Got your attention with that title didn't I? To walk a walk with the Lord and stay on the right path we have to have our minds renewed with the word of God daily. You can not continue to 'feed' your mind with the worlds' garbage and expect to live victoriously. Plus sometimes we have wrong thoughts that lead us into thinking things that are not really happening. We imagine people do not like us. We fear the future. We worry about our children going off God's path. We worry about things at work.
Each and every day you have to start your day with prayer, praise and God's word. Do you wake up and the first thing you do is tune into the local news or the syndicated news shows out of New York City? Sure there may be a lot of good things on them but there are things that bring us down when we hear bad news or gossipy type things all the time. You can stay informed other ways by listening to news on the radio for instance. You may have to discipline yourself to keep the television off in the morning if it is distracting you. Maybe it is the newspaper that you put first before God. You may have to choose to not take the paper for a while if you are constantly spending hours in it and not one bit of time studying or meditating on God's word.
You can have 'the mind of Christ' if you fill your mind with good and pleasant things. If you start to get angry or upset about issues of our present day then try giving it over to God and praying. It helps to praise God when we start to slump into a pit of despair or anger. The world situation may get us down today. At the end of this devotion is a wonderful prayer ministry link that prays for the nation.
Rom 12:1-2 is a good verse to commit to memory and it says "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." You renew your mind when you put good things into it. You may have heard the phrase 'garbage in, garbage out' referring to junk we put into our brains. For instance if you have young ones that you are raising for the Lord what an excellent time to build up the spirit of God that lives inside of them. There are many fine Christian books to read to children and even Christian children's TV shows and DVD's. And of course the most important book to train your children's mind with is God's word.
You have to control what you think. It takes discipline. But with God's help you can get this control. In yesterdays devotion I mentioned self control in the aspect of temptation but now you need self control to tame what comes into your mind. It can be done but it takes practice to think right thoughts. Philippians 4:8 says "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Sincerely ask yourself if things you put into your mind daily meet this heavenly criteria.
Proverbs 23:7 says "as a man thinks in his heart so is he" so if you have wrong thoughts and thinking you have to truly ask for God's help to think the right things. Philippians 2:5 says to "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus". Romans 8:6 says "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace". Philippians 4:7 says "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Where are you today in the 'mind control' department? God can help you if you only call on Him. Start today and read a Psalm or Proverb each day to start getting your mind back on track if you have been away from the word of God for a while. Be blessed.
PRAYER: I choose to watch what I put into my mind and thoughts Lord. Sometimes it is very hard. Help me resist the enemies attempts to get me worried or fearful. I choose to think on good things and to be guided by the truth. Help me with the self control I need to keep focused on you Lord. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Note if the things in the world today are bothering you and getting you scared or depressed I urge you to check out the link here and read others prayers and post prayers. This site is not related to the White House in any way but it is independent ministry from Scottsdale,AZ.
http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/
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