mind of Christ

March 9, 2017

Change Your Thought Patterns

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2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
— Col 3:2 NLT
Col 3: 1-8 NLT

Paul tells us in Romans about the struggle he had with the flesh. He always wanted to do right, but found himself doing the wrong things. He knows what is right, but doesn’t always live up to that standard. We have the same struggle and as long as we are in this tent of flesh, we will always have it. We have to put to death our fleshly desires and focus on Jesus. The devil wants to keep us “sin-minded’”, but we need to follow after God’s Holy Spirit and be “Christ-minded”. If we have the mind of Christ, His attitude, and if we always try to see things through His eyes, then we can focus on things above and those fleshly desires will become less and less important. This does not mean that we live in some fantasy world, but rather, that the things of Christ become more real to us as we mature in our journey with Him.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 03-09-2017

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January 1, 2017

Focus Our Thoughts on Jesus

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8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. — Phil. 4:8 NLT
Philippians 4:4-8 NLT
If we follow Paul’s advice, we will pray and be thankful for all things that God has done for us. We must continually guard our thoughts and the desires of our hearts. We need to focus on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, excellent and worthy of praise. Then we will become God-conscious. Witnessing for Jesus will be a natural outflow of this kind of thinking. Our actions will be Christ-centered and people will know that we have something they don’t have. If we let our guard down, satan will rush in and have us thinking about the pleasures of the flesh. Then, satan will keep telling us about all the things we don’t have. After listening to that for a short while, we become sin-conscious. In that state of mind, we are of little use to God, ourselves or anyone else. Fight the good fight and stay focused on Jesus. Then we will enjoy God’s peace, joy will overflow and it will be completely natural for us to praise Him for His goodness.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 01-01-2017

December 24, 2015

Tomorrow – the Plan Unfolds!

even-smaller-bug-light114 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.” — Genesis 3:14, 15 NIV

​So the battle for the souls of men begins on earth.  The flesh gives into the deception of the enemy and is barred from the Garden.  The invisible, spiritual warfare for the control of our minds and thus our beliefs and our hearts’ desires stiil continues and will until the end of time as we understand it.  The perfect world God had created and given to man was handed over to the enemy and would remain his domain for years to come.  Sinful, imperfect humans could not, cannot and will never be able to defeat the enemy.  Instead, we would become slaves to sin and live in a sinful world.  We needed a Savior, a Redeemer, a Kinsman to purchase our freedom from the enemy.  But, God is never surprised, He had a plan in place to do just that.  In the “fullness of time”, that plan would explode onto earth.  A plan that the enemy could not see coming and would be so blind to it, that he would  even participate in the fulfillment of the plan.  The enemy would believe he had won the final victory by seducing humans into killing the Savior. What he thought was a final victory would turn into his worst nightmare!  
 

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. — 1 Cor. 2:6-8 NIV

​We have a part in that plan.  Our part is to keep telling the age-old story, the same story that we heard from someone else. The story that introduced us to the Savior. 

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” — Matt.28:19, 20 NIV

​“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 12-24-2015

August 12, 2015

All the Way to the Cross

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4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. — Romans 15:4-7 NIV

​All​ of the Scriptures, both Old and New are a continuing story of hope. In the Old Testament, the Jews were constantly reminded of the hope they had that God was with them and would deliver them in His timing. The prophets also told of a time when the Messiah would come to deliver not only the Jews but also the Gentiles. The New Testament continues that story of hope with the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We still look forward to the time when Jesus will come again to receive all of His children to be with Him in heaven. That is the hope we have that gives us encouragement to endure the time we spend as aliens here on earth.  While we are here, we are instructed to follow the example that Jesus set in His time here as a stranger and an alien. We are to accept one another as He accepted us, love each other as He loves us, edify and encourage each other.  We do this to bring glory, honor and praise to God, our Father. This is not possible in the flesh unless we mortify the flesh and submit to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, even unto death, if necessary.
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? — Luke 9:23-25 NIV
Post 08-12-2015
April 30, 2015

“Joy Unspeakable and Full of Glory”

God is waiting to show you the Way.

God is waiting to show you the Way.

15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.–1 Cor. 2:15,16 NIV
​If our​ spirits are in tune with the Holy Spirit, we have access to all the wisdom of heaven. Since that is true, we should be able to make wiser decisions than those who do not have that access. The decisions we make and the actions we take will not always bring us worldly acclaim. Why? Because the world does not understand the wisdom of heaven. There is no way to explain to a person without the Holy Spirit explaining it how we gain our life by giving it up. How we can have more by giving away what we have or be free when we are in voluntary servitude to Jesus Christ. That is not how the world thinks or operates. “But we have the mind of Christ” which means we think differently. It means that we can have joy in our hearts even though the world around is decaying and we can have peace when we are surrounded by violence and rioting. We can have hope when it appears that there is only hopelessness. We can forgive even when we are the ones that have been wronged. We have a future worth living and dying for because we are redeemed. We can praise the Lord in the worst of situations.
1 Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.–Psalm 103:1-5 NIV
Post 05-02-2015