Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

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Think About That

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Philippians 4:8 (NAS) “Finally, brethren, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of a good repute, if there be any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.”

(AMP) “For t he rest, brethren whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and loveable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things – fix your minds on them.”

Human (death doomed) nature is to dwell on the negative. We weren’t created that way, but Adam and Eve took the bait of Satan and every since we tend to see the glass as half empty.

However, if we are born again- from Heaven – we now have the Nature of our Father, God. He replaced our old nature with a new one! Sometimes out of nasty old habits, we fall back into that negative thinking.
How do we fix that?

We take hold of Paul’s advice that we just read. We change what are thinking about. If you seriously feel like there isn’t a good thing in your life to think about, read the Johns, (I, II, II John and John), psalms are also good. Once you get those things into your heart, your mind can call them up to think on them. Soon you’ll find good things in and around you to think about.

Never get in the habit of just thinking with your soul, your mind, will and emotions. Your souls only goes by what it can see, hear, taste, feel, smell and touch. We need to think with our spirit. Our spirit is tuned into God’s word and His will, through our hearts not our heads. Our spirit doesn’t go by our five senses. It simply hears God and judges every situation by the truth of God’s word, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
So your pile of bills looks bigger than the amount in your check book. You face two choices, you can dwell on the shortage, worry and fret (which is the opposite of faith and does not please God), or you can think on God’s word about how He will provide for and take care of you. You can thank Him for what you do have and for what He will be bringing in to meet your need. I am not saying it will be easy, but I am saying it will be worth it!

It doesn’t take any more energy or time to think rightly about our situation than to think negatively. Our glass is never half empty! God is always filling it up! We have to take our hand off of the glass and allow Him to pour into us.

Change your mind! Fill your heart with God’s goodness. Make a point of finding the good around you and then choose to think and meditate on those things. When a negative thought crosses your mind, tell it to shut up, to go, and by all that’s good in the world, replace it with something lovely. “For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” As all the good stuff starts to flow out of our mouth, it becomes even easier to “think on these things.”

Has something praiseworthy happened this week?
Think about that!

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I Am Weak

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II Corinthians 12:6-9a “Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.””

Paul had a “thorn in the flesh.” He describes this thorn as a “messenger of Satan” to keep him from thinking too highly of himself. I think we need to point out that the thorn was not from God. It wasn’t something pleasant. It came from the enemy.

Paul asked God three times to take it away. God’s answer was that His grace was sufficient and that His “power was made perfect in weakness.” Paul goes on to say in the last part of verse 9 and all of verse 10, “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Let’s be clear about something, Paul is not saying we should go around bragging about all of our shortcomings, faults and issues. We don’t glorify our problems. What he is saying is that when we allow God to use us, in His strength, we can boast or brag about His power and His ability to bring us through.
When we admit to ourselves, and to God, that we can’t do it on our own, then allow Him to work in us and through us, He gets the Glory, not us.

So are you feeling weak today?
Let God strengthen you.

Be joyful! For the joy of the Lord is our strength!
Nehemiah 8:10 (KJV) “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our LORD: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

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Wise-hearted or Wise-headed?

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Exodus 31:6b “And all who are wise-hearted I have given wisdom and ability to make all that I commanded you.”

Daniel was a ‘wise-hearted’ man. Joseph was a ‘wise-hearted’ man. Moses was a ‘wise-hearted’ man.
All of these men proved the wisdom God had placed in their hearts when they each had to face the so-called-wise-men of their day. When the wise men of Babylon couldn’t decipher Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Daniel did. When Pharaoh’s wise men couldn’t interpret his dream, Joseph did. When the wise men of Egypt mimicked the miracle of God and turned their staffs into snakes, Moses’ snake ate theirs. Apart from the power of God, what is the difference between wise-hearted and wise-headed?

The wise men of the world are depending on their five senses, what they can hear, taste, touch, feel and see. But our senses can deceive us. They operate out of their minds, their heads. The heart is the place of truth. The heart believes! It doesn’t even need the bodies senses. We can’t obtain salvation through our minds, only through our hearts. We can’t understand God’s word with our minds, only with our hearts. We can gather facts with our minds, God gave us wonderful brains, but it is through our hearts that we act on what we know.

So who is a wise-hearted man?
Someone who by-passes their head and believes in their heart that God is good! That He is on our side! That His word is true and He will do what He says He will.

What kind of man are you?

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Get Wisdom!

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Job 28:27-28
“Then He was [wisdom] and declared it, He established it, yes, and searched it out [for His own use, and He alone possesses it]. But to man He said, behold the reverential and worshipful fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.”

God established wisdom and, boy, do we need it! Reverencing God is wisdom.

