Link to watch the My Hope video and see more video links:
Friday, November 29, 2013
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
The Mind Controlled by the Spirit
One of the most effective ways for me to calm my anxious
mind and refocus my thoughts on Jesus is to meditate on the verses I found and
wrote down back in 2004 that speak truth to my soul. During my quiet time recently,
I wrote down a few; and as I wrote the words, I meditated on their meanings. I
used my NIV Hebrew-Greek Study Bible Lexicon to gain even more insight. You can
do this online here.
Here’s my example: Romans 8:6 “The mind of sinful man is
death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.” (NIV84)
Life—zoe (Greek)—Life, the element or principle of life in
the spirit and soul. Distinguished from “bios”, life, the course of life, the
business and affairs of life. Zoe is used most often in connection with eternal
life. This life is the very life of God of which believers are made partakers.
Peace—Eirene(Greek)—peace, tranquility, repose, calm,
harmony, accord; well-being prosperity. It denotes a state of untroubled,
undisturbed, well-being. Such a state of peace is the object of divine promise
and is brought about by God’s mercy, granting deliverance and freedom from all
the distresses that are experienced as a result of sin. Hence the message of
salvation is called the gospel of peace, for this peace can only be the result
of reconciliation with God, referring to the new relationship between man and
God brought about by the atonement.
After reading about these two words and how they relate to
Romans 8:6, I applied it to my life: The mind controlled by the Spirit is God’s
life for me. It’s eternal life, life to my spirit and soul. It’s true life: it
keeps me alive to Christ and dead to sin. And it’s deliverance--freedom from
the distresses caused by sin in my life or by sin in others’ lives. It’s calm,
tranquility and harmony in my thought life. No fear, no striving, indecision,
anxiety, disorganization of my thoughts. No despair or dismay. No judging
others or thinking negatively about them. Only peace, a sense of well-being, thoughts
aligned with God’s Spirit. A mind
controlled by the Spirit is a praying mind—a mind stayed on God.
This is the kind of mind I want, but it takes yielding to
the Spirit and not insisting on my own way. That’s something we can pray about—asking
God to help us yield to the Spirit's control so that we may have His life and His peace.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
My Determined Purpose
Sometimes we get disappointed with ourselves because we’re
believers but our actions (or maybe reactions) aren’t what we want them to be
in certain situations. Sometimes we get disheartened because we know God could
change some things in us, but He hasn’t yet.
Sometimes the battle is an old one-- that “thorn in the flesh.” Sometimes we don’t feel like “more than
conquerors”, and yet, we know we have a Champion for whom nothing is impossible
and Who is “for” us, not “against” us. Sometimes trying to
walk like Jesus walked seems too hard, and it’s easier to say, “I give
up” instead of looking up and trying one more time.
Negative thoughts and feelings can really discourage us,
paralyze us, and drag us into despair. We need to take them captive and bring
them to Christ. We are not perfect human beings. We need to confess our sins
and shortcomings. We need to accept hardship as the Lord’s discipline, knowing
that we’re being changed for the better. Our hearts and our faith are being purified. In the meantime, Jesus says His grace is sufficient for us. God’s
Word tells us that He is indeed working in us to will and to do His good
pleasure. We’re encouraged to stand firm and to put on the armor of God in
Ephesians 6. And in order to think like Christ, we need to meditate on God's Word which contains whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable,
noteworthy, excellent. (We're told to think on these things in Phil. 4:8) Then we can trust God to take care of our concerns and problems
that we’ve laid out before Him in prayer. We can cast all our anxieties on
Jesus because He cares for us. We can trust Jesus. But it’s hard to trust Him
if you don’t know Him.
Almost a year ago, I placed a card on my
refrigerator that had this verse on it: “[For my determined purpose is] that I
may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately
acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders
of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way
come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [the power it exerts
over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually
transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death.” (Phil. 3:10; Amp)
“For my determined purpose” caught
my attention when I read it again recently. If I’m going to continue this
spiritual walk I’m on, I’ve got to be determined and turn away from anything
that would keep me from knowing Jesus my Lord deeply and intimately, as well as
knowing His spiritual power. I can’t imagine a better example of someone more determined
than Paul, the writer of Phil 3:10 and Phil. 4:8. Beaten, flogged, jailed, chained, chased, surviving shipwrecks,
ridiculed, rejected. He must have been determined since he never gave up. It inspires me and convicts
me to make knowing Jesus my determined purpose because Jesus went through much
worse for me. Beaten, flogged, ridiculed, rejected, spit upon, crucified,
pierced. But that wasn’t the end. He had to endure the cup of God’s wrath for
the sins of the world in addition to the physical suffering. I can’t even
imagine what all He went through for me and for you. And then, victory—just as
He promised. Resurrection. Hope. Eternal life.
Paul says something else about his trials
as he continued in his determined purpose—“But the Lord stood at
my side and gave me strength….” (2 Tim.
