Mastering Our Thoughts by Rev. Christine Emmerling, D.D., 4/26/2026

This week I’m talking about Mastering Our Thoughts. A Master or Avatar, a Christ or Buddha, first had to have mastery over themselves; over their thoughts, words, feelings and emotions, and their actions, before ever mastering the elements of this earth, this dimension and beyond.

Everything was created twice; first it had to be a thought before becoming a thing. In the Bible we are told “In the beginning was the Word.” Word here means consciousness, idea or thought. Through thought God created the heavens and earth, and there is nothing created that God did not create. And, God called all of creation very good.

From Studies in Divine Science by Mrs. Baum in 1924, we are told “Thought is the eternal movement; the divine action everywhere. It is God moving upon the face of the waters; God thinking; and as God thinks, this activity goes forth continuously. Thought is the vital force actuating the universe and sustaining the race in its life journey. Thought is a force that flows through us continuously.

As we meditate our ideas are carried out by the stream of thought into the universe. They are picked up by those on the same thought frequency referred to as psychic intuition. A person thinks of a friend and then the phone rings, or a letter arrives. Several inventors around the world receive an idea for a new invention at the same time. Thought is a free force, unlimited and inexhaustible – God spoken word.”

It all begins with our thoughts, from our unconscious or subconscious mind; the rehashing of things past, worrying about the future, having regret, judging, criticizing ourselves and others. We have the free will of thought. Unfortunately, from childhood we were never taught how to exercise free will over our thoughts. Instead we allowed habitual thoughts from our subconscious mind to rule over our conscious mind, and we unknowingly lost our free will.

Instead we believed that those non stop thoughts, inner mind chatter, were us. We fully identified our self with our thoughts. And as such, we had no control of the kinds of thoughts we give our attention to, or even able to stop them.Yet there is a way out of this kind of mind control. It requires alertness - being consciously awake - fully present in the now - to what is being entertained within us. It takes discipline - there is no room for daydreaming or laziness. I recommend to take a day to monitor your thoughts, and note what you are focused on. What are you saying to yourself? And then ask yourself, “Is it supportive?”

The average person is flittering from thought to thought, much like a tiny humming bird going from flower to flower. We can hardly hold a focused thought for more than 15 seconds. Although, we can rehash yesterday’s misery for hours on end. Divine Science teaches us that our thoughts create our experiences. When we spend hours focused on the misery of our life today, we can expect to experience more misery tomorrow. Unless we intervene this pattern of thought, and change it to a higher frequency.

People are so attached to their inner chatter, that they believe this to be who they are, but it’s nothing more than a collection of our thoughts of past experiences, judgements, knowledge and beliefs, and all comes from that portion of our mind we refer to as the subconscious mind. Everything our conscious state perceives, is then filtered through our subconscious, then is projected into our world, and experienced back in our life accordingly.

The Bible, in the Book of Genesis, tells us that we were given dominion over the animals and creatures of the world. Metaphysically animals and creatures represent our thoughts; some steady and helpful, others wild and vicious, some peaceful, loving and joyous. It is up to us to train and have dominion over our thoughts.

Thought is the instrument of creative power of mind and is the cause of word and deed. We are creating our world of experience 24/7, and for most people they are unconsciously creating. We are here to learn to be conscious creators, to consciously evolve, and be the master of our inner household; that of our mind, body, soul, and our worldly experiences.

Many think that the brain is our mind. Where as the brain is a tool for the Infinite Mind to express through us individually. The brain is an organ a that resides in the head. As Deepok Chopra says, “Mind is both local and non local.” When in its non local state Mind is universally everywhere present - Omnipresent. Mind in its local state is individualized in that it expresses in through and as our very being. Mind is Divine Intelligence - that presence we call God.

The brain on the other hand, is a receiver and processor. It processes much like a computer by taking commands and executing them. “Lift that arm!” and the arm raises. How to lift the arm, is stored in memory, and the brain finds the memory and executes. The brain doesn’t originate ideas for these are received with our Christ Consciousness by tapping into the Universal, non local, Mind of God.

People believe that storing lots of information in their subconscious makes them smart - our school system is based on this premise. But the real genius is a person that knows how to tap into the universal mind of God for their ideas and to get answers, and then to act upon.