The whole book of proverbs is about wisdom. Reading one chapter a day will take you through it in a month. In the very first chapter “wisdom” speaks to us as a woman. In Verse 33 she says, “but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

Wisdom is different than head knowledge. Wisdom resides in our hearts. We get it in several ways. One as just stated is to reverence, honor and give glory, to God. We can also simply ask for it. James 1:5 (NIV) “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

We can gather facts and cram our brains with knowledge, but that only ‘puffs up’, or makes us arrogant and fills us with pride. We all know at least one person who is a “know-it-all” and how much fun are they to be around. Try to impart some new information to them, or even give advice. Those kind of people are not teachable because they aren’t humble. But then we all know “wise” people, who may or may not have a lot of facts stored in their brain, but they can give and take advice, they are teachable. So we don’t need facts alone, we need to know that to do with those fact. Facts alone are dangerous.

Ecclesiastes 7:11-12 “Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have it.” Wisdom helps us apply facts in the right way. Godly wisdom keeps us from screwing up.

We are blessed when we find wisdom. “Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed.” Proverbs 3:13-18. What is in her hands? Long life in one, and riches and honor in the other. Sounds good to me.

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Shalom!

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Peace. To be safe, to be complete.

Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.”

The worlds definition of peace is the absence of war, dissention, stressful situations or strife. But that isn’t God’s definition. His peace is a quiet confidence in your heart that God is for you. It’s a heart that trusts in Him. His ability and His willingness to always be there for you. He doesn’t always take you out of the storm, but He can calm the storm in your heart, if you let Him.

God’s peace gives you a sound, whole and complete mind and an un-divided heart. It gives you the courage to fight and the strength to stand. It moves us forward.

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. It is not as the world gives that I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not let it be afraid.”

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My Never Again List

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Let me first start by apologizing for being away for so long. My computer was in the repair shop and I just couldn’t get the hang of typing on my kindle!
Next let me say this list is not of my own making, but I received permission from our Senior Pastor at New Testament Church, Dr. William Hohman to use his compilation.

“My Never Again List”
Never again will I confess “I can’t”, for “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).

Never again will I confess lack, for “My God shall supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

Never again will I confess fear, for “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and love, and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Never again will I confess doubt and lack of faith, for “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).

Never again will I confess weakness, for “The Lord is the strength of my life” (Psalm 27:1). “The people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits” (Daniel 11:32)

Never again will I confess supremacy of Satan over my life, for “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world” (I John 4:4).

Never again will I confess defeat, for “God always causeth me to triumph in Christ Jesus” (2 Corinthians 2:14).

Never again will I confess lack of wisdom, for “Christ Jesus is made unto me wisdom from God” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Never again will I confess sickness, for “With His stripes I am healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Jesus “Himself took my infirmities and bare my sickness” (Matthew 8:17).

Never again will I confess worries and frustrations, for I am “Casting all my cares upon Him, who careth for me” (I Peter 5:7). In Christ I am “care-free.”

Never again will I confess bondage, for “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17).

Never again will I confess condemnation, for “There is therefor now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) I am in Christ; therefore, I am free from condemnation.

Never again will I confess loneliness, Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20) “I will never leave thee, nor forsake the” (Hebrews 13:5).

Never again will I confess curses or bad luck, “Christ had redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us…that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ: that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:13-14)

Never again will I confess discontent because “I have learned, in whatsoever state (circumstances) I am, therewith to be content” (Philippians 4:11)

Never again will I confess unworthiness because “He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:12).

The confession of our mouths will eventually bring forth the things we speak.

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Moving Forward Through Adversity

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Job 23:10-11
“But He knows the way that I take [He has concern for it, appreciates and pays attention to it]. When He has tried me, I shall come for the as refined gold [pure and luminous]. My foot has held fast to His steps, His ways have I kept and not turned aside.”

Poor Job. There his is minding his own business, being a witness, doing good, praying for his kids…and then the enemy enters the scene. With God’s permission! His world tumbles down around him, literally. He is tried and refined in a way that most of us wouldn’t wish on our worst enemies.

Why did God allow it? (He is even the one who pointed out Job to the enemy to begin with!) Job figured it out. After self pity, after anger, after getting rotten advice and false counsel from three so-called-friends.

Only the fire can refine precious metal. Only great pressure can make a precious stone.

We go through what feels like Hell. There is a saying, that I particularly like, and have quoted, “You may have to walk through the valley of death, but you don’t have to set up camp there!”

What would “setting up camp” entail? Self pity, anger at God, SITTING DOWN, or just plain giving up. Don’t drive in a single tent stake. Job said he stayed on the path, that means he kept moving forward. Command your feet to hold fast to HIS path. It leads to life, to righteousness, to Love. Don’t let Satan distract you. I know, Job went through big stuff! But ultimately it was all just meant for a distraction. He was trying to force Job to take his eyes off of God, and put them on his circumstances.

We live in a fallen world, with a real enemy seeking who he may devour. Bad stuff happens to good people. But continue with Jobs story. His ending was better than his beginning. He came out better! Stronger! And he came out Praising God!

When you come out of the other side, when the valley is behind you, tell someone!

Are you going through something hard?
Here are some resources I found helpful (after the bible)
“What To Do When Everything Falls Apart” by Van Crouch
“Throw Yourself a Party” by David Duell
“The In-Between” by Jeff Goins