DEVOTIONAL

Prayers:

Scripture Reading for Prayer and Praise: Psalm 139:13-14

"13 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well.”

Worship Song Sung or Said: May The Mind Of Christ (Author Katie Wilkinson)

https://youtu.be/yuFozjKk7S8?list=RDir-XbtrgcRk

May the mind of Christ, my Saviour,
live in me from day to day,
by His love and pow'r controlling
all I do and say.
 

May the word of God dwell richly
in my heart from hour to hour,
so that all may see I triumph
only through His pow'r.
 

May the peace of God my Father
rule my life in everything,
that I may be calm to comfort
sick and sorrowing.
 

May the love of Jesus fill me
as the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing:
this is victory.
 

May I run the race before me,
strong and brave to face the foe,
looking only unto Jesus
as I onward go.
 

May His beauty rest upon me
as I seek the lost to win,
and may they forget the channel,
seeing only Him.

God’s Word for Today: 

Devotional/Study: Part 2                                                                                               

The mind is where the spiritual battle is. When the enemy attacks our minds we need to seek God in prayer and in that praying as Paul the apostle says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” This literally means to conquer… to bring under control.  In John 10:27 Jesus said “My sheep listen to my voice” it’s so important that we know and recognize the voice of the Lord. The problem is sometimes we listen to the voice and lies of the enemy. 

What we need to do when we hear another voice speaking lies is take those lies captive before they ever have a chance to take root and bring every thought under submission to Jesus. If we don’t do this, we will allow bad thoughts to control our minds and become a stronghold in our lives. But thanks be to God Paul tells in us 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 that God has given us “mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” 

These strongholds Paul is talking about our proud arguments, opinions, and thoughts that are raised against the knowledge of God. These strongholds can also be lies that we have believed from the world and Satan. They can be lies about God, about yourself, and lies about how God sees you and me.

These strongholds can be unconfessed sin in our lives; it can be unforgiveness and bitterness. These strongholds can come from deep rejection or traumatic experiences. 

It does raise a question for each one of us. Are there strongholds in our minds that keep us from receiving God’s best for us and been in that place of peace?

Tearing down strongholds in our lives is not easy. But thanks be to God We know that the Lord has given the spiritual armour to stand strong against the Devil's schemes, lies and attacks.

Secondly: When the enemy comes in with negative thoughts, and tries to torment us or cause us to live and act contrary to the Word of God...we need to begin to fight with the weapons Jesus used to defeat Satan. 

When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, He tried everything to get Jesus to abandon the path of obedience and keep Him from fulfilling His mission to be the saviour of the world. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He didn’t get into a conversation with Satan. He answered with words from what is written in Scripture, 

The weapon Jesus used was to quote the Word of God with faith and assurance against Satan schemes. Matthew 4:10-11 describes it in this way “Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” 

If we know and are soaked in God’s word, we will able to guard our mind from the lies and negative thoughts that Satan throws at us. So, when ungodly thoughts come our way, we need in the power of the Holy Spirit take authority and rebuke those thoughts in Jesus’ name. 

Thirdly: our minds must be always focused on Jesus and not circumstances. In Matthew chapter 14 we read the story of Jesus walking on the water and invited Peter to do the same. Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water towards Jesus, But then something happened Peter noticed the strong wind and fear came into his heart and he began to sink because he took his eyes off Jesus and focused them on the high waves around him. Instead of looking to Christ he looked at the overwhelming problem he faced.

However, when he cried out to Jesus, Jesus saved him and you will notice Jesus said to him in v31, “you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 

Brothers and sisters, we must not allow any circumstances to take our eyes and minds of who Christ is and his love for us. We are to have the mind of Christ In Corinthians 1:14-16 Paul reminds us that because we have the Holy Spirit we have the mind of Christ; that is so amazing with the help of the Holy Spirit we can know the mind of Christ and if we know the mind of Christ we can have insight to some of God's plans, thoughts, and ways. 

If we are abiding in Christ, we know the mind of Christ and therefore we are able to deal with any attacks of the enemy on our minds and respond like Christ would respond.

It does raise a question for all of us to ponder and reflect on. Are we spending enough time with Christ to have his very mind in us?

If we have the mind of Christ we be guarded against doubt, discouragement, pride, impurity of thought and from all the lies that Satan throws at us. One of the ways we can have health minds is to make sure we feed our minds with the right things. Godly things will protect our minds from all that is evil and ungodly.  Paul gives us an idea of what those right things are he says in Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

So, as we seek to live for Christ let us in the power of the Holy spirit guard our minds and hearts and stay close Jesus.

Personal Prayers: