Enquiring Minds Want To Know!

And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you. 1 Thessalonians 4:11

There is a supermarket tabloid whose 1980's TV advertisements used to proclaim "Enquiring Minds Want To Know! I Want To Know!" My response to that is "why"? What do we gain by filling our minds with celebrity gossip? Is it a necessary part of life, fun diversion, or a time waster? Mind you I am not standing in judgment just asking you to think on this.

This sort of leads me into the area of being nosey and thinking we have to know everything about people. I am sure celebrities wish they could be left alone. Much of the write ups are sheer garbage in my opinion, but shoppers, mostly females I assume, crave this stuff. Therefore it flies off the shelves. Does it improve the life of the person consuming this information any? Another verse for my message today could be Philippians 4:8 which 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." 

Do you focus your mind on good, decent, pure, and perfect things or do you find your mind dwelling in the moral gutter at times? It can get there easily by not only reading tabloids, but by things we read, listen to, or watch on TV or on the big screen. My challenge for you today is to try to keep your mind focused on the King! He alone is worthy! 

PRAYER: Lord I find at times it is difficult to keep my mind from going into places it should not. Help me keep the word of God as the center of my life and give me strength to resist things that are not pleasing to you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Don't Let Satan Control Your Emotions

"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5

 I pride myself in being a pretty cheerful person but every now and then my mind may wander and get my moods in a funk and emotions messed up. I always feel this is the enemy messing with me as he knows that can be my weak area if only he can get me off course. You may have a similar problem. You convince yourself people don't like you or you conjure up scenarios of fear in your mind. That is why one of the best selling books by author and Bible teacher Joyce Meyer is 'Battlefield of the Mind'.

Satan knows if he can get into your thought life he can wage his war. To combat this it is necessary to have a steady diet of scripture, prayer, and meditating on good things. Don't let your mind drift somewhere. Tell Satan to get behind you and quote some Scripture to him. Prayer and praise are valuable tools as well.

Keep your mind on good things by not letting bad things enter your mind. This could mean changing what you watch on TV, read, or listen to. It is your mind, so you choose do you want it filled with things of this world or heavenly things. Not a hard decision I wouldn't think.

PRAYER: I need to make sure I am not daydreaming about wrong things and I need your help Lord to stay focused on positive uplifting thoughts. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Your Mind Matters

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.  Philippians 4:8


I heard an advertisement once that said "a mind is a terrible thing to waste" and if you think about it, it is true. I believe if we are claiming to be Christians we should be careful what we allow into our minds. Our mind sort of controls us. You feed your mind on garbage such as pornography, movies with continual cursing, violent video games, music with unwholesome lyrics then after a while you could start being desensitized to messages within these.

 I am not perfect by any means and recently I saw a PG13 movie and ended up walking out of the theater half way through as it's content disturbed me. The little voice inside me said, "leave", and I did. It has delighted me that in the past couple months good movies such as 'Heaven is For Real' and 'God's Not Dead'  have been released. I am not saying just go to Christian movies but you need to be discerning. After all you are the temple of the living God and He is with you at all times.

The verse above is a good one to memorize. It can help you make decisions on what you should allow into your mind. Keep your mind daily in the word of God to be able to know the difference in right and wrong.

PRAYER: Lord guide me each day as I make decisions about what to read, watch, or participate in. Help me to run the other way when things are not of you. In Jesus' name.Amen.

WRONG THINKING

Do you struggle with wrong thoughts? By this I do not mean are you thinking of perverted things but do you allow patterns of wrong thinking to come into your head to the point you can convince yourself they are true?

The enemy is good at messing with a believers mind. You may think you have it all together, so to speak, but then a thought creeps in such as "I do not think so and so likes me" and then you begin to dwell on this. It is absurd to think we know what another is thinking anyway. It is necessary you fill your mind with God's word and then you will be less likely to fixate on irrational thinking.

A helpful scripture to commit to memory is 2 Corinthians 5:10(NIV) which says '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.' The action verb there is to "take captive". Just as a police or soldier may take a prisoner captive and lock them up, we too need to capture wrong thoughts and make them come in line with the teachings of God's Holy word. Start each day with prayer and a good dose of scripture and tell Satan he has to flee.

PRAYER: I choose this day and every day to not allow wrong thoughts into my head. I am aware of the enemies schemes to cripple me and make me less effective for Christ and messing ith my thinking is of them I choose right thoughts. In Jesus' name. Amen.

