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MIND YOUR MIND

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MIND YOUR MIND

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if there is anything excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received from me, or seen in me – put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9.

Paul’s prescription for living ends in a crescendo of triumphant declaration – the God of peace will be with you. How did he get there?

The key is in your thought life. What we think, we are and what we think, we do. Anxious thoughts lead to foolish choices. The solution is to take possession of your mind and bend it towards God instead of indulging in random and undisciplined thinking.

This is not about playing mind games. This is about spiritual warfare. Yes, spiritual warfare! The notion that spiritual warfare is about pulling down demonic strongholds over nations and regions and flushing out demons from behind every bush is not Biblical and a complete waste of time. The way to deal with the devil is to give him no place in your mind.

Deeds and actions are conceived in the mind according to what we believe to be true. The hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 believed that they were doing God’s will and pleasing him when they flew the plane into the north tower of the Twin Towers in New York. Reciting prayers to Allah as the plane crashed into the tower, they thought that they were doing the right thing because it was in keeping with their understanding of the will of their god.

Just as it is impossible to be anxious and at peace at the same time, so it is impossible to think two conflicting thoughts at the same time. The only way to get rid of wrong thoughts is to replace them with thoughts about things that are good, pure and lovely. Where do we find thoughts like that when the world is continually bombarding us with thoughts of ungodliness?

We will think the thoughts about the things that we have fed into our minds. We live in an era of information overload. Most of the information we receive is either anti-God or completely ignores God as though He does not exist. Like the hijackers of 911, the world has hijacked God’s blessings and prostituted them on their own pleasure and for their own benefit, not giving Him a thought when they squander His resources on themselves.

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and citizens of God’s kingdom, we are not to be like the world. We are to fuel our minds with thoughts that honour God so that what comes out will be words and actions that reflect His presence in our lives. Satan can only plant thoughts in our minds. He cannot control our choices. It is up to us to filter out the thoughts that are Satan-inspired and not a reflection of the nature of God in whose nature we have been recreated.

“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.” 2 Corinthians 10:5, 6.

A mind shaped by learning to think the way God does by filling our minds with God’s word, is a disciplined mind. The outcome is astonishing. “The God of peace will be with you.”  “What’s the big deal?” you say. “I thought that God is always with me.” Sure; that’s what He promised, but being with you and being with you are two entirely different things.

You can accompany a person who is committing a crime without being with him, approving of and supporting him in his action. On the other hand, you can be entirely with a person when he is doing a good deed, helping him wherever necessary so that the outcome is good. There are many references in Scripture where God was “with” a person so that he prospered and fulfilled his calling: Joseph in Egypt, Samuel, David as king of Israel and most of all, Jesus.

It’s that kind of being “with” us that Paul was emphasising. Just imagine – when you take the time to fill your mind with the word of God and begin to see your life from God’s perspective, instead of whining about your hardships, you will begin to praise Him. Difficulties will become opportunities, like they were for Joseph. Hardships will be lessons in trust, like they were for Paul. Don’t you think that you will experience God’s overwhelming peace because He is upholding and supporting you in your trial?

He will do anything for those who are willing to praise Him in trouble, because praise is an expression of trust. And the outcome will be more than you can imagine of hope for just as it was for Joseph. Do the right thing for God and He will do the right thing for you. But you must think it first!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Mind Your Mind

Bible Study, , , , ,

MIND YOUR MIND

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if there is anything excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received from me, or seen in me – put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9.

Paul’s prescription for living ends in a crescendo of triumphant declaration – the God of peace will be with you. How did he get there?

The key is in your thought life. What we think, we are and what we think, we do. Anxious thoughts lead to foolish choices. The solution is to take possession of your mind and bend it towards God instead of indulging in random and undisciplined thinking.

