Does fear or dread come to you more easily than peace?

Do you find yourself focusing on things that make you feel afraid rather than things that make you feel hopeful?

We have a friend who is starting to recognize that her imagination often brings her things to worry about. It is like her imagination searches out all the fearful things it can and then presents them to her as possibilities.

“I’m tired of thinking this way,” she says. “I want my imagination to run to Jesus and think His thoughts, good thoughts, instead of running to fear.” She has started asking the Holy Spirit to help her train her imagination to look for the good things instead of the bad things.

That switch in focus, from bad to good, is the core of Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (NASB)

The Lord has given us a list of what good thoughts actually look like.

Changing Your Focus

John Paul Jackson used to say, “What you focus on you make room for.” This is a two-step process that follows this basic pattern:

1. We make room inside us for whatever we’re focusing on.

2. We empower what we’re focusing on.

If I have a fearful mentality—that is, if my thoughts are more prone to fear than the peace of the Lord—I am likely “making room” for fear and empowering it in my life. It has my attention, and the result is its empowerment. So, against my own well-being, I end up cultivating fear and inadvertently helping it grow in my garden.

When the Holy Spirit makes me aware of what’s happening, I realize I want to change. “I don’t want to think this way anymore! I don’t want to keep operating this way.”

The next step is changing my focus. The Holy Spirit makes all things new, and He can make my focus new as well. However, this switch doesn’t happen overnight. It is a process of learning and maturing and growing. I “make room” for a new way of thinking, and then—in the process of making room for it—I can train and discipline myself to stay focused on the new way of thinking.

“Whatsoever is good, whatsoever is lovely, whatsoever is of good report, I am going to think about those things and not about these other things.”

It’s Never Too Late for a Renewed Imagination

Years ago Bob Jones said, “The sanctified imagination of the child is the playground of the Holy Spirit.”

The opportunity for a sanctified, childlike imagination, where the Holy Spirit can play with us, has not passed us by. As we learn how to think according to Philippians 4:8, we make room for the Holy Spirit in new ways. The weight of fear starts to dissipate, and the weight of peace takes its place.

Other articles from Bill and Sue Frisbie:

There are genuine concerns in the world, and we need to be careful about where we set our focus. If we lose our focus on God, we open a door to fear.
What can you do when you’re surrounded by fear on every side? Click here.
You were made to be fearless. That’s who you are and how you get to live. Click here to read more.
In this season, let’s remember the Rock we came from and the kingdom example He set for us. As we listen to His voice and follow His guidance, we don’t need to fear the religious spirit and its volatile reactions.

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One Way to Stop Fearful Thoughts