DAY – 5 LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR MIND AND STRENGHT I have had fun for the past four (4) days, I sincerely hope I can say the same about you especially if you have been following, now stop for a moment and totally clear your mind. What was your first thought after you cleared your mind? It may be worship, or may be worry. It may be something that happened at work today How do you love the Lord with all your mind? It obviously has to do with the thoughts that run through your mind throughout the day. To love God with all your mind you must put Gods words into your mind, the truth of Gods words has the power to change the channel of your thinking, if your mind is filled with your thoughts or those of other imposed on you, of course you become frustrated when trying to have worshipful thoughts. One of the most powerful verses in the bible for turning your thoughts to Gods is Philippians 4:8, remember that “thinks” here is a verb indicating a continual habit of thought in eight specific virtues Paul urges us to think in order to draft a blue print of the direction in which our minds are to think. “Whatever is true”: meditate on Gods truth. This word originally Greek (alethes) refers to things that won’t let you down, things you can depend upon in life. “Whatever is noble”: appreciate on Gods worth. The idea behind the word noble is that a person who is aware of the fact that God is at work all around him or her. “Whatever is right”: corporate with Gods plan. “Right” things have to do with Gods directions, Gods will. Before you can do the right thing, you have to think the right “Whatever is pure”: appropriate Gods cleansing. When you pray, “God cleanses my mind of sin” can you take away the memory of the fact that you’ve sinned? No! You can’t sin intrudes our memory and the memory brings guilt. You can’t erase or replace a memory but you can refocus your thoughts on whatever is pure. “Whatever is lovely”: anticipate Gods abundance. The word lovely does not mean “pretty” or “enjoyable”. If you can’t enjoy God in your mind, you are never going to love him with all your mind. “Whatever is admirable”: communicate Gods encouragement. The word used here has behind it the idea of something you admire in others that is worth talking about. It’s all too easy to see the faults in others. Loving God with all your mind involves looking for what’s best in others and telling them “I see something of Gods character in you” “Whatever is excellent”: be motivated by Gods greatness. Let your day be driven, moment-by-moment, by moment, by thinking about the greatness of God. There are a lot of motivations that are short term: selfishness, greed, guilt, fear, worry, pride. “Whatever is praiseworthy”: celebrate Gods goodness. Celebrate I your thoughts what God is doing. The evident goodness of God is all around you. Think about something that is worth celebrating right now. Am not asking us to pretend there’s no evil in the world, neither am I saying we should bury our head in the sand but we can confront and defeat evil by turning our thoughts to him. Isaiah 25:3 “He keeps in perfect peace all those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn often to the lord!” Now we need to tie this all together, your strength is where your inner thoughts and feelings touch the outer world, its were you actually do something about your thoughts and feelings. To love God with all your strengths there are three trusts we must embrace. • You must have confidence that God can do absolutely anything John 14:12. • You must be completely convinced that you can do absolutely nothing of ultimate and eternal significance without the power of Jesus Christ. John 15:5 • You must trust god to turn your weakness into strength. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Accept your feelings of inadequacy and lean on Gods strength, there is a difference between an honest admission of weakness and a self focused feeling of inadequacy. How do you deal with feelings of inadequacy? Why not pray like this “father, you know how am feeling about myself right now. Am tired of pretending am strong, so I ask you to use me in my weakness. I trust in your truth: for when I am weak, you are strong” ….. I care!
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 07:42:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015