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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Face-time with the Mirror

Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living.

Let’s return to the Lord.

Lamentations 3:40 (nirv)

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When the New Year rolls around, our tendency is to review the past and set goals for the future. There's nothing wrong with that, but what about the here and now?  After all, we don't live in the past or the future.  If we do, that's a great topic for a different post, but today I want to look at the present.

Our focus verse in Lamentations says "Let's take a good look at the way we're (we are) living..."  right now.  In this moment, today, does our behavior and our thoughts reflect someone who is dedicated to living life for the Lord? Or does it more closely resemble living for ourselves or in sync with the way the world lives?

It's easy to fool those around us...to live one way before them and live an entirely different way when we're alone and no one is watching.  It's even easy to fool ourselves sometimes, but the Lord is watching 24/7. He knows our hearts, our attitudes, our thoughts and our coverups. We're not fooling him.

So, this is a perfect time to take a good look at the way we're living.  A little honest face-time in the mirror is in order. Some self-examination, some contemplative knee-time before the Lord, asking His opinion.  But don't just do this at the change of the calendar year. Do it on a continual basis, asking ourselves if the way we're living is leading us closer to the Lord or further away from Him. And if the answer is the latter, then the last part of our focus verse comes into play. "Let's return to the Lord."

Make this an ongoing practice in 2014 and you'll find that you don't stray too far before the Holy Spirit reminds you to turn around and head back to your First Love.

Have a Blessed New Year!


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