Words of Encouragement

Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. - 1 Thessalonians 5:22-24



Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. – Philippians 4:8


What are your thoughts? Sanctifying Thinking. To sanctify our thoughts means to make our thoughts line up with what is right before God. It means we must have holy thoughts. The scripture says avoid every kind of evil. This means that we must yield ourselves to God so that he can sanctify us in our entirety. My actions as well as my thoughts must line up to God.


To have sanctified thoughts means I must daily consecrate my thoughts to God. I don’t dwell on stinking thinking and instead I allow my thoughts to be set aside for God’s purpose. I set aside my agenda or what I want to dwell on in my thoughts so that God can have the control.


When the thoughts that would make me dwell in the wrong places tries to rise up, I am reminded to avoid all kinds of evil. The evil to avoid is allowing the enemy to feed us lies and us believing it. We need to ask God to help sanctify (make right) our thinking so that we can think the right thoughts and not dwell our thoughts on things that are not praiseworthy and excellent.


As we go to worship this week, let us go seeking a change in our thoughts. What are your thoughts? Are they thoughts on the negative, defeated ways or are they thoughts about the victory that is waiting for us? Lord help us to move from stinking thinking to righteous thinking. Help us to move from being shortsighted in our thinking to seeing the whole picture in our thoughts. Help by setting our thoughts aside for your purpose and your ways.

Words of Encouragement

Are your eyes seeing what God is showing?

Drawing: property of Joselyn Williams

Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. - 1 Thessalonians 5:22-24

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. – Philippians 4:8

What are your thoughts? Sanctifying Thinking. To sanctify our thoughts means to make our thoughts line up with what is right before God. It means we must have holy thoughts. The scripture says avoid every kind of evil. This means that we must yield ourselves to God so that he can sanctify us in our entirety. That means my actions as well as my thoughts.

To have sanctified thoughts means that I must daily consecrate my thoughts to God. That means that I don’t dwell on stinking thinking and instead I allow my thoughts to be set aside for God’s purpose. I set aside my agenda or what I want to dwell on in my thoughts so that God can have the control.

When the thoughts that would make me dwell in the wrong places tries to rise up, I am reminded to avoid all kinds of evil. The evil to avoid is allowing the enemy to feed us lies and us believing it. We need to ask God to help sanctify our thinking so that we can think the right thoughts and not dwell our thoughts on things that are not praiseworthy and excellent.

As we go to worship this week, let us go seeking a change in our thoughts. What are your thoughts? Are they thoughts on the negative, defeated ways or are they thoughts about the victory that is waiting for us? Lord help us to move from stinking thinking to righteous thinking. Help us to move from being shortsighted in our thinking to seeing the whole picture in our thoughts. Help by setting our thoughts aside for your purpose and your ways.

Words of Encouragement

Self-portrait composed and taken by my daughter, Joselyn. All pictures for this week property of Joselyn Williams.

Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. – Hebrews 3:1-3

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. – Philippians 4:8

What are your thoughts? Whole (Victorious) Thinking. To have victorious or whole thinking, that calls for our focus to completely change. What is that change? The change is from our shortsightedness of only believing in what I can see, feel or understand. It calls for us to think in a broader way. It calls for us to fix our thoughts on Jesus.

To fix our thoughts on Jesus, means that we are willing to stick closely to his plan. This scripture helps us know that Jesus is the source of our victory. When we understand that our life and thoughts must be focused on Jesus, we begin to have whole thinking. Whole thinking helps us to understand that every part of our life can be touched by the master’s hand. We can begin to think on the good things of God.

Our whole thinking covers the thoughts that are about truthful things, noble things, right things, pure things, lovely things and admirable things. It is our ability to think on excellent and praiseworthy things. All those things encompass Jesus as the source of our life and can only be accomplish when are gaze is fixed on him and see nothing else.

I pray for us today that we begin to think on the things that lead us to walking in the victorious life that God has for us. Lord help us to move away from stinking thinking and to righteous thinking. Help us not to be shortsighted in our abilities, but help us to have whole, victorious thinking that rest on the ability of your son.

Words of Encouragement

Picture drawn by Joselyn Williams in dedication to her grandfather, James Shurman Williams.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. – Isaiah 55:8-9

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. – Philippians 4:8

What are your thoughts? Shortsightedness Thinking. What is shortsightedness? It is when you can’t see the whole picture, but only what you don’t have or only one part of the whole story. Shortsightedness is also the kind of thinking that the enemy uses to make us feel defeated. Whole thinking is also known as victorious thinking. Whole thinking helps us to realize that our thoughts are not God’s thoughts and our ways are not his ways, therefore we understand we cannot see everything in our own vision.

