By Pastor Naomi Mitchell
For Carter County Times
The opinion of others seems to influence us more than it should. Yes, we do care what others think of us. The real question is what does God think of you?
In the Bible, God expresses His omniscience and understanding of our thoughts through several verses. For instance, in Psalm 139:1-2, it states, “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.” This verse emphasizes that God knows our thoughts and is intimately aware of our innermost thoughts and intentions. Additionally, Jeremiah 29:11 reassures believers that God knows His thoughts towards them, indicating His plans for their welfare and hope. These verses collectively affirm that God is aware of our thoughts and cares deeply for our innermost concerns down to the smallest detail.
As a believer you don’t need to do more to change your life. You need to eliminate what no longer serves you. You don’t stumble into destiny; you surrender into it. The next level of your life isn’t found in doing more. It is found in removing what no longer fits who you are becoming in Christ Jesus.
God didn’t give Abraham a five-year plan. He gave him an instruction for a departure from familiarity. He told him to leave his father’s house, to leave what is familiar, to leave what’s comfortable. The promise didn’t begin where he was. It began when he was willing to walk away.
Elisha didn’t keep the plow. He burned it. He didn’t leave options open. He removed every exit and backup plan. You won’t transform your life while protecting the old one.
Jesus said, “anyone who leaves everything to follow Him will receive more now (in this life) and forever in eternity.” God never subtracts without intention to multiply, but multiplication only comes after elimination.
Cycles don’t break just with effort. They break with intentional elimination. What you refuse to remove will continue to rule you. Jesus’ first message wasn’t “try harder.” It was “repent.” Change how you think, reorient your perspective. Sin isn’t just behavior. It’s a broken belief system and dysfunction via ignorance. Paul didn’t say he changed occasionally. He said, “I die daily” not physically, but to patterns, to pride, to habits that no longer serve destiny. Salvation isn’t claimed once; it’s surrender into every day.
You don’t break cycles once. You break them every morning and every day you decide what gets to live, and what must die. If it doesn’t serve your future, it cannot survive your present.
This next season (New Year 2026) isn’t about grinding harder, as a believer in Christ it’s about dying smarter each day. It is about releasing what doesn’t serve you. It is about whatever keeps you stuck. It is about letting go so God can take you further. You aren’t losing yourself but becoming what God has always meant you to be.
You may feel a different kind of pain going into this new season. But you are coming out of the hardest season maybe you have faced. You won’t regret what you are giving up following Jesus in this new season. His thoughts are to prosper you and give you an expected end!
Amen! So be it!
JOYFUL House of Prayer, 2519 Quicksand Road, (P.O. Box 856), Jackson, Kentucky 41339. Send Comments/Prayer Requests: Pastornaomi4god@gmail.com. FB: JoyfulHoprayer. Services: 10am Sunday and Joyful Kids Class at 10:30am, 6:30pm Thursdays. Radio Broadcast: WJSN 97.3 FM & WEKG 81.0 AM Sundays 1-2pm.
