In prayer: Let your minds dwell on helpful things

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:4-9

In the passage above, Paul tells us to control our thinking and to let our minds dwell on the things that will be helpful. Our thinking is what determines how we live. We can be depressed, or we can be thankful. We can be productive, or we can be ineffective. It all depends on what we choose to allow to dominate our thinking.

We should make sure the things we think about are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable. When we find ourselves meditating on things that don’t meet these qualifications, we should deliberately turn our thoughts back to good things—things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Where are these thoughts to be found? We should meditate on God’s Word (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:2-3).

Thinking about things that are pleasing to God will lead to actions that are pleasing to Him. When we develop the habit of thinking right thoughts, we will begin to habitually obey Him. We will rejoice in the Lord. We will pray and replace anxiety with the peace of God. We will put praiseworthy ideas into practice, and the God of Peace will be with us.