This is not about playing mind games. This is about spiritual warfare. Yes, spiritual warfare! The notion that spiritual warfare is about pulling down demonic strongholds over nations and regions and flushing out demons from behind every bush is not Biblical and a complete waste of time. The way to deal with the devil is to give him no place in your mind

Deeds and actions are conceived in the mind according to what we believe to be true. The hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 believed that they were doing God’s will and pleasing him when they flew the plane into the north tower of the Twin Towers in New York. Reciting prayers to Allah as the plane crashed into the tower, they thought that they were doing the right thing because it was in keeping with their understanding of the will of their god.

Just as it is impossible to be anxious and at peace at the same time, so it is impossible to think two conflicting thoughts at the same time. The only way to get rid of wrong thoughts is to replace them with thoughts about things that are good, pure and lovely. Where do we find thoughts like that when the world is continually bombarding us with thoughts of ungodliness?

We will think the thoughts about the things that we have fed into our minds. We live in an era of information overload. Most of the information we receive is either anti-God or completely ignores God as though He does not exist. Like the hijackers of 911, the world has hijacked God’s blessings and prostituted them on their own pleasure and for their own benefit, not giving Him a thought when they squander His resources on themselves.

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and citizens of God’s kingdom, we are not to be like that. We are to fuel our minds with thoughts that honour God so that what comes out will be words and actions that reflect His presence in our lives. Satan can only plant thought in our minds. He cannot control our choices. It is up to us to filter out the thoughts that are Satan-inspired and not a reflection of the nature of God in whose nature we have been recreated.

“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.” 2 Corinthians 10:5, 6.

A mind shaped by learning to think the way God does by filling our minds with God’s word, is a disciplined mind. The outcome is astonishing. “The God of peace will be with you.”  “What’s the big deal?” you say. “I thought that God is always with me.” Sure; that’s what He promised, but being with you and being with you are two entirely different things.

 

You can accompany a person who is committing a crime without being with him, approving of and supporting him in his action. On the other hand, you can be entirely with a person when he is doing a good deed, helping him wherever necessary so that the outcome is good. There are many references in Scripture where God was “with” a person so that he prospered and fulfilled his calling: Joseph in Egypt, Samuel, David as king of Israel and most of all, Jesus.

It’s that kind of being “with” us that Paul was emphasising. Just imagine – when you take the time to fill your mind with the word of God and begin to see your life from God’s perspective, instead of whining about your hardships, you will begin to praise Him. Difficulties will become opportunities, like they were for Joseph. Hardships will be lessons in trust, like they were for Paul. Don’t you think that you will experience God’s overwhelming peace because He is upholding and supporting you in your trial?

He will do anything for those who are willing to praise Him in trouble, because it is an expression of trust. And the outcome will be more than you can imagine of hope for just as it was for Joseph. Do the right thing for God and He will do the right thing for you. But you have to think it first!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

A Big Man In A Little Book

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A BIG MAN IN A LITTLE BOOK

“Because of this the rumour spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; He only said, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?’

“This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for all the books that would be written.” John 21:23-25.

What a strange way to end his story! It’s almost as though John could not think of anything more to say, so he ended with a rather weak statement which could possibly fit any other busy and famous person.

First of all, it seems that John had a perfectly good reason for including his bit about the misunderstanding that Jesus’ words had spawned. The story became twisted in the telling, like most stories do, and John needed to correct it because the rumour that had spread that he would remain alive until Jesus returned would set off a chain reaction among believers. They would give up on life and sit around waiting for Jesus to rescue them from the evil world. That was never Jesus’ intention.

What about the final paragraph? Was it just an inane statement to end the book because John didn’t know what else to say? At face value it might seem like that, but let’s look at his declaration.

“Jesus did many other things as well.” John had so much material to work with, written records, perhaps; memories that he treasured from his years in the company of Jesus; little incidents that took on new meaning as he thought about them. He had plenty of time to ponder on the many things he had seen and heard. He must have felt overwhelmed at times as he wrote and wrote about this amazing man.

Without a set purpose for writing, John would have got lost among the mass of material he had to work with. Talk about writer’s block! John surely knew what that was! Fortunately he had worked out a plan before he started so that he would use only that which served his purpose for writing.

