Tag: mind

A Soul at Rest

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“He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, now you have returned to the Shepherd & Overseer of your souls.” I Peter 2:24-25

“All we like sheep have gone astray” Isaiah 53:6

We all, like sheep without a Shepherd, were going astray. Before Christ saved us and gave us a new heart and new life…. we were wandering, seeking, soul-thirsty, headed for ruin, unprotected, exposed, and lonely.

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Loving Others from A Pure Heart (Part 2)

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Continuing on from previous post …

… for you have been born again not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and enduring word of God….. therefore rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. I Peter 1:23, 2:1-3

We must rid ourselves of these types of heart thoughts (malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander)! And instead crave spiritual milk: Desire Him and His Spirit. Desire to know Him better through His Word. Desire to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds“. Desire to be pure and true like Him. Desire to give Him the honor He deserves… more than we desire honor for ourselves that we don’t deserve. Desire what HE says is best more than what’s easy or what feels best.

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Loving Others from a Pure Heart

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Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart. I Peter 1:22

Thinking more about how to fight discouragement… I am realizing how easy it is to be discouraged by people and how very quickly we can grow weary in our relationships. We are all flawed, walking through our own trials and fighting our own battles with different personalities, communication skills, and habits. It is only by the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in us that we can have success in loving others with a pure heart and genuine love.

So what do we do when we realize we are people-weary? Muttering negative comments about others to ourselves or closest friends, even if we have a loving smile and kind spoken words? Avoiding people? Desiring distance until they’ve made some progress in weak areas? Being resentful of how much we’ve loved others or done for them that has been unreciprocated? Feeling superior because we see what they need to do to have positive changes in their life and they just aren’t doing it? Desiring to speak ill of them to mutual friends?

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Fighting Discouragement

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As we get older and experience more of life, even the most idealistic personalities among us can be tempted to be truly cynical about people, the fight against sin, the world, the state of the American church, and our country. Truly, evil and injustice are rampant, and deception and darkness covers the earth… BUT we must remind ourselves that the Lord warned us about these things and HE is where we rest our hope.

But how do we overcome the heavy-heartedness and burdened mind that can descend upon us when the darkness seems to be overwhelming, when people shock and disappoint us, or when it seems that there’s really no point in even trying to do and be good — because you’re still not as mature as you think you should be, you don’t see the fruit of your faithfulness, people don’t seem to listen to the Spirit of the Lord in you and instead very quickly listen to worldly ungodly voices, and the gap between what IS and what COULD BE in Christ seems to only widen?

Of course, the answer is to “Fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” Hebrews 12:3

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Rest Your Hope

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“Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober-minded, rest your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” I Peter 1:13

Where do I rest my hope?

Recently I’ve been thinking about how easy it is to set my hope on life hacks, routines, and daily habits. Being a good steward of our time, money, bodies, and relationships truly does take order and intention every day… but as we get older we realize we can stop thinking that eventually we are going to figure it all out. “If I could just get all my routines down and follow them… if I could just conquer all the problem areas I have and break them all down into daily steps… then I can be healthy, happy, really start living, and start blessing others”. Wrong. Life is always changing. Schedules are always changing. What worked one month won’t work another. We’re never going to figure it all out. And anybody that looks like they’ve got it all going on? They don’t. There are weak areas and they also need constant correcting and re-balancing too. They’re never satisfied if they’re looking to be satisfied in themselves.

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Remain

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Sometimes it’s very apparent when we have to “gird up the thoughts of our mind”. The thoughts have become so plentiful or negative, that we are tripping all over the place or we are truly “stuck” by them all and we are unable to move forward. We can thank the Holy Spirit for those “wake up call” times and for helping us recognize the danger we are in. We can dramatically “gird up” all the worries and cares and bitterness and negativity we have let fester and can have renewed, sharpened focus on Christ & His Word. But girding up the thoughts isn’t only a re-active action step when we’re already in danger. It is a pro-active one to too.

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Disciplining the Gluttonous Mind

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So I knew I wanted to Detox from Mind Junk – but how??? The Lord empowers and helps His children in such unique and personal ways, but fasting and denying the flesh (delayed gratification) are battle secrets that the Lord uses every time.

I’m confident that the far-majority of Americans understand how beneficial fasting from food is for us physically. And I believe most Christians understand how important and beneficial physical fasting is for us spiritually. Jesus Himself fasted to prepare Himself for the testing in the desert (Matthew 4). It humbles and empowers at the same time. Weakens and strengthens.

Fasting from food absolutely is a discipline of the mind as well. There is great work done in the thought life in physical fasting. But this same denial of the physical impulses for food can be has to be applied specifically to the overfed, gluttonous mind too.

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