When threatened…

Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? (Isaiah 36:13–18)

While this passage sounds like today’s political ramps and promises, it also sounds like the junk that my spiritual enemy, the Liar, tosses at me. Don’t trust the Lord. Trust yourself and you will prosper. Blah. Blah. Blah.

King Hezekiah was not so easily thrown into a panic at this threat nor interested in the false promises of this enemy. He “tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.” Then he called on other spiritual leaders and said: 

“This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ” (Isaiah 37:1–4)

Isaiah also sent a message to this king: “Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’ ” (Isaiah 37:5–7) Hezekiah then prayed:

“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made the heavens and the earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” (Isaiah 37:14–20)

God responded to the threatening king: “I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me. Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came. . . . . For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.” And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria returned home and as he was worshiping in the house of his god, his sons killed him. (Isaiah 37:28–38)

Jesus, this encourages me. I’ve had similar lies threaten me, lies against God and causing me a struggle to pray in faith that He will rescue me and those I pray for. I need the courage and trust of Hezekiah, realizing the lies, but also having wisdom to know how to encourage others who fall for the same threats.

 

Let God change my mind…

Reading this morning, I’m reminded how quickly the God-blessed understanding He gives to His followers can turns into a self-centered attitude motivated by Satan and rebuked by the voice of the Lord. Main example: Jesus asked His disciples...

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:13–19)

God revealed the identity of Jesus to Peter and when he said it, Jesus told Peter that this was  were foundational to the establishment of the church and key to answered prayer. Recognizing the deity of Jesus Christ is vital, but it also makes targets of those who believe it. Peter was Spirit-filled and obedient, but after that, he yielded to sinful thinking: 

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:21–23)

This incident seems shocking until I think of a few examples, some observed and some from my own quickly changing loyalties to Jesus. I can say certain sins are behind me and no longer an issue, but stray off in a dream or imagination myself back into that sin. I can pledge forgiveness to others who have hurt me, then find myself thinking of ways to get even or verbally complaining about what they did. I can vow that prayer is vitally important yet be distracted by my to-do list or some other lesser matter and forget to pray. 

Key to much of this is a mindset. Jesus told Peter his mind was set on the things of man, in this case the idea that good people should not suffer, or that Jesus’ purpose was to conquer the world rather than die for our sins. 

The NT says much about mindset:

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5–8)
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:2)
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17)
It also says: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1–2)

I could blame my lapses on ADHD, or like others say, “I’m only human” but those are only excuses. God tells me to be in His Word and let Him continually renew my mind rather than letting it, or the world, or the devil govern my thinking.

PRAY: Lord, I know this is important. Also, I know that confessing each lapse into fleshy thinking means forgiveness AND cleansing (1 John 1:9). Excuses do not move me into a godly mindset. Only Your Holy Spirit can do that, for which I am humbly and totally thankful. Enable me to guard my heart today and every day. Amen.


 

Out of my mind…

 
Two people told me they will not drive two particular highways because they are afraid of the speed and traffic on those roads. We drove both of them that same day without fear and it made me think about the way fear can keep me from doing some things, like para-sailing and mountain skiing.

However, the Bible says: “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7) While I could excuse some fears about dangerous behavior, today’s devotional points to the power of thoughts. Fear might keep me from doing something foolish, but it can also keep me from enjoying the blessings of God. This passage comes to mind:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4–7)

Rejoicing in the Lord, living right before others, and praying about everything with thanksgiving is a formula for peaceful hearts. The very next verse show that having a peaceful heart is also related to how I think and how I let those thoughts govern what I do:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8–9)

Jesus said this about having a pure heart: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8) yet He also said:

You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:34)

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. (Mark 7:21–23)

Clearly He connects what I think about with how I live. He even exposed hypocrisy by saying, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” (Matthew 15:8) He knew that our sinfulness can think evil but we can hide it by godly talk and even the appearance of goodness.

Many times, Jesus and the NT writers pointed to how we think. For example, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.” (Romans 12:17) In other words, think about doing good. It does affect my words and actions.

