WATCH YOUR THOUGHTS
Watch your thoughts,
Keep them strong;
High resolve thinks no wrong
Watch your thoughts,
Keep them clean;
Perfect love casts out fear.
Watch your thoughts,
Keep them right;
Faith and wisdom give you light
Watch your thoughts,
Keep them true;
Look to God, He’ll govern you.
THE STATE OF YOUR MIND
Prior to becoming a Christian our minds were bound by sin and blinded by Satan. Our minds were depraved, darkened, and distant from the things of God. "For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognise and know God by means of its philosophy" {Amplified 1Cor 1 :21} (see also Rom 1:24-28, Eph 2:3, 4:17-18)
However, now we have come to Christ the blinkers have been removed, the bondage of sin is broken and so the light of God’s truth is able to set us free. God began to write His laws {Word} on our minds (see Heb 10:16) so enabling us to walk by faith and not by sight.
When we came to Christ we received a new heart, a new spirit, a new nature and a new song in our hearts and on our lips, "If any one is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone the new has come" 2Cor 5:17 (see also Col 1:13, 2Cor 5:17, Rom 3:24, Jh 1:24 )
But no where does Scripture say we have received a new mind. We have the same old mind, however, now that it has the light of God’s truth shining on it, it is free to be renewed. To experience a "Divine Metamorphosis," to be changed, is to be transformed into something beautiful in the sight of God.
THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND
"Do not be conformed to this world, this age, fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs. But be transformed, changed by the entire renewal of your mind, by its new ideals and its new attitudes, so that you may prove for yourselves what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God" {Amplified Rom 12:2}
The renewing of our mind brings us into the place where we are able to discern the will of God for our lives and also to become more Christ-like in our attitudes. Many Christians struggle to find guidance because their minds are cluttered with the world’s way of thinking, and discerning the will of God can be very confusing.
"One ship drives east and another west,
With the self-same winds that blow;
Tis the set of the sails and not the gales
That determines where they go.
Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,
As we voyage along through life;
Tis the set of our mind that decides the goal
And not the calm or the strife.
To experience a spiritual renewal of our minds requires two decisions;
1. TO BREAK AWAY FROM CONFORMITY
We need to break out of the mould the world has set us in. This is not so much a matter of changing our dress so that our outward appearance fits in with the rest of the Christians, it is more importantly setting our minds free from the mind-set that conforms to the crowd. It is a matter of no longer mindlessly following the ways of this world as we once did. (see Eph 2:2)
2. TO CONTINUALLY BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND
The transforming of our minds is a continuous work of the Holy Spirit who knows the mind of God, this transforming can only take place with our co-operation. (see Phil 2:12-13, 2Thess 2:13)
The Holy Spirit is seeking to instruct us, that we may be transformed to the likeness of Christ. (see 2Cor 3:18). The transforming of our mind requires co-operation with the Holy Spirit, when via the preached or read Word of God and the still small voice of the Spirit within revealing you need to change. Maybe through a friend or an enemy the Holy Spirit will reveal to you you need to change!
THE RECORD BOOK
If all the things you ever said,
Were written in a book;
And all your thoughts were on displayed,
So all could take a look;
I guess there’s not a living soul,
Who wouldn’t hang his head;
And feel ashamed before the Lord
And wish that he were dead.
There is a record book I’m told
With every deed and word;
It even keep the records of
Our thoughts that can’t be heard;
The good , the bad and every sin
For nothing has been missed;
It really makes me feel ashamed,
To think what’s on my list.