As he thought about his life with Jesus, he felt overwhelmed by the enormity of this man. John was utterly convinced that He was the Son of God, and nothing would ever again shake that conviction, especially after what he had seen in the empty tomb. That was his “light-bulb” moment. The burial cloths spoke volumes about the miracle that had just happened. Jesus had left them undisturbed, as though His body had melted right out of them! Only God could do that.

Yes, John realised, as he looked back, that Jesus was a really, really big person, and that everything He said and did had significance. It’s no wonder that he marvelled at Him so that, to do justice to His story would take all the paper, all the ink and all the energy of all the people of the whole world to write it down! And that was impossible. People would have to be content with what he and his fellow authors had written because it was enough to convince their readers that He really was who He was.

John could not help but assure his readers that he was telling the truth because he was an eyewitness of what he had written. For John, this was an important affirmation of the authenticity of his story because, in a Jewish court of law, there were severe penalties for anyone who gave false information.

And so John ends his book, not with a weak statement that makes his story fizzle out, but with a ringing affirmation that he was carefully selective with his facts, that he was a faithful eyewitness and that he was attempting to tell about someone whose life story was too big for this world.

He makes a grand exit with words something like this, “Hey guys, I did my best to squeeze this huge man into the pages of a small book. I know it’s impossible, but what I have told you is enough to show you that Jesus really is the Son of God. If you believe Him, you’ll know what it’s like to live, really live!”

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Crazy Or True?

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CRAZY OR TRUE? 

“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.

“‘All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him whom sent me.

“‘And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose none of all those He has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks at the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.’” John 6:35-40 (NIV).

Jesus made some crazy statements — unless, of course, they were true!

Firstly, He made the claim that only God could make, ‘I AM.’ But then, before He ever came to the earth in the flesh, He was already here, filling heaven and earth with His presence. He introduced Himself to Moses as “I AM” at the burning bush. How do we know that it was Jesus and not the Father? Because He, the second person of the Trinity, was “the true light that gives light to everyone” and the “life that was light to all mankind” (John 1), the light that was already present on the earth on the first day of creation.

Then He claimed to be bread for the hungry and water for the thirsty. Now we know that He didn’t mean that literally! That was also true because He left a trail of people who believed in Him and followed Him. They went on to tell the world of the peace and satisfaction He gave them which they could find nowhere else and in nothing else.

He also assured them that He would never turn away anyone who believed in Him because they were the Father’s gift to Him. He had pledged to give them eternal life and to raise their bodies at the consummation of the age (the last day) to live in a realm where death and decay would never touch them again.

He spoke of an intimate relationship with the Father where they worked together in unity to restore everything that man had destroyed by his disobedience. Death was the penalty that was passed on to all creation. Even stars die, so the scientists tell us. It was not supposed to be like that but Adam’s decision to go it alone disrupted God’s plan to create a universe where everything functioned in perfect harmony.

How could Jesus be so sure that He would reverse the curse of death that had fallen on the entire creation? Although His death to pay the debt of Adam’s rebellion, and the debt of the entire human race, was accomplished at a specific time in history, from God’s perspective it was a fait accompli from before the foundation of the world. It was a done deal. Jesus could speak of it as a completed transaction.

He forgave sinners because of His sacrifice. He healed sick bodies, raised the dead and evicted demons because He had already overcome the enemy. He had the right to give eternal life to whoever believed in Him then, as well as now because He conquered death and rose from the grave,

He spoke with authority and assurance of what He would do, not because He was crazy but because He was the Son of God.

It hurts me to see how hard people work to secure the favour of their god or gods, bathing in a sacred river to have their sins washed away, faithfully chanting prayers and carrying out rituals, performing ceremonies, sacrificing animals and calling on the dead for help when He offers the free gift of eternal life to those who believe in Him. Not only that but He promises and makes good on His promise to provide the satisfaction that ends our search to fill an empty heart.

Why is it so difficult to believe Him when He proved Himself true by His resurrection? Is it because we do not trust His promise that His gift and His grace are free? He paid the bill so that we can receive the goods.

Have you received Him?