It's all in Your Mind

Sandra, Jeanette and I sat around the small table going over our sermon notes from this past Sunday and answering our discussion questions. The discussion took us to what goes on in our minds when we let them wander...like when you're busy with some monotonous task and you let your mind slip into neutral gear.

Me? I confess...if I let my mind wander it goes places that it should never go. I will have a running argument with someone, supplying both sides of the conversation. Or I will find myself listing all the things that are wrong in my life/church/family and who is to blame, which eventually leads to wondering why God isn't taking better care of me.

When we allow our thoughts to run free, they are like wayward children, rushing headlong into dangerous areas. That's because when our minds are idle, they are susceptible to input from the world, the flesh and the devil and those things pull us in a downward spiral.

We need to be on guard against those idle moments by actively keeping our minds focused on God and godly thoughts. 

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8 NIV

When we allow (or force) our minds to dwell on these things, an amazing thing happens...

 "You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You." Isaiah 26:3 AMP

So, let's reign those thoughts in. No, for all the damage they do to our spirits, let's take this thing seriously and wage all out warfare on stinkin' thinkin'.

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." NIV

Are you in?

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A Walk Through Revelation - Part 21

Revelation 10 
The Angel and the Little Scroll

10 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. ² He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, ³ and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. ⁴ And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”

⁵ Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. ⁶ And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! ⁷ But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
⁸ Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
⁹ So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’^[a]” ¹⁰ I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. ¹¹ Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”

In verses 1-2, we see an "angel" who seems a lot like Jesus - when he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. John was about to write down what then said, when he was told to "seal it up and not write it down".

Seal it up where? I think he was meant to think about it. Mull it over. Consider the ramification of what was said. Because what was about to unfold needed to be felt and absorbed by the prophet in order for him to proclaim the events to come with clarity.

Next, he was told to take the little scroll from the angel's hand and eat it. At first it was sweet, but then it turned his stomach sour. This little scroll was a look into the upcoming events - a look into the future. Who doesn't wish they could look into the future a bit? It seems like that would be a good thing - sweet, but if we really saw the future, it just might sour our stomach.  The events about to unfold were going to happen with unrelenting speed, ushering the world to the end of time as we know it.  I'm sure what John saw was enough to set his head spinning.

Having experienced the future by absorbing it first, prepared John to pour out the coming prophecies with an urgency that all but begs people to wake up and see what's coming...and repent.

That's exactly what reading through Revelations has done to me. It makes me want to beg people to seriously consider the reality of God and the future of man. Each person must choose for himself whether to follow God or to reject Him. I pray you will make the right choice.

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A Walk Through Revelation - Part 20

Revelation 9:13-21
The Sixth Trumpet

What would it take
for you to cry out to God?

¹³ The sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the golden altar that stands before the throne of God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel, “Release the four mighty demons^[c] held bound at the great River Euphrates.” ¹⁵ They had been kept in readiness for that year and month and day and hour, and now they were turned loose to kill a third of all mankind. ¹⁶ They led an army of 200,000,000 warriors^[d]—I heard an announcement of how many there were.
^17-18 I saw their horses spread out before me in my vision; their riders wore fiery-red breastplates, though some were sky-blue and others yellow. The horses’ heads looked much like lions’, and smoke and fire and flaming sulphur billowed from their mouths, killing one-third of all mankind. ¹⁹ Their power of death was not only in their mouths, but in their tails as well, for their tails were similar to serpents’ heads that struck and bit with fatal wounds.
²⁰ But the men left alive after these plagues still refused to worship God! They would not renounce their demon-worship, nor their idols made of gold and silver, brass, stone, and wood—which neither see nor hear nor walk! ²¹ Neither did they change their mind and attitude about all their murders and witchcraft, their immorality and theft.

As God's judgement continues on the inhabitants of earth, we see demonic forces unleashed and a mighty army marching out to destroy mankind. Their power to anhilate man is limited to 1/3 of the population, but the devastation is horrendous.

The most interesting portion of this passage for me is that in the face of all this, people still refused to worship God.  The world is coming to an end. Plagues, death and destruction surround them. Their one hope is God, who, should they call out to Him, would quickly forgive their sins and accept them as His own, but they refuse to do so. Instead, they cling to their idols, their wealth, their security. They continue in their wicked ways, still believing that they don't need God.