4:17, NIV) We can count
on the Lord standing by us. As soon as we cry out, He strengthens us. Jesus
loves us with an unfailing, unending, unconditional love. He is worthy of our
love, our devotion, our determined purpose to know Him.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
A Prayer
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Focusing on Jesus in the Midst of Difficulties
How do we keep our minds on Christ in the midst of
difficulties? For anxiety-prone people like me, the answer to this question is
extremely important. John Ortberg talked about this in If You Want to Walk on
Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat. He reaffirmed what I’d learned from one of Beth Moore's studies: whatever we focus our minds on, whatever we meditate on continually, determines
the way we think. I love this excerpt from Ortberg’s book: “Psychologist
Archibald Hart writes, ‘Research has shown that one's thought life influences
every aspect of one's being.’ Whether we are filled with confidence or fear
depends on the kind of thoughts that habitually occupy our minds. The way you
think creates your attitudes; the way you think shapes your emotions; the way
you think governs your behavior; the way you think deeply influences your
immune system and vulnerability to illness. Everything about you flows out of
the way you think. I believe this is one of those cases where we are simply
coming to confirm what the writers of Scriptures knew quite clearly all along. Paul
said, 'Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your minds.'
The law of exposure is as inviolable as the law of gravity.
No one is surprised by the law of gravity. No one says, 'Hey, I dropped
this priceless antique crystal vase on cement and it broke. What are the odds
of that?' But amazingly enough, people react to the law of exposure in
total shock. People are surprised that what their minds are constantly exposed
to, attend to, and dwell on eventually comes out in how they feel and what they
do.
The events you attend, the material you read (or don't), the
music you hear, the images you watch, the conversations you hold, the daydreams
you entertain-all are shaping your mind and, ultimately, your character and
destiny. This is supremely true when it comes to hope.
Is. 26:3 says, 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on thee.' It all depends on where your mind stays.
The good news is that you can put these laws to work for you. If you really
want to become a certain kind of person--a hopeful person focused on Christ--you
must begin to think thoughts that will produce those characteristics. So we
understand why Paul said, 'Think about these things.' When you focus
on Christ, these are the kinds of thoughts he will inspire you to think.
Therefore you must put your mind in a place that will lead you to think
hope-producing thoughts. You need to expose your mind to those resources,
books, tapes, people, and conversations that will incline you toward confidence
in God. Your mind will think most about what it is most exposed to.”
So true! When I
begin the day by praying to God and then reading His Word, and when I sit in
silence and listen with my heart to what He’s saying to me, or while I’m
engaged in memorizing a few verses, or singing praises to Him, or meditating on
a psalm, there is a marked difference in the peace and joy that I have and in
my awareness of God's faithfulness and love for me. My blood pressure goes
down, and so does my heart rate. My thoughts are pleasant and faith-filled. I
feel the peace of God and His Presence. John Ortberg has much more to say about
feeding your mind and soul in his book.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
What is Truth?
The Bible can tear you up or it can heal you. It all depends on your relationship to the Lord. It's not head knowledge that counts--it's heart knowledge. When you become a friend of Jesus, when you make Him Lord of your life, then the Word becomes alive in you, and the Bible confirms what you already know in your heart--God is real, Jesus is alive, and God's Word is true. Healing begins. Having the Spirit of Jesus Christ as your moment-by-moment Counselor, Friend, Shepherd, Sustainer, Helper, Healer is worth giving up your own self-made belief system which will destroy you in the end and rob you of the Greater Glory--Christ living in you.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
The Truth that Defeats The Lies I've Told Myself
All Scripture in NIV unless otherwise noted.
LIE—I am all alone
with no one to help me.
TRUTH
Hebrews 13:5-6 “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never
will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will
not be afraid.’”
Joshua 1:5 “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I
will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Isaiah 49:15-16 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”
Matthew 28:20 “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
John 14:15-17 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
Psalm 9:10 “Those who know your Name will trust in you, for
you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”
LIE—I am going to lose my mind.
TRUTH
Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” (NKJV)
Romans 8:6b “The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.”
Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
1 Corinthians 14:15 “So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.”
(See also, 1 Corinthians 2:16; Romans 8:27;)
LIE—I am not safe!
There is no place where I can be safe!
TRUTH
Psalm 18:2 “The Lord
is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find
protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.
(NLT)
TRUTH
Psalm 85:8 “I will
listen to what God the LORD will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints— but let them not return to folly.”
Isaiah 32:17 “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness
will be quietness and confidence forever.”
John 14:27 “Peace
I leave with you; my peace I
give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be
troubled and do not be afraid.”
John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you
may have peace. In this world
you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
(See also, Psalm 29:11; 34:14; 1 Peter 3:11; John 20:19, 21,
26; Ephesians 2:14)
LIE—I’ll never
change; I’ll always be afraid.
TRUTH
Isaiah 43:1-2;4 "Fear
not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When
you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the
rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you.”
you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you.”
Isaiah 43:19 “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it
springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams
in the wasteland.”
2 Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen
those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
Ephesians 6:10-11;14-18 “Be strong in the LORD and in His
mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand
against the devil’s schemes. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled
around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with
your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In
addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can
extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit….”
(See also, Isaiah 35:4; 41:10; 41:13; Joshua 1:5-7; Jeremiah
30:10)
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