Richard and I have two separate closets. That is likely a blessing. If you go to Richard‘s closet, all of his clothes are hanging up. They are not necessarily color coordinated, but everything is there and neat. Pants are together. Shirts are together. His dresser looks the same. Socks in one drawer, undershirts in another drawer.
Mine, however, is not quite the same. Half of my clothes are hung up because Richard does the laundry. The other half of my clothes are piled on the chair to my vanity because I’ve taken them off the hanger to wear and then never did. Or after trying it on I changed my mind. You can bet, those clothes will never make it back to a hanger. My dresser is similar. I have a drawer for socks, but none of them are matched. I have a drawer for tank tops, but it is likely to be half open with a shirt hanging out. It’s just what it is at this point.
Our laundry baskets are separated between lights and darks where you will find all of Richard’s clothes in the order in which he wore them. I’m just happy when I make it into the basket.
But the reality is whatever is in your closet, whether it is crumbled on the floor, hanging up nicely, or lying across a vanity chair. Whatever is in your closet, becomes what you wear. The same applies to our thought closet. Whatever gets put in there, is what we wear everyday.
Everything you have said to yourself over years gets stored in your thought closet. Everything you have heard about yourself gets stored in your closet. Every statement that has been made about you is stored in your closet.
And now, you are driving your life with everything that is stored in your closet.
And let’s be honest, that’s not always healthy. And, I can say that because my thought closet does not have the history of being cute. It is a constant process for me; keeping my thought closet cleaned out.
I have spoken some very dangerous things to my soul. Researchers have proven that every person carries on an inner dialogue that includes between 150 and 300 words per minute. That’s a lot of chatter.
When you have a thought closet that is beaming with God’s word, you are going to be able to clearly hear the truth that God finds acceptable for you. When your thought closet is filled with God’s Word, it shapes what you dwell on. Philippians 4:8 calls us to fix our minds on what is true, pure, and praiseworthy and when those are the things stored within us, God’s voice becomes clearer. His truth isn’t foreign; it’s familiar. It echoes what we’ve already hidden in our hearts, making it easier to discern what He finds acceptable for us.
When your mind is already filled with God’s Word, our thoughts are easier to recognize for what they are: lies, fear, accusation, distraction. They may be loud, but they’re not authoritative. Truth is.
So instead of panicking when those thoughts come, you can respond with intention returning to what is true, fixing your mind again, and refusing to give space to anything that doesn’t align with God’s voice.
So the goal isn’t a silent mind; it’s a surrendered one. A thought closet filled with God’s Word doesn’t keep every intrusive thought from knocking, but it does keep them from settling in. And when they come, you don’t have to fear them or follow them, you can filter them. Philippians 4:8 reminds us to fix our minds on what is true, pure, and praiseworthy, and that becomes our anchor in the moment. The more you fill your mind with truth, the quicker you recognize what isn’t. And over time, truth won’t just be something you reach for, it will be what you naturally return to.
AAA
So Will I 