However, I realize the challenge of having good thoughts. I’ve often prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23–24) Besides asking God to show me stinking thinking, He gives this instruction about the battle for good thoughts:

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (2 Corinthians 10:3–6)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

PRAY: Thank You Jesus for giving me Your mind and your Word so I can dwell on good thoughts. Recognizing contrary thoughts can be subtle, like James 2 illustrates regarding prejudice, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, You can help me give thought to my ways (Proverbs 21:29) but also give thought to my thoughts. Enable them to be true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and about what is worthy of praise, that You are glorified in my mind as well as in words and actions. Amen.

Thinking God’s thoughts

One of my high school teachers told the class, “Do not think about a red apple.” Of course, none of us could obey her. Our minds tend to go where we are told not to go, as this teacher illustrated. The opposite is also true. Had she said to think about the apple, we would be able to do it, but all sorts of other thoughts would immediately vie for our attention.

God knows all about this. He commands that we think pure and healthy thoughts, but merely telling us to do that does not make it happen. Our sinful nature is not interested or able to totally control what we think about. However, there is good news . . .

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:3–8)

There are two ways to look at these verses. One view considers this a black and white issue; a person is either in Christ and therefore in the Spirit, or not a believer and therefore in the flesh.

The other view is that Christians can live according to the Spirit because they are yielded to Him and controlled by Him, or we can live according to the flesh because we have yielded to sin and are controlled by our own desires.

Theologically, the first interpretation seems correct, but experientially, most Christians will recognize that the second is more like what happens. We are God’s holy people, but like newly drafted solders, we have to learn to act like what we are. Sometimes we ‘tip over’ and our old fleshy nature has its way, drawing us into sinful thinking. This does not mean we go in and out of a saved state, but it does mean we go in and out of who and what is running our lives.

The answer to this problem after the tipping over is 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God graciously forgives those lapses into sin and sinful thinking, yet the command remains; we are to think His thoughts. How can that happen? 

Tozer says that the best way to control our thoughts is to offer our minds to God in complete surrender and the Holy Spirit will accept that offer and take immediate control. He adds that thinking on spiritual things will become easier, especially if we train our thought by long periods of daily prayer. As the Bible says, prayer without ceasing is the spiritual discipline of mentally talking to God, and this helps to form the habit of holy thinking.

For me, this has not been easy. My scattered mind, vivid imagination, interest in everything, and so on, have been my excuses, yet now I understand something that was unclear in the past. Much of my thought-life has been based on the stuff unyielded to God. Anything I wanted to control or thought that I could do myself without His help interfered with setting my mind on Him. He changed that notion by proving He controls all things. My entire life is by His grace, including every breath that I take. I cannot control or do anything without His permission and help.

Tozer says: “This is what the Holy Spirit brings to us, the vision of the Lord, power to see divine things as God sees them.” And this makes a difference. God sees my helpless estate and my foolish ambitions. He knows the strongholds in my mind and knows how to break them down, releasing me from the bondage of always wanting my own way and thinking that I can do whatever I please.

Tozer also says that, “The Spirit also thinks in us by giving us divine instincts, intuitions and enablements.” This is the most wonderful experience — to know the will of God. This is not about continually searching the Scriptures (even though that is a good idea), but about His thoughts flowing through my head, there because my own thoughts have been exposed and whisked away.

In the long run, the prayer without ceasing part is not so much a cause of mental discipline, but the result of the Holy Spirit’s working in my mind. He puts my focus on what is important, and all other thoughts lose their appeal. I could not do that without His enabling.  

^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, this change is wonderful, but rather than focus on the change, my mind is on You. You are the center, the reason and the source of all that is pure and good. Hold and fill my thoughts with the goodness of You.

The power of obedient thinking . . .

Tozer’s devotional for today begins with, “Anyone who wishes to check on his true spiritual condition may do so by noting what his voluntary thoughts have been over the last hours or days.”

This lines up with yesterday, when God reminded me that my general thoughts indicate what I worship. What do I think about when free to think of what I please? Where does my heart turn when free to turn where it would?

For me at this time in my life, the answer is generally a question: “God, what do You want me to do right now?” or “What do you want me to do next?”

