Weekly Articles

                                                                             Creating Godly Thoughts

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“….Be careful what you are hearing. The measure of thought and study you give to the truth you hear will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you….”   Mark 4:24 Amplified   

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Before a man is saved by the grace of God, he lives life continually being influenced by the fallen world around him because of his corrupt nature according to the deceitful lusts which he inherited from Adam. No one in his unregenerate state has to be taught how to sin, nor does he have anything besides the ways of this fallen world to govern his thoughts by, thus his thoughts are vain because of his nature. The wickedness of his thoughts comes without any realization that they are indeed evil; therefore, his life is governed by these thoughts which affect his emotions, decisions, actions, attitude, and words, and they will eventually lead and keep him away from God’s path of righteousness. He will only live to satisfy his lustful desires which proceed from the thoughts he has within.  

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A man’s life is governed by the way he thinks: Proverbs 23:7 says, “for as he (man)  thinketh in his heart, so is he.” You cannot separate a man from his thoughts. Everything in life comes from a thought: where you go, what you do, how you treat others, all begins with what you are thinking, and before a man receives salvation and the truth of God’s Word and ways, the bible says that his thoughts are wicked, and an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 15:26). Salvation saves our spirit instantaneously, but leaves our mind in its same sinful state, and it must be renewed by the Word of God before we can experience the mind of Christ and live life according to His purpose. When we receive salvation the Spirit of God enters into our once dead spirit and as 2 Corinthians 5:17 states, we are at that moment new creations, but we still have our negative and sinful thought pattern that needs to be changed. So, we learn that our minds need to be renewed by the Word of God (Romans 12:2), and we set out to achieve this by studying and learning what the Word says. Now what we have is two thought patterns warring in our mind in which we must choose from daily. Galatians 5:17 tells us that “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit”, meaning there is a war in your mind to control your thoughts, and the dominate thoughts will be the one that govern your life. Our thoughts will determine our direction in life; where we will end up comes from what we are thinking.

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Therefore it becomes blatantly obvious that if we are to successfully live the life Jesus came and died for us to have that we must change that old corrupt way of thinking. Romans 12:2 gives the believer the formula for this success once he is saved. It states in the Amplified: “be not conformed to this world [fashioned after and adapted to…it customs, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your mind….” Then as we refer back to Mark 4:24, Jesus gave a warning to “be careful what you are hearing.”  He is telling us that the thoughts which will govern our life will come from what you give your attention to. The profound truth which must be expressed here is that in order for one to successfully renew his mind with the Word of God, it the Word, must receive your utmost attention. Creating godly thoughts which will guide you in your decision making will only come by giving much thought and study to the Word. If I may I would like to interject here that you also must lay aside those things which once nourished those sinful thoughts. The point of emphasis that Jesus was making here is to be very careful that while in the process of renewing your mind with the Word that you are not hindering the process of creating godly thoughts by listening to the lies and deceit of the devil through secular television, talk shows, and the enticements of the world. As we like to pound in the principle of renewing the mind, we may neglect to remind you of the warning Jesus gave to be careful what you are hearing. Ephesians 4:22 says that WE, not God, must put off the old man which is corrupt according to that old way of thinking. We must put off this old man by depriving him of the nourishments he once received from the world’s way of thinking. Once you give your full attention to the Word of God and cut off the supply of knowledge that once feed your flesh, then, the Word of God will begin to dominate your thoughts and give guidance and direction according to the will of God. When you are trying to renew your mind to the things of God and you continue to indulge yourself in that old worldly behavior by ingesting the ways of the world, it is like trying to build a fire and dashing water on it at the same time. The dominate thoughts will only be created by what you give the most attention to. If you deny the worldly influence which leads to sin and death, and fill your mind with the Word of God only, you then can be influenced by, and yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and godly thoughts will begin to dominate your thinking.