We become shortsighted when we think what we see is all there is. The scripture says let the wicked man forsake his ways and the evil man his thoughts. I also take a little liberty here to say let anyone that is not thinking God’s way, forsake those thoughts because they are leading to sin or disobedience, or lack of faith and trust in God. Whenever we refuse to think that God’s ways are higher than ours, we then are shortsighted and believe we have all the answers in our own selves.

Instead, when we have righteous thinking we acknowledge that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours. We then understand that we don’t see everything and to rely on ourselves we will be shortsighted. We understand that to release ourselves into God’s hands he will help us to see the whole picture. The whole picture is when we can have a glimpse of how God sees our situations and circumstances.

I pray for us today, Lord help us. Help us with our lack of forethought; help us with our lack of preparation and thoughtfulness. The preparation we need to do is take time thinking righteous thoughts so that we can think of those things that are pure and right. Help us to think on those things that are praiseworthy so that we can see the clear picture and thus remove the power that the enemy has to discourage us because we are shortsighted in what we see.

Words of Encouragement

your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. – Psalm 139:16-18

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. – Philippians 4:8

What are your thoughts? Righteous Thinking. So if you had thoughts that were classified as stinking thinking, how do you change them? You begin that process by focusing on the Lord. The psalmist remarks about the things of God. He says you saw me when I was unformed and at that time you ordained a purpose for me.

The psalmist then rejoices at the wonder of the thoughts of God. He writes your thoughts are precious to me. When God’s thoughts are precious to us, then we begin the process of seeking to change ours to be more like his. We ask God to change our thoughts from the old way we thought, to begin to think his thoughts and to understand his ways. We understand that God’s thoughts are vast and we cannot completely understand them all.

Yet, the psalmists is reminded that even if I were to try and count your thoughts I cannot, but I still know this important thought, I am still with you. This is what I call righteous thinking. When we turn from looking at our problems and begin to look at the one that solves all problems we begin to have righteous thinking.

We can begin at this point (and only at this point) to think of things that are right, pure, lovely and admirable. This is possible because the focus has turned to the God of the universe and we are reminded of his vastness. We are reminded of the works of the master’s hands. Righteous thinking means that we have the focus on the right things. The beauty and the sweet smell of being in the presence of God dispel the stench of the thoughts that the devil tries to bring to us. Thinking righteous thoughts begins us to thinking ourselves as victors where as stinking thinking makes us see ourselves as victims. Righteous thinking helps us to see ourselves as mighty warriors where as stinking thinking makes us see ourselves as captive slaves.

I pray for us today that we seek righteous thinking. God help us this day to begin to meditate on your attributes. As we begin to think on these things, that are both lovely and pure and righteous, we will begin the process of turning our thoughts from defeated to delivered. Help us to think your thoughts today.

Words of Encouragement

Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught at the voice of the enemy, at the stares of the wicked; for they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger. – Psalm 55:1-3

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. – Philippians 4:8

What are your thoughts? Stinking thinking. On this past Sunday, my Co-Pastor, Sis. Reid preached a message from Philippians 4:8, entitled “What are you thinking? As I sat listening to the message there were some things that the Lord spoke to me that will be our focus this week in the Words of Encouragement.

As we take a look at the scripture we see David troubled in his thinking. David is troubled because of the wickedness and the treatment he is receiving. His thoughts are so focused on what is around him, that at this very moment this is all he can see. The trouble in his life while real has become consuming.

He is troubled. Troubled means he is anxious, distressed, worried, bothered and uneasy. You know what happens when you become anxious, distressed, worried, bothered and uneasy about things you are facing in life, you become immobilized.

This is just where the enemy of our soul wants us to be, stuck in our thoughts and worried about all that isn’t going our way. I call this “stinking thinking”. It smells of the enemy’s tricks! If we are stuck thinking about what is going wrong and how the wicked seems to be prospering while we are in agony and defeat, we become depressed.

Instead what then are we to do when our thoughts are focused on the things that the wicked are doing against us? Well the first thing we see that David did that was right; he took his concerns to the Lord. There is a next step then that we need to do and that is what the scripture in Philippians tells us. We have to change our focus. We have to change our focus from stinking thinking, thinking about those defeating things, to the good things of the Lord. We need to begin to affirm to ourselves that we have victory in Jesus. That the enemy is already defeated in our lives and we can trust God to do what he has said he will do.
Today I pray for someone that has stinking thinking. God change our thoughts so that we will not dwell our thoughts in those things that smell of defeat and destruction. Help us to change our thoughts so that we can think your thoughts and walk in your way.