Philippians 4:8 NKJV

Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.

Philippians 4:8 AMP

Finally believers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things (center your mind on them and implant them in your heart).

This was Apostle Paul’s admonition to the Philippian church and of course, it is relevant to the body of Christ today. The end of the verse in NKJV says, mediate on these things. Amplified version says center your mind on them, implant them in your heart.

He said this to them for a reason. He had written so much to them, encouraged them in so many ways but he had to sum it up with the truth that whatever their outcome will be in life generally and in their service to God, it will have to start with and end with their mind. That’s why he said “finally,” after all is said and done, if they were going to continually hold on to the truth of God’s word and not fall away, then their minds must be dealt with, renewed.

They had to watch their thoughts, they had to watch what their minds was centred on par time.  If offences were not going to make them stand up and forsake the gathering of the brethren, then their thoughts par time must be checked.

The bible says in James 3:11: Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? That means right actions and decisions cannot proceed from evil thoughts, evil mediations.

We must note that Apostle Paul was talking about a collection of thoughts, something that had the capacity to alter actions and decisions. That means a wrong thought today combined with more wrong thoughts tomorrow, another wrong thought next tomorrow will finally alter a person’s life negatively. Same way with positive collection of thoughts, it can change our lives for the better.  These thoughts are collected overtime, meditated on and allowed to settle in the mind. So, any wrong idea that crosses our minds should not be given a chance to settle.  We should discard immediately. It’s when we start to think on them and meditate these, that changes begin to occur.

I heard a story of a young man sometime back, he was a murderer. He killed people at will, for no reason. When he was finally arrested, he said that he just enjoyed it. He had no reason to kill them. And it started when he was a child, he would see a cock or a hen moving around and a thought would flash through his mind and he would imagine what it would be like to strangle it. That means hold it by the neck and twist it, kill it like that, not because he wanted to eat it or anything like that. And he thought about it over and over again until one day he finally did it and continued to do it and was having fun. Before he knew it, his mind upgraded to thinking how it would feel like to strangle humans and he went for it.

To many of us, this might seem extreme or impossible but if we check well, we have killed some people, tortured some people, and rubbished others in our minds. Worse is when we have even rubbished ourselves in our mind, undermined ourselves, destroyed our self-image in our own minds, condemned ourselves.  It just came as a thought. And flip side, other people have won many battles in their minds and we see them making progress physically.

I had the opportunity to teach in a school sometime back, SS 1 students and there was going to be a debate competition between the SS 1 students and the JSS 3s’. And the SS 1 students were lamenting, that they have lost already and when I asked them why? The competition had not even taken place. They said, they were no match for the JSS 3 students. That there was this boy in JSS 3 that was really good in speaking and was always called to represent his class in debate.  Remember that most debate competitions are usually group competitions, it’s not for one person but this boy was a threat to them. It was annual competition and everyone in school knew him. Since JSS 1, any group he represented must win. He was an expert according to them. So, they had no chance of winning. I tried to encourage them as much as I could and told them to prepare and not defeat themselves before time.  It even affected their preparation, they just did a shabby preparation because they felt preparing was a waste of time, they had lost. I believe we can see how we allow our minds to play with our current realities. 

Few days to the competition, they came with good news that the boy was instructed not to represent his class in the debate this year, that other people should be given the opportunity to do so. Did the SS 1 students finally win? No! the JSS 3 students still won despite the fact that the boy that they feared most was no longer part of the competition. What happened? Their defeated mind produced a shabby preparation, they couldn’t even compete even when the threat was taken away.

So, we can say over the years, the boy’s triumphs in the debate had formed a collection of defeated thoughts in their minds and somehow, these ones may never do very well in any debate because they may never be able to tell themselves “I am good enough, I can prepare well for this debate and win”. They may never be confident enough because I am sure I was not the only one they expressed their defeat to, they must have told their parents at home, told friends or neighbours   exposing the defeat that their minds have mediated upon.

Our thoughts, our meditations should be such that if it is visible to others, it will be pure thoughts, honourable thoughts as much as possible. That’s why Jesus said a man that lusts after another woman in is heart, has committed adultery. To show us the gravity or central position our mind takes when it comes to pleasing God, doing his will, fulfilling purpose.

Ephesians 3: 20 says, far more than we ask or think. I believe there had been times we have just mediated on some things; we didn’t even pray about it and we see it happening in our lives. Our minds sometimes have so thought about and focused on a particular person that we have not probably seen for a very long time and all of a sudden, we bump into the person or the person calls us. I don’t want to see that as a coincidence. The mind once focused on a thing is really powerful. So, let’s be careful of our meditations and what our minds is centered on. Most of all of the things we see today, is as a result of thoughts that have been translated into actions. Everything we see today around us is a result of thoughts and meditations, from houses, to cars, technological inventions etc.

From that Amplified version, he said whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word. For me, that is instructive, our minds will be focused on the right things that are in line with God’s word, confirmed by God’s word.  So, whatever things are true, good, wonderful, confirmed by God’s word we should think on those things. We should never undermine the power of your mind.

Apostle Paul listed a couple of things we could think on that would be of great benefit to us and our destiny in Christ. When you think true thoughts, then words that you speak will be the truth. When you meditate on just thoughts, then the words of your mouth will be of justice and fairness. When you meditate on pure thoughts, then you are going to be walking in the line of purity.

After all is said and done, “Finally believers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things (center your mind on them and implant them in your heart).”

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Benedicta Apeh!

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