By Ann Farabee

Our thoughts?

God made us, and He knows our thoughts.

There have certainly been times that I would rather that God not have known my thoughts.

Many times, we do not even think about our thoughts, do we?

Or do we automatically think about them because they are our thoughts?

I have no idea. I got confused just typing it.

How is it that in the middle of writing this and sharing my heart with my readers, my thoughts informed me that I wanted some peanut butter chocolate ice cream? Do not worry — I got it. I have a great husband who keeps it in stock for me.

It is believed that we have around 70,000 thoughts a day — that seems a bit overwhelming. I knew my thoughts were everywhere, but 70,000 a day? I am tired just thinking about that.

If someone tells me not to think about a pink elephant — I think about a pink elephant.

Do you?

Without a doubt, we want and need for our thoughts to be on Jesus, and not waste our time thinking about pink elephants.

The longer I live, the more the words in this verse mean to me: Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. — Isaiah 26:3

So, the goal is to keep our minds on Jesus. We can do that by staying in an attitude of prayer throughout the day.

Practicing that makes it even more understandable. As a teen, I would close my eyes when I went to bed and immediately think about Jesus — and I would pray. I had some heart-wrenching problems that I knew only Jesus could heal.

As time progressed, I realized I could reach Jesus from anywhere and at any time. All I had to do was speak His name. Jesus. Jesus.

Keeping our minds stayed on Jesus is a gift from God.

Jesus set the standard for us in relation to our prayer lives, as he withdrew from the others about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray.

In Acts 7:60, Jesus kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord lay not this sin to their charge.” After Jesus prayed, He fell asleep. How beautiful!

We all want to spend time with those we love. Wanting to spend time with Jesus, Who loves us, is natural and rewarding. It is the best choice we can make each day.

For me, staying in an attitude of prayer is being able to touch Jesus in my thoughts and with my words while in God’s Word, while praying with others, while praying by myself, and any time throughout my day and night that my thoughts are of God’s love for me. God is not limited to our time frame. He is always with us — all of us.

As a teenager, when I went to bed at night, I would close my eyes and think about Jesus and I would pray. What a gift from God at a young age — the gift of prayer.

Isaiah 26:3 says, “Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.”

I sometimes look at the last part of this verse first — the promise is that if our minds stay on Jesus, He will keep us in perfect peace.

That verse teaches us to keep our minds stayed on Jesus, so I prayed,“How Lord? How do I keep my mind stayed on You?” The response to my heart and mind from my Jesus seemed so simple, “Know that I am with you every part of your day and night. Know that I am there. Know that you are not alone. I am in your head. I am in your heart. I am in your spirit. I surround you.”