PRAY! DON'T DELAY! DO IT TODAY!

Make it rhyme any time. I am a poet and don't know it with this title above. Maybe a snappy way to remember to pray and not give up or quit thinking God is not hearing you.
Do you make it a daily habit to talk to God in prayer? If not why not? Do you feel it is not important? Maybe you feel cheated by God because he did not keep a friend or family member alive when you constantly cried out to Him so you feel let down by God? You feel God turned His back on you and now you're hurt or angry. You say church is stupid and a bunch of phonies and hypocrites. Whatever the reason that you are away from the routine of praying now is a good time to go back.
Satan lies to you and captures your thoughts to think his way especially in your weakest most vulnerable moments. 2 Corinthians 10:5(NIV) says '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.' That is what you HAVE to do. Take "captive" bad thoughts. Bad thinking can ruin your life. The enemy likes to get into our minds and make us believe lies. To combat this stay in tune with God through the Holy Bible.
 Don't give up on God as He certainly has not given up on you. Revelation 3:20(NIV) says 'Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.' Are you ready to open the door and let Jesus come in?
 PRAYER: Lord forgive me when I have ever blamed you when things did not go my way. I know you have a plan greater than I can understand. I also will not allow Satan to defeat me through my thought life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

M AND M(AKA MOUTH AND MIND)

Those two M and M's in our lives can at times create lots of trouble
for us. If we say the wrong words we can hurt someone or destroy a
relationship. If we allow our minds to focus on the wrong things we
can also be deceived by Satan into believing lies. These two M and M's
need God's intervention to help you with self control of both what you
say and what you think.


The mind is a battleground of sorts for the enemy Satan. He can get
you to imagine things, concur up scenarios, worry, fret,reason, or
have self pity. To combat this, it is essential to keep your mind on
things "above". You may recall the favorite Bible verse of mine I use
lots and that is Philippians 4:8(NIV) which says '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 on these things.' Letting your mind dwell on bad
junk or worrying unnecessarily not only robs you of peace but keeps
you from being productive for the Lord. The enemy can captivate you by
causing your mind to dwell on wrong things.

Now as for that mouth, nothing unholy should be coming out of it. Do
you gossip, argue, belittle, lie, or curse? These are a few examples
of bad junk that proceeds from our mouth. James 3:11-12(NIV) says 'Can
both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My
brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?
Neither can a salt spring bring forth fresh water.' Likewise our mouth
should not curse at someone then bless them. If your tongue is a
problem pray and surrender that area to your life. God can help you
have kind and pure speech if you are serious.

It is so easy to offend someone with words we say. Perhaps something
is said in innocence and totally taken out of context. And that mind
too can get us into some real wrong thinking predicaments. The cure
and your assignment is to dwell on the word of God each and every day.
Start reading the Bible daily. Read the book of John, Romans, or
Proverbs to start out. Ask God to open your mind to the good things He
has for you to learn. With The Lord's help your M and M's can be under
God's control.

PRAYER: Lord it is my desire to have a pure mind and speech that
glorifies you. At times I know I have hurt someone by words so please
forgive me. Help me lead a life pleasing to you and being kind to
those around me. In Jesus' name. Amen.

ARE YOU BEING INFECTED AND POISONED?

Is the culture you live in infecting you and poisoning you? I do not mean by chemicals and illnesses but by the things you choose to do that are not good for you. Things such as movies, television shows, video games, music, magazines you choose to read, books and on the list goes. Have you heard the saying "Garbage in, garbage out?" This refers to what you choose to expose your brain and spirit to. A person can not expect to feed on a constant diet of crude humor, sex scenes, foul language, murders, rapes, lust, incest and all the rest and say it has no effect on them. It is called being desensitized. Basically it means the more you read something, hear it or watch it the less it bothers you. It is sad that happens but it will if you are not careful  it does indeed happen. It always saddens me when parents of young children seemingly do not care what they watch.

As a Christian do you think you have any place in movies that depict sex scenes, whether married or unmarried, or ultra violent behavior? Some may stop reading this right now and tell me to 'get with the program' as that is all there is. I beg to differ. Do you realize if you say you love Jesus you are to be his examples on the earth?  That is not to say you have to go to church around the clock. God expects you to get out among the people to win others to the Lord but  your mind has to stay clear too. If you get to a point that things no longer shock you or bother you then I would say there is a good likelihood you have been bitten by the 'desensitization monster' and been poisoned and infected.


