God gave us five senses to
filter information from the world around us and to process it in our mind. What
we see, hear, smell, taste and feel turns into thoughts. Our thoughts are
powerful. They can build up or destroy (Proverbs 18:21). They occupy both the right and left lobes of our
brain. Most of them are stored for our whole lifetime in our subconscious mind.
They create pictures that make a lasting impression on our mind and influence
our outlook and choices in life. That is why God wants us to bring all of our thoughts
under the Lordship of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Satan wages war on the
battleground of our mind. We can ask God to expose Satan’s deceptive thoughts
and to replace them with His truth. We spend time reading God’s Word so we can
combat Satan with it like Jesus did (Matthew 4:4). It takes three weeks to change a habit, so start
submitting your thoughts to God today. Our thoughts only have as much influence
over us as we permit them to have. As we submit to the Holy Spirit, He helps us
to make Godly choices. We live a life of praise by reading and believing God’s
Word and by entering into private and corporate worship and prayer.
The Israelites gave us an
example of the way to live our life. They followed the leading of the cloud,
which shaded the burning sun by day; and the pillar of fire, which lit and
warmed the desert night. When the Lord commanded them to do so, they camped;
and when He commanded, they moved (Numbers 9:22-23). None of the tribes deviated from this pattern for a
whole generation. This had to be nerve-wracking. They never knew how long they
would stay in one place; yet they conformed to the will of the Lord.
Although, they failed to
walk in trust and obedience prior to their forty-year trek in the desert, they
soon developed a dependence upon the Lord. They learned the hard way to trust
Him and they obeyed Him one step at a time. He miraculously gave them a wealth
of riches from Egypt when they left, quail and manna to eat, water from a rock
and their shoes and clothing never wore out. This same Heavenly Father who
provided for and protected the Israelite nation will also guide us by His
Spirit as we too learn to trust and obey only Him.
We determine our eternal
destiny by the simple act of belief or unbelief (John 3:16-18). Our unbelief condemns us to hell with Satan. Our
belief accesses the Salvation made possible by Jesus on the cross. God takes
our heart of stone, and gives us a heart of flesh (Ezekiel
36:26). He writes His laws upon our
heart, so that we obey Him from a changed nature (Hebrews 8:10). If we wisely choose to believe, we are saved from
sin, delivered from condemnation, resurrected from spiritual death, sanctified
until purified, and eventually at Christ’s return, glorified in body, soul and
spirit.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You made
Yourself of no reputation, even though You shared in God’s very nature (Philippians
2:6-7). Now, You give us Your nature (2
Corinthians 5:17). You inspire us to
dedicate our whole life to You (2 Corinthians 12:15). You empower us to turn away from the lusts of the eye and flesh, and
the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Faith
without Godly works is dead (James 2:14-26). We believe and obey You; otherwise, our efforts in life result in
nothing more than dead works. Dead works prove that we merely believed in a
philosophy of life, instead of making a life-changing commitment to You.
Thought for the Day:
As we trust in God, He leads
us by His Spirit to obey His truth and His commandments moment by moment
throughout the day. - Ezekiel 36:27