Your thoughts, what you’re thinking, has a lot to do with the way your life is. (Proverbs 23:7) says: For as he thinks in his heart so is he. What you keep your mind on will decide whether you will have peace or whether you will be full of anxiety in this embroiled, troubled world.
(Romans 12:2KJV) says “But be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
And the message reads “So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.( Romans 12:1-2 MSG)”
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, [If you do what this verse says, then the next verse will come into play.] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. [And the way you keep from being anxious for nothing is by doing what verse 8 says.] Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate [constantly think] on these things.(Philippians 4:6-8 KJV)” ”Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies (Philippians 4:6-9 MSG)”
So, what’s on your mind? What are you thinking? The word think means "to decide by pondering, reasoning or reflecting and to consider." What we think is what we can become. Where we have kept our minds is where we are. Our thoughts can shape our behavior. Otherwise, what we do is what we think. In Quoting William Barkley, "It is a law of life that if a man thinks on something often enough and long enough, he will come to the stage when he cannot stop thinking about it. His thoughts will be quite literally in a groove out of which he cannot jerk them." How many people have gotten into bad situations because they just kept thinking and thinking and thinking about it until they found themselves in a mess. What are you thinking about? Are you thinking righteous or unrighteous thoughts? Are you thinking?
Are you thinking about gratifying the flesh through such things as pride, self, greed, pleasure, sex, angry exchanges, jealousies, envies, desires, and negative attitudes?
What about the lusts of the eyes through such things as immoral pornographic filth flaunted in magazines, films, books, television, and clothes that reveal too much of the body in a vulgar way?
Consider the desire for recognition, honor, position, and power? It is okay to want to be recognized, but will you do anything for recognition, to the extent of committing a sin or hurting someone in to get what you want.
Your mindset, fixated on the world system is what leads the flesh to anxiety, worry, emptiness, and restlessness.
So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective. (Colossians 3:1-2 MSG)
So if you’re serious about this walk with Christ and the things above, this means setting your mind on the things of God, and you find out about the things of God, from His Word. Taking control of your mind and doing what it is you should doing, will determine your will. What’s your mindset.
“Lord do in me Your will in my mind and with my flesh”.
Here is the scripture we’re familiar with, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1-2) Now let’s read another translation. So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
We can renew our minds, but we have to think about God and His great love for mankind. If you don't, you will think in line with the world than with the things of God. You have to understand that the body always wants to gratify the flesh. You have to train the body, make it do what your spirit wants, kill it, sacrifice it. And sacrifice is not fun, but it is the joy of the Lord you want. Not the fleshly life of this world.
(Ephesians 4:20-24 MSG) “But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.”
It is our responsibility to do something about our minds. Once you have been converted and become a new man, your focus needs to be about the thoughts of God, and the good things of life. We, as Believers, should never dwell on immoral, fleshly, worldly, selfish, sinful or evil thoughts. Sinful and negative thoughts disrupt and destroy our peace. Your mind will go down to the level of the flesh, and it will take control, because we will then live in the flesh and that is the thing we’ll gravitate to. And that is why we need to operate in the Word of God in order to control our thinking, which will control our flesh. And the word of God will take over our actions and then we will be in the will of God. Are we doing the right thing? That’s all I have.
(Romans 12:2KJV) says “But be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
And the message reads “So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.( Romans 12:1-2 MSG)”
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, [If you do what this verse says, then the next verse will come into play.] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. [And the way you keep from being anxious for nothing is by doing what verse 8 says.] Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate [constantly think] on these things.(Philippians 4:6-8 KJV)” ”Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies (Philippians 4:6-9 MSG)”
So, what’s on your mind? What are you thinking? The word think means "to decide by pondering, reasoning or reflecting and to consider." What we think is what we can become. Where we have kept our minds is where we are. Our thoughts can shape our behavior. Otherwise, what we do is what we think. In Quoting William Barkley, "It is a law of life that if a man thinks on something often enough and long enough, he will come to the stage when he cannot stop thinking about it. His thoughts will be quite literally in a groove out of which he cannot jerk them." How many people have gotten into bad situations because they just kept thinking and thinking and thinking about it until they found themselves in a mess. What are you thinking about? Are you thinking righteous or unrighteous thoughts? Are you thinking?
Are you thinking about gratifying the flesh through such things as pride, self, greed, pleasure, sex, angry exchanges, jealousies, envies, desires, and negative attitudes?
What about the lusts of the eyes through such things as immoral pornographic filth flaunted in magazines, films, books, television, and clothes that reveal too much of the body in a vulgar way?
Consider the desire for recognition, honor, position, and power? It is okay to want to be recognized, but will you do anything for recognition, to the extent of committing a sin or hurting someone in to get what you want.
Your mindset, fixated on the world system is what leads the flesh to anxiety, worry, emptiness, and restlessness.
So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective. (Colossians 3:1-2 MSG)
So if you’re serious about this walk with Christ and the things above, this means setting your mind on the things of God, and you find out about the things of God, from His Word. Taking control of your mind and doing what it is you should doing, will determine your will. What’s your mindset.
“Lord do in me Your will in my mind and with my flesh”.
Here is the scripture we’re familiar with, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1-2) Now let’s read another translation. So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
We can renew our minds, but we have to think about God and His great love for mankind. If you don't, you will think in line with the world than with the things of God. You have to understand that the body always wants to gratify the flesh. You have to train the body, make it do what your spirit wants, kill it, sacrifice it. And sacrifice is not fun, but it is the joy of the Lord you want. Not the fleshly life of this world.
(Ephesians 4:20-24 MSG) “But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.”
It is our responsibility to do something about our minds. Once you have been converted and become a new man, your focus needs to be about the thoughts of God, and the good things of life. We, as Believers, should never dwell on immoral, fleshly, worldly, selfish, sinful or evil thoughts. Sinful and negative thoughts disrupt and destroy our peace. Your mind will go down to the level of the flesh, and it will take control, because we will then live in the flesh and that is the thing we’ll gravitate to. And that is why we need to operate in the Word of God in order to control our thinking, which will control our flesh. And the word of God will take over our actions and then we will be in the will of God. Are we doing the right thing? That’s all I have.
No comments:
Post a Comment