Elevating my Mindset to Walk Closer with God

As I go through life, I think about how my mindset has gotten me where I am today. I control my thoughts and which ones I choose to let infiltrate my daily life. I can determine my perspective during the trials and storms I walk through.

I can choose not to be afraid.
I can choose to give God the glory.
I can choose to remember that God’s promises endure.

Even when I can’t see God’s plan unfolding before me, I trust it and fix my eyes on Him.

“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).

Where are you fixing your mind? Are your thoughts focused on everything that’s going wrong in your life? Or are your thoughts focused on Your God?

When my mind wanders towards things of this world, I get lost. I get distracted by the shiny treasures that only have a place here on earth. I fixate on my problems and disregard the good.

We aren’t just promised peace when we secure our minds on God and His Son, we’re promised perfect peace. A belonging and comfort that Our heavenly Father can only provide.

Sometimes it’s frustrating not to get to see the whole picture. We don’t get copies of the screenplays for our lives before they begin. But when we trust that God’s ways are higher than ours, His promises become glimpses and reminders of what’s still to come. In Isaiah 55:8-9–

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

If we try to understand God’s plans from earth looking up, we won’t find many answers. Instead, God leaves us a clue in the word higher.

His ways are not merely different from ours. They are higher. 

 

Greater. 

Superior. 

All-knowing.

They exist on a grander scale. 

 

Esther was put in a position to become Queen to save her people– the Jews– from destruction (Esther 4:14). Israel’s unbelief and rejection of Jesus was a primary part of God’s eternal plan of redemption (Romans 10:3-4). God allowed Jesus to be betrayed, tried, and crucified to save mankind (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

In these stories, we can see God’s hand weaving His master plan. Even though His ways are greater than ours will ever be, He invites us to come up higher and learn to see life from His perspective.

God’s ways are higher than our ways because His ways are always part of a larger plan–

A plan that saves us from ourselves.
A plan that gives us a life we could never achieve alone.
A plan that conquers death.

While we’re only allowed to see pieces of this perfect plan, God already has the finished work. When we believe that every moment of our lives has a place in God’s story, it can provide us with the comfort, endurance, and resilience we need to walk through difficult seasons, weather storms, and fight uphill battles. The knowledge of His complete control over our situations will steady us as we walk through the valleys.

 

From earth looking up, sometimes all we see is confusion. But from heaven looking down, there is a grand plan unfolding.

When we turn our minds towards God, we’re given perfect peace. We are comforted by His sovereignty when we recognize and rejoice that God’s ways are higher than ours. So when we elevate our thoughts, we elevate our ways.

I might not know exactly where to go next. I have to trust the in-betweens. But God is right up ahead, waiting for me to follow. And that assurance is enough for me.