Day 92: Commanding your soul to bless the Lord helps shut down contaminated thought processes.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭103:1-5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Most of us have been there.

You’re working on your computer, all of a sudden a message comes up telling you that there’s a program in the background that’s slowing your computer down, asking whether or not you want to close it. (I won’t even start into talking about when music is playing and you have no idea how it got there or how to turn it off!) So, I was thinking, it would be handy if we had such a warning in our own minds. You know, sometimes you feel something is wrong, maybe you’re agitated or have “free floating” anxiety, and you don’t know what’s causing it. But, chances are, there is some line of thinking going on in the “back” of your mind, causing the angst.

Truth be told, we do have a warning “system” for the times we don’t feel quite right, without knowing why. Now—for me and basically for any Christian—that warning prompt comes by way of the Holy Spirit. The problem is, we often don’t heed the warning and wind up in a full blown funk.

The troublesome background “programs” running in our hearts and minds that produce nebulous dis-ease, are generally associated with unforgiveness, hurt, anger, fear or discouragement—or a combination of these culprits.

Threats from the enemy of your soul that something bad is going to happen can provoke fear. Experiences of having been done wrong can keep unforgiveness and/or hurt constantly “refreshing” in our inner person. Basically, unfinished business of any sort can become background programs, corrupting all areas of our lives. Sadly, left uninterrupted, the end result of unsanctified thinking is loss of peace and the creation of a wedge between us and our Savior.

In our portion from Psalms today we see David basically commanding his own soul to bless the Lord and to do so within the context of remembering all the wonderful things the Lord has done, is doing, and will do for us. We repeatedly see that no matter what David was going through, he was always careful to meet his situation head on with praise to the Lord in his mouth.

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34:1-4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Now, make no mistake, stinking thinking will not motivate you toward blessing the Lord and extolling His goodness. But remember, you must “captivate” those background thoughts that stand in opposition to the word of God. Left unchecked, those programs will lead you further away from peace and closer to the brink of despair.

For today let us know and understand what David knew:

Commanding your soul to bless the Lord helps shut down contaminated thought processes.

#100dayswithdavid