"Biblically faithful thoughts are sometimes difficult and unpleasant thoughts."
-Esther Smith from her book "A Still and Quiet Mind"
Many people have concluded that Biblical truth is to force your thoughts toward positivity. This is not accurate.
Biblically truthful thoughts include an appropriate mindset that corresponds to the situation we are encountering. This is where Smith's quote above can be reassuring. Good thing too.
We should not fall into the mindset that if we are not "positive Pollyanna," then our faith is incomplete. To be fair to the whole council of Scripture, God has more to say than we remember.
There are positive and hopeful promises of God that can add to our thinking in the middle of thoughts that are difficult to process. To balance our thoughts, we are not to overemphasize nor downplay certain thoughts. If we do, we will deceive ourselves.
Opening God's word to examine and ask Him what else is true in light of these thoughts is a good practice for growing in discerning awareness. We do this to have the Spirit, help renew our minds, so we can ground our faith.
Paul reminds us, "For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace"(Romans 8:6 ESV). Exposure to God's truth will bring us life and peace
The Lord cares that you are honest with him. He knows your deepest thoughts anyway. He will remain faithful, and his love will be steadfast towards you.
Some of God's greatest promises are fulfilled in the darkest of our thoughts.
Commune with God1 and trust Him.
This article is inspired by Esther Smith's book A Still and Quiet Mind. Quoted from with permission.
“The first form of prayer is communion. That is simply being on good terms with God. It involves the blood of the cross as the basis of our getting and being on good terms. It involves my coming to God through Jesus. Communion is fellowship with God. Not request for some particular thing; not asking, but simply enjoying Himself, loving Him, thinking about Him, how beautiful, and intelligent, and strong and loving and lovable He is; talking to Him without words. That is the truest worship, thinking how worthy He is of all the best we can possibly bring to Him, and infinitely more. It has to do wholly with God and a man being on good terms with each other. Of necessity it includes confession on my part and forgiveness upon God's part, for only so can we come into the relation of fellowship. Adoration, worship belong to this first phase of prayer. Communion is the basis of all prayer. It is the essential breath of the true Christian life. It concerns just two, God and myself, yourself. Its influence is directly subjective. It affects me.”
From Quiet Talks on Prayer by S. D. Gordon: