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| Transform Your Thoughts, Transform Your Life by Bo Sanchez (Note from me: this is amusingly brilliant, you wouldn't want to miss this)
Do you want to change your life?
It all starts with thinking God's thoughts. Transformation starts with the renewing of your mind. (See Romans 12:2)
I believe God has a great plan for your life. He wants to pour greatness in you. But God cannot put great things into a small mind.
When your mind is small, you cannot think great things. You need to enlarge your mind. Enlarge your thinking. You need to think God's thoughts for you to experience God's things.
Your thinking is so important, because whoever wins in the battlefield of your mind will win in the battlefield of your life…
The Bible says, For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…
Thoughts Are Things
Quantum Physics says everything is energy. The ground that you're standing on, the chair you're sitting on, the sky above, even your human body—all these are really bundles of vibrating energy. A solid brick wall—in its subatomic level—isn't solid at all, but largely empty space filled with energy.
And here's the shocking part. Quantum physics says thoughts are also energy. Scientists say there's really no big difference between a thing and a thought. In one very real sense, thoughts are things. That's why thoughts are powerful.
Today, I'll talk about how your thoughts create your reality; How your thoughts create your destiny.
Here's the truth: You're a product of your thoughts. You are who you are because of the thoughts you've allowed to fill your mind.
If you transform your thoughts, you transform your life.
A Shocking Story
Let me tell you a true story.
Many years ago, after giving a talk, a Filipina and an American walked up to me. I'll call them David and Bathsheba. (In a minute, you'll know why I chose these fictional names.) They acted like they were a couple. But there was something odd about them.
Not only because David was American and Bathsheba was Filipina. It was also because David was tall, handsome, and young. But Bathsheba was not so tall, not so young, and not so beautiful. And believe me, I'm being very kind when I describe her in this way. If I wasn't kind, then I'd describe her as really short, really old, and really ugly. But I won't say that. (Although I already did. But imagine I didn't.)
As I looked at them, I was guessing the guy was 26, at most 28, and the woman was 42.
Bathsheba was the first to speak. She said, "Brother Bo, I love your talk on God's Love. I can identify. Can I share our story with you?"
You can imagine I was all ears. We sat down and she started talking.
Bathsheeba said, "I was a prostitute in Olongapo. I was a prostitute for 20 years. I have two kids from two different fathers. Prostitution was the only way I knew to feed my children. But I was so tired of what I was doing, one day, while I was at home, I knelt down. I prayed, 'Lord, I'm going to ask something that seems impossible. I'm ugly. I'm a prostitute. I've got two kids from two different fathers. But I need you to rescue me. Please give me a husband. And if possible, give me an American…'"
I wanted to tell her, "Lady, you've got guts."
"Can I continue the story, Sweetheart?" David interrupted.
"Of course, Darling," Bathsheba smiled.
"At that exact time," David said, "I was walking on the street when I noticed a house with an open door. I looked through the doorway, and I saw this woman kneeling down, crying. As I looked at her, I began to cry too. I didn't know why I was crying. I walked through the door. And I noticed, Brother Bo, that the woman was very beautiful…"
I wanted to say, "Are we talking of… uh, her? Or did your tears, uh you know, block your vision?"
Obviously, I didn't say that. I just nodded my head, realizing once again there are certain mysteries in the world that we cannot solve. The Bermuda Triangle. The Prophecies of Nostradamus. And why David calls this woman beautiful.
David went on. "I introduced myself. We started talking, we started dating, and 6 months later, we got married!"
"Miracles happen," I said.
"Tomorrow," Bathsheba said, "we're all going to the States. He'll be introducing me to his parents."
I wanted to say, "God have mercy on you." My goodness, those parents will need extra-strength grace!
Why I Tell You The Story
Even if this happened many years ago, I'll never been able to forget this story. I share with you this story not to teach single women to pray with their door open, in the hope that a potential husband will pass by. That's not the point and what happened to Bathsheba was absolutely strange.
I share you this story to tell you about the power of thoughts. Let me ask you. Was Bathsheba ugly or beautiful?
To everyone else, she was ugly. People called her ugly. People mocked her on the street. Being a prostitute was bad enough. What was worse than a prostitute was an old prostitute selling her old body at 85% discount. Even to herself, she was ugly.
But one day, someone walks into her life and says, "You're beautiful."
What is reality? Reality is essentially a product of our thoughts. Imagine if you think God's thoughts?
Right now, you may be like Bathsheeba. You feel ugly. You don't like yourself. And other people don't like you too. But I'm here to tell you that God thinks you're amazing. God thinks you're beautiful. And that "shift of thought" will transform your life forever.
When you think God's thoughts, three huge things will happen.
The first thing that will change will be…
1. How You Think About Yourself
It reminds me of another David…
When God was looking for the next King of Israel, God asked Samuel the priest, "I'm choosing a King from the sons of Jesse of Bethlehem."
So Samuel visited the house of Jesse. "Where are your sons?" the priest asked Jesse. And so the old man called his sons to line up in front of the Prophet. The eldest was Eliab. The Bible describes Eliab was tall, with the body of a body-builder, and good-looking. In other words, he looked like a king.
But God told Samuel, "Not this one."
I'm sure Jesse was a little bit disappointed. He called his next son to stand in front of Samuel.
And God told the priest, "Not this one either."
