I'm am such a black and white kind of person. I
want my little list of rules of do's and don'ts. As Christians we aren't
called to live a life of rules. We are
called to live in a relationship.
1 Corinthians 1:9 says "God is faithful,
through whom you were called into FELLOWSHIP WITH HIS SON, Jesus Christ our
Lord." and in 1 John 1:3 " what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you
also, so that YOU TOO may have Fellowship with us; and indeed OUR FELLOWSHIP is
WITH THE FATHER, and WITH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST."
One of the biggest area's that I struggle with
in my relationship with God is my thought
life. Our thoughts and mind are so important to God that between those two
words they are mentioned over 300 times in the bible.
Don't kid yourself that this area isn't
important to God that just because people can't see your thoughts they don't
matter. But also please don't be discouraged that if you struggle and even fail
at times in the battle for your mind and you give into sinful thoughts. David
lost the fight against lustful thoughts in his mind, but it is still even after he was called a man after God's own heart.
Ya'll we're going to screw up some times in so
many area's of our Christian walk, but remember Christ isn't looking for
perfection but direction. So if you
struggle with keeping your thought life pure like I so often do don't loose
heart but keep your direction with a heart and actions that are in direction
towards Christ.
FROM WHAT DO I GUARD MY
THOUGHTS -
In Ephesians 6:12; we're told we fight not
with flesh and blood but with "spiritual forces of wickedness". The fight
for our mind is a fight between spiritual darkness and eternal
light. In Galatians 5:19 we are given 15 specific things that we need to
guard ourselves from.
"Now the deeds of the flesh are
evident, which are:
SEXUAL IMORALITTY, IMPURE THOUGHTS, EAGERNESS FOR LUSTFUL PLEASURE, IDOLATRY, PRACTICPATION IN DEMONIC ACTIVITIES, HOSTILITY, QUARRELING, JEALOUSY, OUT BURSTS OF ANGER, SELFISH DESIRE, DIVISION, THE FEELING THAT EVERYONE IS
WRONG EXCEPT YOU, ENVY, DRUNKENNESS, WILD PARTIES,
and other kinds of sin. Gal.
5:19
"The MIND of a sinful man is
death, but the mind controlled by the spirit is life."
HOW DO I GUARD MY
THOUGHTS -
I started memorizing
Philippians 4:8 in small little chunks. Like this week I'm memorizing
the very first line, and that's all I'm doing is "Whatever is true." I do that because this verse overwhelms
me. I see the list of all of these things and it's exhausting trying to swallow
what this verse is saying, so daily I'm running my thoughts by, am I thinking on
truth? And next week I'll add in, am I thinking things that are honorable? When I
take this verse in small little bite size sections I am able more and more to
put into practice what I'm memorizing. So try this for the next couple of weeks
pick one things and start to run your thoughts through a check by that.
"Finally brethern :whatever is TRUE what ever is HONORABLE whatever is RIGHT whatever is PURE whatever is LOVELEY what ever is of GOOD REPORT if anything EXCALLENT or PRAISE WORTHY think
on these things." Phil. 4:8
"Set your MIND on things
above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and are hidden with
Christ." Col. 2:2-3
TRUE - Is what I'm
thinking about God, my friends, what God has said, is it
True?
HONORABLE - Am I thinking on things that claim respect? Is my thoughts
about my parents authority over my life and God's rules for my life
respectful?
RIGHT - Is
it right before God? Is it something that Christ would say was
right?
PURE - ps. 119:9 One impure thought
will screw up all of me. Christ is my power to keep
pure.
LOVELY - ps. 84:1 Am I thinking on heaven bound things?
GOOD
REPORT - Salvation
is of good report (Eph. 2:8) My future perfection (Phil 1:6) God's
love (Jn. 3:16 ). Am I thinking about things that will encourage mine or other's
walk in Christ?
WHY GUARD MY THOUGHTS -
Because my thoughts are seen by the LORD. If
you are like me you have fallen into the lie that our thought aren't all that
important as long as our life is looking like it should. But what a lie satan
has used.
The Lord sees our thoughts and longs for our
thoughts to dwell on Him and the richness of His glory.
"The LORD knows the thoughts of
men. They are a mere breath." Ps. 94:11
"Set YOUR MIND on things above,
not on things that are on earth.
For you have died and are hidden
with Christ."
Col. 2:2-3
CLOSING THOUGHT
Jim George talks about being in boot camp and
hearing the phrase "war is hell". I would have to agree the war for our mind is
hell, but because your mind is what holds knowledge, stores up wisdom, activates
action, it needs to be guarded and led. It needs to be. It's a battle - don't fool
yourself. You
will have to fight to have a mind that is set on things above.
You will have to wake up choosing
to think the thoughts
you think. You will have to choose daily where you let your mind wander to. As
you lay in bed at night you will have to fight to keep your thoughts pure and
glorifying.
But don't loose heart. Christ was human too, and
He knows what the battle is like. He in His Word has given
us really simple ways to keep our mind and thoughts right.
Notice I didn't say
easy. I would have to lie to say for me or you that any of these verses
are easy to put into practice, but they are dummie proof. They are simple and
clear on where our thoughts need to go and not go. The first and greatest
command is to love God with ALL our heart and soul and MIND.(Matt.22:37)
You can't leave reading this devotion saying
"Today I'm going to have a right mind", because it's only Christ that empowers
us to have right thoughts and a God glorifying mind.
Commit daily to have a devotion so you are
filling your mind with words straight from God's mind. And pray, you have a
direct line to the throne of God the one who has the mighty power, so use that
direct line. Pray, ask Him to help you choose to think right
thoughts.
Make your thoughts captive to Christ by doing
these things, love HIM with your
thoughts.
"Thanks be to God! Who gives
us victory through our LORD Jesus Christ."
1 Cor.
15:57