success, as well as your present and future. I want you to stay with
me. Right now, I want us to take a short music. When we get back we will dive
straight into today’s discussion. Please enjoy the music break and when we get
back, we’ll be discussing the topic You Are What You
Think!
As a student your
dominant thought-life forms a great part of your academic exercise and life.
Your thoughts come from your mind or thought realm. Thoughts can be classified
into memory for the past, intellect or intelligence for the present and
imagination for the future.
The type of training
you have given to your mind over time determines the type and quality of
thoughts it delivers to you. It determines the memories that you retain from
life experiences.
It was Plato who said,
“Thinking is the talking of the soul with itself.” From birth, your mind or
thought realm has been consistently programmed to produce negative material. Do
this simple exercise. Take a sheet of paper. Write down your first seven
memories from the last three days. Don’t choose any particular memory. Just
write them down as they come. When you have finished writing down your first
seven memories I want you to identify how many are positive and how many are
negative.
There’s another
exercise I want you to do. What’s the most important project ahead of you right
now? I want you to write it down. Then below the title of that project, list
out the first 10 thoughts that come to you about the fulfillment of that
project. Evaluate the percentage of positive thoughts compared with the
negative thoughts.
One significant
product of your thoughts is your Self-talk. Self-talk is the abundance of your
heart that the bible talks about. The NKJV bible states in Matt 12:34-36, “Out
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good
things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.”
Self-talk can be
described as those unconscious mutterings, those one way conversations you have
with yourself whenever you are facing certain prospects ahead. When you have
prospects ahead of you that you are confident about, you make positive
self-talk, but you make negative self-talk when faced with prospects for which
you doubt your ability or success. Sometimes you do it so much and so
consistently that you become conscious of it. Every one of us practices
self-talk.
Your mind usually
projects positive or negative imaginations about upcoming situations from the
background of its training and available content. Of all human actions,
self-talk is the most powerful tool for building or destroying your present and
future. It was James Allen who said, “Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad
thoughts bear bad fruit—and man is his own gardener.” To that let me add, good
minds produce good thoughts, bad minds produce bad thoughts.
You must be a
constructive thinker. But how can you become a constructive thinker? The only
way is to re-train your thought-life by meditating on God’s word.
Train Your Thought-Life By Meditating On God’s
Word:
You might ask that,
“What does meditating on scriptures have to do with academic success?”
Everything in fact! You see, the content of your heart determines your dominant
thoughts, especially your memory. This is how it works. If you have negative
fearful thoughts about taking tests, you are most likely to have negative
self-talk. And of course, you act like you think and so negative self-talk
produces negative actions and eventual failure or low performance in that test.
The new living
translation bible states in Rom 12:2, “Let God transform you into a new person
by changing the way you think.” God wants to make your life the best possible,
and He will do it through your thought-life. As you let God transform your
thought-life through His word, your entire life and academics begins to
experience a positive transformation.
Meditating on God’s
word is the scripturally recommended way to positively re-train your thoughts
for success. Actually, this is the way God transforms all the negative images
or thoughts in your mind into positive, constructive thoughts. And as a result
you will experience prosperity and success in your academics and your life in
general.
Before I sign off, I
want to ask if you have resolved the biggest problem in life, the problem of
where you will spend your eternity. Where will you spend it? Or rather, I
should ask, where would you like to spend it? I have a suggestion. Why not
spend it with God in heaven?
You can reserve your
eternal space in heaven today by receiving the Lord Jesus as your Lord and
personal savior. Why not give your heart to the Lord today? He is waiting.
He cares about how well your academic life moves. Please pray this simple
prayer right now: Heavenly Father I ask you to please come into my life
today. I believe that your son Jesus Christ died for my sins and rose from the
dead. Forgive all my sins today and make me your child. Fill me with your Holy
Spirit right now and bring stability into my academics and life. Thank you for
coming. Amen.
If you prayed this prayer with me then know that you have begun a
relationship with God. He has come into your life and will begin working in
your life and academics. Please send me a message @ buildyourvisions@gmail.com or an SMS to +234
817 2239 319 to tell me that you just started a relationship with God.
Remember to include your mobile number and email address. I would like to keep
praying for you.
Before I sign off, please
join your heart with mine in prayer for God’s intervention in your academic
life. There is nothing beyond God’s reach or ability. God’s power will reach
out to you whatever your situation today, even if it’s for a friend, classmate
or sibling in school who needs a ‘miracle’ solution! It could even be your
Study team. Whichever it is, God will show up!
Let us pray: Our Dear Heavenly Father, we come to You
in simple faith. We ask for something that we believe is really small in Your
sight. We ask for just a miracle in our areas of need, and dare to believe and
trust in You for Your amazing answers. We trust You will come through for each
of us concerned. Thank you, through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen!
Continue to expect the best from yourself and continue to maintain a great
attitude regardless whatever happens.
I’ll be glad to hear from you. Kindly send your testimonies, questions
and prayer requests as responses on this blog. To
ensure your friends, class mates and room-mates are also equipped by Intervention
Messages and Study Tips, kindly share this message with them. .
Thank you for joining me. I remain your host Tope Banjo and this is Intervention. God bless you mightily!
You will succeed. You will make it!
Contact:
Tel: +234 803 3075 969,
Lagos-Nigeria.
…………….
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