Pause And Pray

Research shows that humans process on average of 6,000 thoughts per day, give or take a few. Think about it.

Say you are a mother, you get the kids up for the day, decide what they will wear, and what they will eat for breakfast. "Kids, brush your teeth!" "That is not what I laid out for you to wear!" "We are running late?" "You are going to miss the bus!" And on and on. It seems you have used up your thought budget in the first hour of the day. Think about the many decisions made minute by minute. Thoughts of fathers, husbands, and let us not leave out the children and what they must process day by day.

Personally, I think 6,000 is a low number. I feel that I have thought more than that while writing this post. Often, we are faced with life changing decisions. In a moment, a flash of time, our brain processes those decisions in fractions of a second. We lift a finger, move a foot, blink an eye, seemingly without thought. However, these things happen automatically as our brain transfers our thoughts into actions.

I am a thinker. I can sit pondering a life situation, a passage of scripture, someone's actions, something I want to write, and it can go on for seemingly hours. I am not willing to trade my thinking time for much, but there are times I must make the compromise.

God wants our thoughts to be healthy. We are often the product of our own thinking process. The negative or positive thinking will usually result in the same outcome. The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (King James Version, 1769/2017).

One Sunday, our adult teacher read a portion of a statement from a note on the back of his teacher's manual, "If you feel angry, pause. "If you are overwhelmed, pause." "If you are tired, pause." "If you are anxious, pause." I took this to heart. We must see the wisdom in the idea. Thoughts moving at warp speed often spring forth in immature actions.

If you find yourself in a difficult situation, pause, and allow God's Spirit to cultivate a healthy thought. Think about this, Proverbs 15:1-2 instructs us, "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness" (King James Version 1769/2017). Have you heard the old saying "Don't speak before you think?" Hear more instruction, "He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he' (King James

Version, Proverbs 16:20). These passages imply thought, a process that often requires a

pause in the flow. Like a horse in stride and the rider pulls on the reigns and yells out, "Whoa!" Pause before proceeding and then continue with caution.

We are often faced with disappointments and situations that require critical thinking and action. But if we just take the time to pause, pray, and give God a chance to work, a chance to use His creative power to prevail, the results usually end in peace, in victory, and in hope. I have witnessed situations that could have gone very badly, end up in victory, because someone decided to pause and pray over the circumstances.

Maybe, you are inundated with 6,000 thoughts. Maybe, your thought life is more than 6,000 per day. May I encourage you to do as the Sunday school teacher said, Pause and Pray?

Pastor James