Isaiah 26:3 – “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.“
Dr. Daniel Amen, an American psychiatrist and brain disorder specialist, and director of the Amen Clinics in Honolulu is fond of telling audiences on Public Television that the number one habit people should develop is “killing the ANTS.”
He tells the story of a hard day he had at the office, working with suicidal patients, teenagers in turmoil, and a married couple who hated each other. On arriving home that evening, he found hundreds of ants in his kitchen. He promptly set about annihilating them. Later, reflecting on the ants, he came up with an acronym that described the way his patients were infected. They had ANTS: Automatic Negative Thoughts. And those, he said, had to be expunged. Dr. Amen, of course, offered psychological therapies and brain tricks to do that.
You have a loving Father who doesn’t want you infected with ANTs either. It isn’t enough just to kill the thought-invaders, for that would leave a vacuum in your mind, and nature abhors a vacuum. Instead, he has given you Philippians 4:8, which says, “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.”
Pray With Us
Heavenly Father, You are so good! For everything that could set out to torment me, like the ANTs in my mind, You have offered a solution in Your Word. I need only to seek it out. Let me be very mindful today to see honorable things, just, pure, and true things, lovely and commendable things today. Help me find these every day. As I make a conscious effort to see or hear them, I will offer praise to You, for You have truly provided release to my mind and joy to my soul. I love you, Lord, and bless Your Name, Amen.
Amen.