There are also free flying thoughts from the collective unconscious that are all around us. We tune in by matching the frequency much like a radio or tv station, we tune in by matching the frequency or channel. Angry thoughts match and attract angry energy, fearful thoughts attract fearful energy, and loving thoughts attract loving energy. We can also choose thoughts of God, and attract to those thoughts by holding an energy of peace, harmony and love - this is known as our Christ consciousness which is our direct link to the universal Mind of God.

A cell phone is also a good example. We call a person or another calls us through phone numbers. And we listen and entertain the conversation. Well, we do this all the time with our inner mind chatter; we listen to our inner dialog and entertain ourselves for hours on end forgetting that we can choose to just hang up and disconnect.

This is why we teach tools to awaken and shift our energy, such as affirmations, prayer, meditation and contemplation. Discovering we are not our thoughts, is the beginning to become the master of our thoughts. There is a part of our consciousness that knows the truth - our Christ consciousness. As we become consciously awake in the here and now we become aware that we have control, that we are the controller of our inner thoughts and of our mind chatter.

When we become aware that we don’t like our thoughts, we are now in a position to choose change. Our awakened conscious mind can now choose what to think or do. Taking in a few full deep breaths is the first step to raising our vibration and clearing out the mind chatter and become present in the here and now. I also remind myself that I’m breathing in the life and breath of God. This conscious breathing raises the vibration of our breath to chi energy which raises the frequency of our whole being.

When people are experiencing depression the first thing the medical experts recommend is daily exercise - take walks, and to do some physical work - move that body. This gets the body breathing more deeply, increases the circulation, and infuses the blood with fresh oxygen - pure light energy.

Once we have the attention of our conscious mind, we can make a better choice in thought. Now we can interject statements of truth that affirm our Divine Nature - remembering who we truly are. Our soul naturally resonates with Truth.

Our brain sends signals to the body, and every atom and cell begins to match the vibration like a tuning fork. Our DNA begins to vibrate to match this higher frequency, and overwrites the old program with that which is truth and life affirming.

We become available to hearing the voice for God. That still small voice within us that whispers guidance and loving assurance. It might tell us to forgive and do good for our enemies. We might be told to move to another state or to leave our comfort zone, and do something new. The next step is to follow this loving guidance. This is being obedient to the word of God

Jesus the Christ, in preparation for his ministry, met his adversary in the wilderness after fasting for 40 days and nights. Metaphysically the number 40 means a period of time until completed. And, fasting means emptying our self from error thoughts; from thoughts of fear, doubts, power, greed, deceit. These were his temptations, and we each have ours to overcome.

What did Jesus do? He said, “Get behind me Adversary.” In other words, get out of my thoughts. Then he affirmed what he knew to be true. There are times that I just plainly tell my mind chatter to be quiet, to stop, and I then ask myself “Christine, is this what you want to be creating.” The answer is always “NO!” Then I ask myself “What is it I want to be creating?”

This allows my conscious mind to take over. Then I take some deep breaths, Sometimes, I begin with truth statements to prime the pump, such as, Father and I are One”, “God is - I Am,” Thou art the Christ the son of the living God.” Or, I may sing affirmations or life affirming songs. Then I begin to listen for inspiration and guidance.

From the book Divine Science Its Principle & Practice, page 52 it says “Divine Science transfers the attention from the visible to the invisible and thus gives us a new and correct basis for our thinking.” All creation starts from the invisible idea or thought before becoming manifested.

And, from page 59, “All external conditions are the results of our thoughts, beliefs, and decisions. The thoughts and beliefs upon which we rely and dwell bring us our experiences of either pleasure or pain, light or shadow. It is our own mental conduct and recognition that makes conditions either pleasant or unpleasant.

‘Every man shall bear his own burden.’ Gal. 6:5. Would we externalize love, our thoughts must be filled with love. Would we enjoy harmonious conditions, we must be balanced and harmonious within. To the pure in thought all things are pure, and to the goodness all things are good.” (End)

People have longed believed that life is about controlling or being victim to others and our environment. So much useless stress. When it is the reverse. In Truth, it all begins with mastering our inner self, our own inner kingdom of thoughts - our inner household. Then everything in the outer world will adjust to reflect these changes. Thought is the most powerful energy known.

A reminder from today’s talk is to take a day to record the nature of your thoughts and then to review. This will give you a good idea where to begin your spiritual practices.

Affirm: Every thought I have is good, kind, and helpful. So it is!