April 10, 2019

Right Or Wrong?

The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. – Romans 8:6

The rant was unexpected and hard. No. It wasn’t directed at me but I was shocked just the same. She had fixed her mind on one thing and all the other things had somehow become attached to it.

That one thing was a “very nice man” who needed to lose his job. Why? Because he didn’t do enough work to justify a full-time position. I spoke truth gently. She didn’t want to hear it but I said the words anyway. The man did many things of which she was unaware. He is a servant. But it also is a pointless thing. His job is secure and she is wasting time and energy being angry about it.

She has convinced herself everything in one church service will be better if this man goes away. The committee that oversees the service has apparently devoted countless hours to discussing this. I now understand why the service is stagnant. The people who lead it are too busy pointing fingers to accomplish anything.

We all do this. We focus our minds on what’s wrong. We decide that something or someone else is to blame. We don’t do anything different. We don’t see ourselves as needing to change. We aren’t the problem we tell ourselves. We also aren’t the solution.

When the mind is focused on the flesh we allow evil to take control. We focus on ourselves, ignoring gratitude and rightness, and head straight down a path headed away from God. Every time. Where are you headed?

May 7, 2016

Thoughts Control You

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me

-- Psalm 13:2

What’s on your mind today? What keeps coming up as you travel through your day? Who has upset you? What has happened that you keep rehashing again and again?

Because whatever is on your mind is what controls you.

So many of our battles actually take place in our mind. We go over and over events that are past -- some good and some bad -- and never seem to move on. Maybe you’ve met someone who still lives for the glory days of high school, even though it was years ago. Or maybe you know someone who suffered through a divorce a decade ago and yet the bitterness comes out again and again.

Or maybe you spend your time worrying about what might happen in the future. It’s so easy to imagine all kinds of scenarios that aren’t likely to ever occur. We waste so much time and energy on a future we can’t predict. Do what you can to prepare and trust God to see you through the rest. In other words, let it go.

We can’t possibly enjoy today when our minds are on the past or the future. Life is what happens when we’re grieving the past and planning the future. Focus on life.

It’s especially hard to enjoy today when we’re trying to come to terms with heartbreak. That person is still gone every minute of every day. There is a void there where a loved one once stood. That’s where the choice comes: Do we wallow in what we can’t change or rejoice over memories and the promise of an eternal reunion?

That sounds callous doesn’t it? I don’t mean it to be. Even years after the loss, grief can come crashing in suddenly and fiercely. But the choice not to dwell there belongs to you. It comes with taking control of your thoughts rather than letting the grief control you.

The same is true with betrayal. It’s easy to get caught up in thoughts of revenge and justice. For what purpose? God avenges His own. Don’t let someone who betrayed you continue to control you by occupying your thoughts. Trust God to handle it in His time. He will.

King David frequently poured out his anguish and grief to God. We can learn from him and do the same. There’s something so freeing in giving God all that’s in the past, all the worries for the future, our grief and our brokenness. It allows us to refocus our minds on today and the joy that comes anew each morning with His Presence and our love for the One who saved us.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Let God Encourage You

But David found strength in the LORD his God.

-- 1 Samuel 30:6b

David understood what it was like to be alone, without support, without anyone in his corner. What he did in that moment is a lesson to us all. David turned to God and so should we.

Let’s take a look at David’s life so we can truly understand what he faced. King Saul was trying to kill David so David had fled for his life. He had a band of 400 ragtag warriors. They’d gone to offer their services to the Philistines and had returned to Ziklag only to find that the town had been destroyed by the Amalekites, who also had taken all their wives and children.

As is usually the case when things go wrong, somebody was going to get blamed. And that person was David. In fact, his warriors were talking about stoning him to death. This is the point where David turned to God for strength. Can you relate? Do you know how it feels to have the world turn on you, whether it’s justified or not?

“Life had reduced his options to one,” David Jeremiah writes in his book The Joy of Encouragement. “Sooner or later, life does that to all of us.”

Yes, it does. How you handle that moment will determine whether you continue to follow God or whether you give Satan a foothold in your life.

Jeremiah gives some pretty basic advice on what to do when you’re all alone and need encouragement. First, spend time alone with God. Turn off the television, get the earplugs out of your ears and power off your computer. Close the door. Go for a walk. Get somewhere by yourself so that in the stillness you can hear God’s voice.

Second, turn to the Bible. It’s the best life manual you’ll ever own. Make sure that you get a translation you can easily understand and then read it. Jeremiah notes that sometimes it seems we’re more interested in reading a book about the Bible than we are in actually reading the Bible. So start reading.

Where do you look in the Bible for encouragement? Look to the psalms of David. Try Psalm 27:1. Or Psalm 34:4. Consider Psalm 46:1-3. And, again, listen to God. He will lead you to what you need, when you need it.

Lastly, Jeremiah suggests music. It’s such a simple suggestion. And one I’ve used numerous times without ever really thinking about it. When I’m hurting or discouraged, I seek out music that will inspire me and remind me of God’s love.

We can remember that God is with us, walking beside us, or we can blindly lose hope. We can hold on to what we know or we can believe the naysayers all around us. We can build ourselves up or allow Satan -- by using our minds and other people -- to tear us down. Our lives are full of choices. Which choice will you make?

Friday, October 28, 2011

Stop Sin From First Thought

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. -- Psalm 139:23-24

Where does sin start? No. I’m not talking about Adam and Eve and the apple and the serpent. In your life today, where does sin start? Beth Moore says it starts in your mind, then goes to your mouth and then comes the deed. She may be right.

Most times before we sin, we think about it. We consider what we want. We wonder how we can get it. We make excuses for ourselves. We let our imaginations run wild. We tell ourselves we just can’t help ourselves. And we do it all in our minds.

Then we start heading toward the sin. We lash out in anger. We flirt with someone we shouldn’t be flirting with. We spend money we don’t have. We lie about where we’ve been. We spend hours online with people we don’t know so we can avoid interacting with the people we do know. We tell ourselves it’s not a big deal. We laugh and pretend that everything is okay. We haven’t actually done anything yet.

And then we do. We cross a line. We live out our fantasies. We do something we shouldn’t do because we wanted to. We couldn’t help ourselves. No one will ever find out. No one will ever get hurt. Yeah, right.

Moore gives the example of David and Bathsheba. David wasn’t at war, like he should have been. He was restless and bored. He spotted a beautiful woman bathing and lusted after her in his mind. Then he sent people to find out who she was. Still, he wasn’t satisfied. So King David sent messengers to bring Bathsheba to him and he slept with her. The story might have ended there but, as we all know, it didn’t. She became pregnant and David eventually had her husband killed. So lust turned to an unplanned pregnancy and the murder of an innocent man. Sin has consequences.

Imagine how different our lives would be if we could stop sin while it was still a product of our minds. We could confess our sin to God, meditate on His word, and move on. No one else would get hurt because it would stay between us and God.

Ask God to search your heart and mind. Ask Him to tell you where your mind is leading you astray. Stop sin before it has a chance to wreck havoc and destroy lives.