Many movies nowadays depict vulgar language and crude humor. There is a verse in the Bible that deals with crude joking. Ephesians 5:3-4 says "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving."  Aren't we supposedly supposed to be lights in a dark world? Light dispels darkness. Darkness is evil and light is good. The Bible says in 1 John 1:5 "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." None, zero, nada!

People today do not even blush anymore at commercials on TV. Those who grew up without wholesome entertainment in  movies may think people like me are prudish but you can only put so much junk into your brain without it having an effect on you. Do you spend more time getting to know God or going to movies you have no business in? Someone told me once their parents did not allow them go to any movies as they were all bad. Now that to me seemed far fetched but each to their own. For instance in Romans 14:5 it says "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." When you get a moment read all of Romans Chapter 14 as there is some good stuff in there.
The Holy Spirit brings conviction to you heart. People can start to get a appetite for violence, monster movies, sex scenes until that is all they care to see. Be on the alert. Satan can use this as a trap to get you away from the Lord and take you down the wrong path of life. 2 Corinthians 2:11 tells us to be aware of "Satan's schemes" and indeed he is a scheming liar and deceiver trying his best to get people away from Jesus.

Do the things you do bring you closer to God or further from him? Do you think what you choose to do is holy and would it bring shame to God or glory? Do you feel bad after doing something knowing perfectly well it was not the thing to do?

I love Philippians 4:8 which 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." It is rather difficult to think on good and pleasant things when you are watching a slasher movie or some film that can not stop taking the Lord's name in vain.

So today is your heart and mind pure before the Lord? Do you desire to know Him better? In Matthew 5:13 it says "You are the salt of the earth.But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." Salt seasons and makes food taste better. Are you doing that in the lives of those around you? Let me leave you with one final verse which may be a good one to post on your television set. Psalm 101:3 which says "I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me."

PRAYER: Father I know at times I go watch movies that may not be the best choices for helping me grow in the Lord. I do it because it is popular. Forgive me. Help me be more selective in what I choose to do for entertainment not worrying about what others think. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Click on link for an awesome song of praise!
http://youtu.be/zASHA-9WhHY

MIND TRIP

We think we have it all together and in control of wandering thoughts or concerns of the past then it happens. Our mind starts to go all directions pondering, reasoning, speculating, feeling guilt,  condemning, wondering. Guess what causes that? It is the great destroyer otherwise known as Satan. He wants to get your mind off of Jesus and onto your concerns. We can not let this happen. You have  to gain control of the thoughts that come into head. Romans 12:2 is a superb verse to memorize and it says "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."   Transformation takes a deliberate action of casting off wrong defeating condemning thoughts.   The TV show 'Saturday Night Live' had a sketch several years ago with comic Dana Carvey playing a character called 'Church Lady' who basically blamed everything on Satan by saying "Was it Satan" or "could  it be Satan?" Yes in fact it could be and is because the enemy is the great tormentor, accuser of the brethren, deceiver, destroyer, liar and peace stealer. He can makes mothers feel guilty when their children choose a different path than from which they were raised doubting they were even good mothers.  He can make employees wonder if they chose the right career path when things do not go well. He can put thoughts of hate in your heart towards  those that hurt you. He can make you wonder why your child died when you did everything the Bible said. He can make you dwell on your mistakes of the past. You can not allow this to happen. Capture those wrong thoughts and replace them with God thinking.  John 10:10 says "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  Satan is that thief and he has not right bothering a child of God and putting garbage into your head. Resist Him!  Another key verse of scripture which is 2 Corinthians 10:5 and  it says "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." Take thoughts captive. Combat the wrong thinking God's thinking which is found in pages of scripture. Proverbs 23:7 reminds us that "how a man thinks in his heart so is he."   What is filling your mind? Is it God's word or the newspaper? God's word or soap operas? God's word or a bad stock report? God's word or movie star magazines? You get the idea. You can not dwell on worldly things too long without starting to have them saturate mind.  Start today to develop the mind of Christ by reading and  knowing his word. PRAYER: Father I purpose this day to start thinking God thoughts are  not the world's thoughts. Forgive me for knowing about world news more than knowing about you. I chooses to discipline myself to start today to read your word and be set free from a mind that is against God. in Jesus name. Amen. Click on link and worship the Lord in song. http://youtu.be/JU4U8_wMdRs

MIND FOOD

What type of things do you feed your mind on? Have you heard the saying "garbage in, garbage out"? The first thing in your day are you more concerned with the morning news on TV and the newspaper in your driveway or getting to know your Lord and saviour?The news is temporal and most times bad, but the Bible is filled with good news. If we constantly feed on a diet of bad news, bad TV, bad movies, bad books, and gossip magazines what do you suppose will happen to our mind? It stands to reason you become the kind of person that you are constantly feeding your mind on. If you constantly hear bad news and it drags you down your spirit will be drug down as well.

