FAILING TO GUARD YOUR THOUGHTS –

The enemy of your soul, will take you on a “tour” down the road in your past and lead you to, and leave you with your past sins and failures and tempt you, and if you accept will leave you in despair and hopelessness… his end is to seek to dishearten you, distort the image of God, doubt His goodness, DISTRACT your focus from God, the Pursuit of the kingdom of God and to tempt you to deny His care for you. To lead you to the place where you are left looking at yourself and as the Scripture shows there is no redemption with-in ourselves, it is only in Christ, but the evil one who injects “THOUGHTS “ of Fear, Despair, Guilt, Condemnation, and the hopelessness we end at when we Choose to THINK ON such thoughts and we TURN INWARDS and do not see ourselves as Christ sees us- how can we not but end in despair.

He offers to be our “tour guide,” not by asking, for none of us would be so naive or stupid to allow the evil one to lead us to despair and torment us if he were to ask us! But he does not come to ask, he simply uses a “THOUGHT” – a doubt, a half truth, a lie, even some truth of some past failure, sin seeking to get our attention and preoccupy our THINKING to divert us from God, dampen our enthusiasm for God, His Word, Work and who we are ” In Christ!”and seek to render us ineffective! Never telling us where we will end up, if we “think ” on the poisonous “THOUGHT,” to lead us to despair, shame, REGRETS, painful memories and without hope. How does he do this? Through a “fiery dart” as Ephesians 6 calls it. One “THOUGHT”….just a single “THOUGHT”to our minds that we CHOOSE NOT TO take Captive to the obedience of Christ but choose to open up out mind and welcome the “thought”in and then we chew on the thought, and continue to “think ” and “think” on the “evil thoughts ” which is often followed by more “thoughts”of how we have failed. Some to be sure are true, some are half truths, but once he gains entry through a “thought” through our FAILURE to REFUSE TO THINK ON IT AND REPLACE The “evil, seductive, thought ” with the TRUTH ABOUT GOD. The TRUTH about your permanent Position, “IN CHRIST,” the promises, purposes of God which are ours ” In Christ.”- 2 Peter 2:3-4

THE evil one seeks to use a “thought” to get you to see yourself apart from the work of God on your behalf and who He says you are!

If we chose not to capture the destructive “thought” and replace it with God’s Truth we open ourselves up and the evil one then bombards that dear soul where they “think,” and “think” and he reminds them of failure after failure until there is nothing for the poor soul to do but sit down in their heart in utter hopelessness and despair!

ONE “THOUGHT”...we allowed in because we were not VIGILANT. If God does not hold your sin against you but laid it upon His beloved Son so you should no longer bear it, the guilt, shame of it, why do you “THINK”and ACT as though Christ did not die to pay and erase all of your sins and those against you, and be raised from the dead to justify you! If God says there is now- presently NO CONDEMNATION against you because you are safe and secure and “in Christ,” why do you allow yourself, others, or the evil one to hold you in the grip of condemnation? This is an affront to the Work of Jesus Christ and the Love of God for you! And it all began when you submitted to allow the enemy of Christ and your soul to ACCEPT, EMBRACE AND MEDITATE on a “thought “-he brought to your mind!

Like the old story you cannot stop a bird flying over your head but you can stop it making a nest in your head! What has happened is the evil one shots fiery darts- “thoughts” at you , when we fail to put up the shield of faith and use the “sword {dagger- which is used for up close for conflict}- “sword of the Spirit”, which is the Word of God, when satan came to TEMPT Jesus, how did He respond- the GOD MAN? – “IT IS WRITTEN….IT IS WRITTEN…IT IS WRITTEN”- He did not “rebuke” Him but let the Word of God speak for Him and to the evil, seductive, disheartening, “thoughts” to Him. This is what we must do, and even when the evil one used scripture against Jesus , he used it out of context and Jesus was able to handle him because He was able to handle the Word of God accurately!
This was and Always is God’s answer to the temptation of the evil one and it is ours too (Read Matt 4:1-10). The evil one left him…. but not for good he would come back again to tempt…. but would find nothing in Jesus. How much more you and I must HIDE THE WORD of GOD in our hearts{Read Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2; Matt 4:10; COL 3:16- ) that we may know God, love God, worship Him, obey Him , share His Word with others so as to meet their spiritual need!

The longest chapter in the Bible is PSALM 119,  and the whole chapter is about the character of THE WORD OF GOD – how much more must we Hide His Word in our hearts to as Ezra{Ezra 7:10 } did to “Know Him, Obey Him and share it with others!

When Paul spoke to the Bereans’ they did not accept what he said initially, UNTIL they had checked the SCRIPTURES TO SEE IF THESE THINGS WERE TRUE! {Read Acts 17:11-12}. They went back to see what GOD said as their authority, guide for living! Only then did they embrace what he said. They would not allow themselves be persuaded without searching out the Scriptures! We must learn from Jesus, Ezra, the Bereans, The Scriptures to renew the way we see life and thus begins with learning to THINK as a CHRIST FOLLOWER!WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF YOUR ” MIND” ULTIMATELY?

The Bible answers”… To LOVE The Lord your God with all your… MIND.” – {Read Matt 22:37}. This is why there is such an attack on your mind to keep you occupied and away from God’s Word lest you renew your mind and come to recognize ” thoughts” that do not have that as your Goal- loving God with your MIND. Do you see now why hiding His Word is imperative to learn to develop a Christian MIND, so you may LOVE GOD with your Mind. But how can this be if you choose to ignore His Word and treat it as irrelevant and instead lean to your own understanding which God forbids- ( Prov 3:5-6) .

Ignorance is the breathing ground for failing to love God- and it is a choice! When David sinned the prophet went to the heart of the issue,” Why have you DESPISED ( to treat lightly) the Word of The Lord?” A light attitude to God’s Word is a reflection of a heart that is indifferent to what God says and who He is and has a light attitude to sin, and devoid of loving God with your mind!

THE ONE YOU ALLOW “GUIDE” YOUR THINKING WILL INFLUENCE TO GOVERN YOUR PRACTICE!

Train Your Thinking To Think On Truth… Trust Him To Help You and me To Do So!-{Phil 4:8-9}

Keep Fighting The Good Fight Of Faith-{1 Timothy 6:12}

Guard Your Mind – “More than anything you guard, protect your mind, for life flows from it.”- {Proverbs 4;23 CEB}

And LET The Word Of God be Your Guide-“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”-{Psalm 119:105 NLT}.

God bless and encourage you,

Aidan.