The devotional refers to a passage that I’ve always connected to prayer for others. That is, I know people whose attitude toward God is negative, filled with resistance and disobedience. I’ve prayed that God would tear down the strongholds in their lives so that they are ready and willing to trust and obey Him. I can see this morning that my understanding was based mostly on the second person pronoun in the final phrase. It says “your” and yet Tozer is using these verses as if it says, “our” or “my” — making a difference in how to apply these verses.

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (2 Corinthians 10:3–6)

If I apply this passage to my own life, the focus becomes centered on my attitude toward God and on those things in my heart that cause disobedience. In other words, if I want to have victory in all spiritual battles, I must deal with my own strongholds, taking every thought captive to obey Jesus and dealing strongly with my own disobedience.

This makes sense, regardless of that second person pronoun at the end. How can I pray that God would change the hearts of other people if my own heart is resisting Him? Such resistance smacks of spiritual pride, arrogance, and hypocrisy. It also explains why my spiritual enemy is continually trying to sidetrack me into sinful attitudes, arguments, and lofty opinions about my own spirituality. He does not want me to have the weapon of a consecrated mind for he knows its power.

Tozer ends his devotional with this incredible challenge:

It is possible to have our whole life so possessed by the Holy Spirit that our very thoughts and intuitions will come to us in quietness and simplicity, with the consciousness that they have been touched by His thoughts and illumined by His light, that we are walking continually with our Father, and receiving constantly the testimony that we please God.

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, this is desirable, not simply because it means greater power in prayer, but because it means a deeper relationship with You. Continue to work in my life, tearing down any remaining strongholds by Your divine power. Grant me the ability to realize and destroy any negativity in my heart toward You and toward doing Your will. I know that such a request could result in upheaval and spiritual battles, but the result is far more desirable than whatever I might gain by thinking my own thoughts and trying to run my own life.

Taking every thought captive

The motivational gift of teacher (Romans 12) has been defined as “having a deep desire for people to think biblically.” This ‘gift’ involves gathering information and presenting it in a way that empowers Christians to think with the mind of Christ. Of course those who have that gift must think biblically themselves.

For me, this means knowing Scripture and focusing on truth from the Word of God. It means not being “conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewal of my mind” so I can discern the will of God. (Romans 12:2) It also means obedience to Paul’s exhortation about how I think:

“Finally . . .   whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

This is a challenge. Satan uses lies tangled up in media, memories, and appeals to unmet human desires. Just as he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he nags at me and I need to fight back, but must remember . . .

“The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ . . . .” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5)

Besides putting on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-18) which includes prayer, I need to recognize what I am up against. From 2 Corinthians 10, Paul summarizes a worldly and sinful thought life . . .

Arguments = logical conclusions reached by false reasoning, arguing with words that are not true.

Lofty opinions = an exaggerated evaluation of who I am or what I have done, particularly in competition with what God says about me and my deeds.

Thought = the content of what I am thinking about.

These three cover any sort of logic that goes against the Word of God, anything that flows out of pride rather than humility, and whatever else I might think about that motivates a resistance to God. Remembering why Christ died helps me with some of it, as does reading the Bible and worshiping God in words and singing.

Dreams sometimes mess with godly thinking. One college professor told me that if a person remembers a dream, it usually means that dream relates to unresolved issues or conflicts in their life. This is helpful because dreams can push me to examine stuff that I have pushed away.

“We are apt to forget that a man is not only committed to Jesus Christ for salvation; he is committed to Jesus Christ’s view of God, of the world, of sin and of the devil, and this will mean that he must recognize the responsibility of being transformed by the renewing of his mind.” Oswald Chambers

Another wise person told me that Christian maturity requires bringing to the conscious mind that which was repressed, and then rethinking it biblically and putting it back. Since subconscious thoughts affect behavior, this process helps me understand why I do things. It also is part of what God does in renewing my mind.

But I cannot do this myself or make it happen, or even want it to happen. Only the Holy Spirit knows what and how to do it, and when. He can bring up repressed thoughts and events, help me examine them in the light of God’s Word, and gently resolve those buried issues.

This is what the Bible says about using divine power to destroy strongholds and bring every thought captive.