Jesse called the next one. And the next one. And the next one. For every single one of them, Samuel heard God tell him, "Not this one."
Samuel was confused. So he asked Jesse, "You've shown me your seven sons?"
"Yes," Jesse said, "my seven sons are in front of you now."
Samuel asked him, "Don't you have any other sons?"
Jesse said, "I do have one more son. But he's just a boy. He's out with the sheep…"
In other words, David was the runt. The youngest. The gofer. The errand boy. Uneducated. Untrained. Rough. Filthy. Smelly. With calluses on his hands, mud on his feet, and sand on his hair. And he doesn't wear the right clothes. What Jesse really wanted to say was, "Why bother looking at him? You wouldn't like him."
But Samuel said, "Call him anyway."
He was called. The boy stood in front of Samuel. And God told Samuel, "This is the guy I'm choosing to be King."
Think about it. David's father didn't admire him. His brothers thought he was a pest. But that's because they were looking at him thinking their thoughts. They weren't thinking God's thoughts.
Today, people around you may overlook you. People around you may take you for granted. And if people notice you, they only notice if you've done wrong. How you've failed. How you've messed up. How you fell flat on your face.
But God thinks about you differently.
He doesn't major in your mess. He majors in your magnificence. He doesn't focus on your fumbles. He focuses on your fabulousness.
Read the Bible and you see this exact thing happening again and again.
God called Gideon a mighty man of valor when he was a coward hiding from his enemies. God called Peter the "Rock" at a time when Peter was a stumbling, lying, denying fisherman. And God called David "King" when he was but a boy smelling of sheep poop.
Why? Because while you're still wrestling with your history, God is already talking about your destiny. While your thoughts are still mired in the quicksand of your past, God's thoughts are already constructing your future.
The Power Of Labels
When you think God's thoughts about yourself, people won't understand you. People want you to remain the same. People want you to be consistent with the poor image that they have of you in their minds.
You see, people look at you, and they've made already a prediction of what will happen to you in your future. And they want that prediction to be fulfilled. People have already labeled you "loser" and "failure" and "mediocre" and "hopeless". And they want you to be consistent with these negative labels they have given you. They don't want you to shake up their picture of reality.
I want you to stand up and announce to the world, "I'm not the labels you've given me. If God says I'm a champion, then I'm a champion."
Your Existence Means You Won
By the mere fact that you're alive, you're already a champion. Why do I say that?
Think about it. God pre-selected your sperm cell. Your sperm cell out-swam the millions of other sperm cells to connect to the egg cell. At the very moment of your conception, you already won. You're a champion!
This ordination, this Divine pre-selection isn't based on the good that you've done, on whether you've been faithful in your prayer time, or whether you've been doing your Bible reading, or whether you've been going to Mass, or whether you've been a good boy or a good girl. Because before you were in the womb of your mother, you weren't praying yet. You weren't doing any good yet. And yet God already saw something good in you.
The Bible says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." God spoke that to Jeremiah but I believe He says the same words to you.
Today, God will re-introduce you to who you really are. He will lift the curtain, the veil that separates you and who you really are deep in your soul.
People around you will say, "That's not you. I've seen you before. You're weak. You're a failure. You're a nobody. You're a wimp. You're a jerk. You're a coward. You're a liar. You're a hot head…"
You've got to tell them, "Yes, that was me. But let me introduce you to the new me. Your definition of me is based on past information. My definition of me is based on God's thoughts about who I really am…"
And if you think God's thoughts, something else will change…
2. How You Think Of Your Problems
One day, I was facing a huge problem. I felt so troubled, I didn't know what to do. I was already having sleepless nights. My wife would wake up at 3am and she'd find me still awake, tossing and turning in bed.
So finally I called up one of my Mentors. I described the problem. Every detail I could remember, I shared to him. My Mentor was very patient listening to my story.
And then he said something that I'll never forget. He said, "Is that all? Bo, that's nothing! That problem is so small, you're bigger than this. You're so big, that problem is like dust in your shirt. Like lint in your clothes. Like mud on your shoes. You're so much bigger! And Bo, you'll have more of those tiny problems. They're so small, just flick them…"
This wasn't a nice friendly counseling session. He was my Mentor and he had my permission to be brutal with me. His words changed me. That night, I slept like a babe. Because he made me realize I was a giant! Why be bothered by tiny problems?
And soon enough, those problems that I thought were gigantic blew away like mist. I troubled myself for nothing.
Here's what I learned. The reason why we think our problems are big is because we think we're small. But when we change the way we think about ourselves, we change how we think about our problems too.
And remember: To God, all your problems are small.
The Bible says, Weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning…
And finally, when you think God's thoughts, you also change one last thing…
3. How You Think Of Your Future
I love this message because this is my story.
Who would have thought that a victim of sexual abuse would be writing this to you now? Who would have thought a porn addict of 20 years would write 25 bestselling books, publish 8 magazines, and preach around the world? This can only be God's doing.
God doesn't define you by what you've done. He defines you by what He has done in you. When God talks about you, He prophecies of things yet to come.
Friend, your future is out-of-this-world beautiful.
Perhaps you're like Bathsheeba. Perhaps you feel this is a dead-end for you right now. That all hope is gone.
But believe that each day, God walks into the open door of your life and says your future is beautiful. He will change everything. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen. Just keep that door open. Just never give up.
Think God's thoughts.
And you'll never be the same again.
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