It's hard to believe that people would refuse to turn to God in the midsts of all this, but isn't that just what's happening today? We are hearing of increasing horrors across the globe. Our financial security is fading fast. Every foundation we've built our lives on is shaking.  This is the beginning of the end, my friends. God is trying to get our attention. He wants us for His own...and if that means allowing or bringing tragedy into our lives in order for us to recognize our need for Him and His love for us, that's what He's willing to do. 

It's not going to get better. It's going to get worse. God has a timeline. There is a "year and month and day and hour" appointed for the events of the end times to occur.

My heart's cry is for each of you to know God. To enjoy the incredible joy that comes from having a personal relationship with Him...now. Not sometime in the future when your life is crumbling all around you.  Reach out to Him, now and invite Him to come in...to be the Lord of your life. Surrender your all to Him.  You don't need fancy words. You don't need words at all, really. What you need is a heart that cries out to Him. He will meet you where you are.  You can do that right now.

I pray you will.


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A Walk through Revelation - Part 1

Today I'm starting my walk  through the book of Revelation. I've read through it before, but that was a long time ago. Decided to read it again to remind myself of the wonders of Heaven and the future of mankind. 

"The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."  Revelation 1:1-3 NIV

 There are many accounts, in the Bible, of God sending an angel to deliver His message to a man or woman.  I can't imagine what it would be like to suddenly encounter an angel...a real angel.  Call me a skeptic, but all these stories you hear today of people encountering angels...well, I just don't know if I believe them.  But the Bible - I believe.

If I did see an angel, I'd most definitely react the way many in the Bible did - falling on my face, terrified. 

The next thing that strikes me about the opening of this book is that those who read aloud the book of Revelation are blessed and those who hear it (read out loud) are blessed...if they take to heart what is written in it.  It's interesting that there is a special blessing for reading it out loud and hearing it out loud.  It's also interesting that it's not enough to just read it - we must take it to heart. The Free Dictionary defines the phrase "take it to heart" as to consider something very seriously or take criticism seriously and be affected or upset by it.

God wants us to take His word to heart. To seriously consider what it says and what it means to us. Even if what it says is upsetting, we must realize that this is truth. It will happen. Knowing that should cause us to think about the ramifications of what we're about to read in Revelation. How should it change the way we think and the way we behave? Our goals?

So, as we journey through Revelation - the book of our future - let's take it to heart. Please feel free to share with us through comments to this and future posts, what you are thinking and feeling about what we're reading and learning.

(Note - I know that sometimes this invites comments by people who are only interested in stirring up controversy and anger. Those posts will be deleted.  However, posts that ask honest questions or doubts will be posted and addressed to the best of our ability.)

Prayer:
Father, we ask that you open our heart, spirits and minds to understand and receive what you have for us in the book of Revelation. Let us take it to heart. Show us how to apply it to our lives and our behavior. Amen
 
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Loopholes in the Bible?

W. C. Fields spent his last weeks in a hospital, where a friend stopped by for a visit and caught Fields reading the Bible. When asked why, Fields replied, "I'm checking for loopholes."^[1]


When I heard this on the radio today, it made me laugh, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how tragic it was.

Fields, was "an avowed atheist [who] regarded all religions with the suspicion of a seasoned con man."^[2]   And yet, at the end of his life, he was drawn to the Word of God, possibly hoping that he might convince himself that God isn't real and that there is no heaven or hell...or at least if there is, that there might be some way for a man, who had denied the existance of God and squandered his life on sinful living to wiggle out of the sure consequences of such choices.

I doubt he found any loopholes. God's Word is very clear. There is a God, a Creator of the Universe, who loves each one of us so much that when we stood condemned by our sin, He sent His Son to pay the penalty for that sin, so that we might have a restored relationship with the Father and receive the promise of eternal life with Him after we leave this world.

That is the truth as found in the Bible. Whether we choose to believe it or to reject it does not change the truth, it only determines where we will spend our eternity.

As for me, I choose to believe it and if at the end of my life someone finds me reading my Bible, it won't be because I'm looking for loopholes. It will be because I am reading about my future!

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(Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

Footnotes:
1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._C._Fields
2 - Jordan, S. C. (2008). Hollywood's original rat pack The bards of Bundy Drive. Lanham, Maryland [u.a.]: Scarecrow Press. p. 151. ISBN 0-8108-6032-5