‘Trustful Versus Negative Thoughts’ was our study this past Wednesday. Too often, negative thinking is akin to a natural reflex. When challenges arise, it takes great effort to talk about faith, let alone walk in faith.
The disciples were no exception to this either. Mark 8 finds them in a wilderness, facing a multitude of hungry people. This is the second time they’ve been before thousands of starving men, women and children without food. The first time, the crowd was larger, yet God provided.
However, it seems that the disciples forgot.
Rather than look to Jesus eager for a miracle, they question Him, asking what He thought should happen out in the wilderness. What role were they to play in feeding this crowd.
Jesus simply asked them what they had.
It is easy to focus on the numerous impossibilities of a situation. In that moment, the disciples failed to see the possibility that was in Jesus. They didn’t have and so they didn’t know how to go about getting. So they didn’t do anything.
Negative thinking is paralyzing. It limits us from seeing the potential and reduces us to only focusing on what we think we can do. But as humans, we are limited. There is only so much we can see and do. By focusing on our shortcomings, we put limits on God and what He is able to do.
Jesus asked the disciples what they had. He didn’t even stop to lecture them first, reminding them of His other similar scenario. He just went straight into need-meeting mode. He shifted the focus from what they didn’t have to what they had and what they were about to have once He blessed it.
As always, we ended the evening with prayer. Not only do we pray for those in attendance, but we pray for our church family. We want everyone to be free from negative thoughts, focusing instead on trustful thoughts with God. Our prayer time begun with this:
I will fill my mind with the promises and truths from God’s Word. By God’s power, I will take my negative thoughts to Jesus and replace them with His way of thinking. I will speak faith and hope.
We’re in the last couple sessions of our study. Join us next Wednesday, June 21 at 7:00 pm as we study ‘God’s Blessings Versus Generational Sins’.