As a believer you have to purpose in your heart and make a decision to think on uplifting thoughts. Romans 12:1-2 is a good scripture 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." It is easy if we get saturated by the world to start thinking like the world. Someone once said "Well do not be so heavenly minded you are no earthly good" but yet we need to stay walking with the Lord and connected to the power source to keep growing in Christ. We are not to become puffed up and self righteous acting like we are better than others either.

1 Corinthians 2:16 says "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ." Just think of that! The mind of Christ. Do you suppose Christ wants to watch dirty movies, read all the Hollywood gossip, get caught up on trashy novels, catch His favorite soap opera and watch talk shows? What is needed is a balance in life on what you should feed your spirit with and what needs left out in the compost pile.

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."

PRAYER:  Lord I want my mind to think the thoughts you think. I want to wake up each day full of joy and ready to make a difference in someones world. Give me balance in my daily activities and discernment in what I choose to take into my brain. In Jesus name. Amen!

RENEW YOUR MIND

To renew means to restore or refresh.  To get victory over sin you have to renew your mind and have the mind of Christ. Do you want to have God's thoughts? Do you want to be Holy and walk in victory? Get wrong thinking out by reading the Bible and refresh and renew your mind on His words and His thoughts. Dwelling on bad things will only bring you down. Thinking on right things is a discipline to learn.

Romans 12:1-2 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." This world and all of its' glamour and glitter is not our real home. We are only here on a temporary basis. For those who have given their lives to Jesus their real home awaits them in heaven. We are not to necessarily become monks but we are to be thinking good thoughts and focusing on the right things.  There is plenty of bad junk out there to think on. Just turn on your TV. A follower of Christ should not have a desire to be laughing at a bunch of crude things in my opinion. Laughter is fine but it depends on what you are laughing about.

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." You can spend one hour each week in church but that is not enough to keep your mind on God's thoughts. If you exit the doors of the church building and decide the remainder of the week to do as you please, thinking nothing about what you learned in church or never even opening God's word, the Bible, you have basically not renewed your mind at all. Instead you have fed your mind all week long on the worlds' junk with no teaching each day from God's word. It is a challenge without being self righteous to live a life each and every day that is pleasing to the Lord. You simply went to church to 'punch your ticket' so to speak.

In Galatians 5:16 it says " So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Stay in tune with God's teaching in the Bible. It is a guidebook for your life.  Romans 8:5-6 says "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace."

Constantly be on guard for Satan's lies and tricks. Stay in the word. Whatever you have problems with study that area.For instance if you have problems with having trouble with your mouth study the Bible for verses on the mouth and dangers of the tongue and bad speech. The key is to pray and stay in the word of God. Try to show more of God's love and do no overreact to bad stuff that gets thrown in your path. Acting 'holier than thou' is not what we are after but seeking to live a life pleasing to the Lord.

Do not believe enemies lies. Many people feel stuck in their sin and addictions. You can be set free. You have to keep mind set on things above and realize and admit certain things in your life are sin and God wants you set free from these things which have a 'strong hold' on your life. The enemy is crafty and full of tricks and deceit. He will lie and make you feel in your mind that you are stuck and can never be set free or God is mad at you. You are not stuck and God is not mad at you! See that mind plays tricks with you.

Do you want to be able to be more conformed to the image of Christ? It starts by picking up the Bible and getting to know the character of Jesus Christ. Your mind is a precious thing. But we should be careful what we allow to go into our brains and thus our thoughts.

Ephesians 4:22-24 tells us "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

Now go and feed your mind on the things that will build up not tear down and destroy. The mind is powerful so protect it!

PRAYER:  There have been times Lord when I have not always kept my mind pure. I have watched the wrong movies or seen the wrong TV shows and put things into my mind that had no business being there. Forgive me and help me in the future to be more discerning of what I allow inside my head. I want to think your thoughts Lord so I ask for your help to live a life pleasing to you and to keep my mind free from worry, doubts, and the cares of this world. In Jesus Name. Amen!

Suggested reading: Book by Joyce Meyer called 'Battlefield of the Mind.'