Thoughts, feelings, speech and actions, mostly in that order, determine the outcome of a person’s life. A variety of examples to that effect abound, both in Scripture and contemporary history. It is, therefore, important to pay careful attention to the nature and dynamics of our thoughts, feelings, speech and actions, since they play such a decisive role in our lives.
    Israel on her journey from Egypt to the promised land illustrates this principle lucidly. Centuries of slavery had conditioned their mental inclination towards the negative. Despite having left Egypt, their thoughts were still very much centred on Egypt. They hardly encountered a difficulty on their journey, without resorting to thinking about Egypt and how better off they would have been there. In fact, the first martyr of Christendom, Stephen, described the Israelites, whom God had liberated from slavery in Egypt, as having gone back to Egypt in their hearts (Acts 7:39).
    Thank God we have the history of their journey on record, for our admonition. It is imperative to note that the devil has not changed tactics. He uses the same approach for us today as he did the Israelites in the wilderness. In fact, it has been his age-old tactic with man. However, if we are to remain victorious over the devil, we must heed the admonition of 1Peter chapter 5:8: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
    Thoughts have been defined as: ideas or suggestions in the mind. Thoughts  are powerful because they have the potential to become manifested realities, if nurtured. Everything we see around us, apart from nature in its pure form, was once a thought in someone’s mind. The Bible says, “…as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” (Prov 23:7). In fact, even nature was once only a thought in God’s mind.
    Feelings are usually a product of the thoughts that dominate the mind. It is impossible to occupy one’s mind with thoughts of a kind and at the same time have feelings of a different kind. Your feelings will naturally mirror your thoughts. Our emotional responses are conditioned by our how we think. Now, it is important to understand that emotions are powerful because they influence the direction of our choices.
    Speech is a very powerful aspect of the human personality. In fact, man’s ability to speak in clear coherent terms elevates him above other forms of life on earth. Speech is the major channel for the expression of mankind’s dominion over the earth. It is important, therefore, to understand that our words have power for good or evil, depending on the nature of usage. Usually, our thoughts influence our emotions which in turn influence our speech. This is a major reason why people are often advised to be silent when they are in the heat of emotional turmoil. Both emotions and speech work to mutually intensify each other. The more you feel about a thought on your mind, the more you talk about it, and the more you talk about it, the more you feel about it.
    Actions are the natural consummation of the process which has been discussed so far. This is why it is self-delusion to accept the fallacious notion that it is harmless to entertain an evil thought as long as it remains a fantasy.
If you sow and nuture a thought, you will eventually reap an action, which if continued, will inevitably lead on a path that has a certain destination—whether life or death (Matt 7:13,14).
It is not for nothing that the Bible commands us to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2Cor 10:5). No wonder the Bible  commands us to guard our hearts above all else (Prov 4:23). We would do well to heed that command by saturating our minds with God’s word (Josh 1:8). Shalom.