Over the past few days, I have been writing about how to build trust in the Lord.
We need to READ the Word of God daily.
We need to PRAY to God… daily.
The next step in this process is renewal.
In the previous post on building trust through prayer, I referenced Philippians 4:6-7:
Be anxious for nothing, 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 comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Until recently, I never really picked up on the significance of the verses that immediately follow:
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
~ Philippians 4:8-9 NASB
Paul just finished saying, don’t be anxious—pray! Then he completes the thought by saying, in essence, once you’ve prayed, fill your mind with somethin else besides worry!
Imagine for a moment that your mind and heart are like a pitcher full of liquid. That liquid is a mixture of all your worry, anxiety, sorrow, doubt and fear. If you pour that pitcher out before God so that He can take care of it (through prayer), you are left with an empty pitcher. That pitcher is going to fill up with something, even if it’s just hot air.
You need to fill it with something other than the toxic soup that was there before.
Make it a point to fill that pitcher with God’s Word. Dwell on the Word, fix your mind on something good. Find the positive within the negative. Fill your mind with truth, honor, excellence, purity, and loveliness. Find something to give thanks for. If worries start seeping back into the pitcher, pour it out again and refill it with God’s Word. Remember, worry does not stem from trust in the Lord, it stems from trust in the world. Build trust by severing ties with your fears.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2
Renew your mind and crowd out the negatives.
Renew your mind and develop trust in God.
Elihu's Corner 
I like the renewal aspect that you highlight. In Luke 11:24-27,JESUS talks about the house out of which a demon has left. It is not filled with anything, so he comes back with more of his kind, and the state of it is worse than before. We need to fill those empty spaces with the virtues found in HIS word that lead to godliness. Well done
Papa
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