Like the country song says, "I've Been Everywhere!". When I get to a new town I look for a library, what the airport facilities are like and where are the best hamburgers and pizza! Oddly enough, I've found the best pizza I ever, ever, ever ate not in Chicago but in the small town of Ottumwa, Iowa! Let's suppose you bought pizza there too and for years you ate your great pizza and washed it down with a milkshake or two. What would YOU look like after several years? So then, we come to that old saying, don't we? "YOU are what YOU eat!" I should know because over the past year and a half I've lost 50 pounds with about 25 more to go!
But wait! There's more to this. In fact, there's much, much more. If I was delivering this message from the pulpit, I would stop and offer a prayer and ask God to use this message to make the best impression ever upon everyone listening in person or by technology. My friends, the phrase I used about was cut off! It should read exactly: "YOU are what YOU eat and YOUR mind is what YOU think!" Check out Proverbs 23:7 which says"...For as the thinks in his heart, so is he!"
Now here comes the problem and I've heard it over and over: "I agree with that verse but I have no control over what I think! I'll be having a great day when all of a sudden this vile, sinful thought come to mind! I can't control THAT!" The answer is simple. YES YOU CAN! Thoughts come into your mind via several sources like the world puts them there thru advertising, you can put one there, God puts them there and so does Satan. Satan wants to destroy YOU. He wants you DEAD and along the way to destroy your witness. That one single thought of evil doesn't condemn you but what you do next is what counts. All of us have bad thoughts, even Brother __________. (Fill in the name!) What you do with that bad thought is you take it captive and you DO NOT ADD a second evil thought to it! That boss of yours treats you poorly? YOU can stop that thought right there or you can add another thought about how bad that boss is and then a third, fourth and fifth. Or you can STOP at the first! I'll bet at some time in your life you had an incredibly embarrassing thing happen which you caused. Want me to get blunt? That stain on your clothes at the wrong spot that somebody took you aside to tell you; the time at the restaurant where your body did not like the food you put into it and told you so in no uncertain terms; maybe like me, you thought of something funny at the most inappropriate times like at a funeral. You may have your own and I'll bet you haven't thought about it for years because YOU STOPPED THAT THOUGHT! See, you can do it!
The battleground for Satan is your mind because Satan knows "as you think, so you are"! Satan will give you the thoughts which he wants so as to destroy your peace, destroy your relationship with God and destroy you. Satan will plant a thought in your mind about things like: something fleshy, immoral and sensual; thoughts to condemn you; thoughts to discourage you; thoughts of fear; thoughts of speculation (what if I develop cancer, get fired, run out of money and so on. When that happens, you STOP it right there and do not add to it with a second thought about what Satan planted there.
My friends, you can change your thinking and that's what Romans 12: 1-2 is all about. Go read it. Then go back to Proverbs 15:15 and see exactly what makes a merry heart!
Our key lesson for both you and me is we will receive bad thoughts that's not our problem. Adding to it a second bad thought is our problem and we don't need top do that! It takes practice and it takes experience but you can do it! I know you can.
Keep in touch!
But wait! There's more to this. In fact, there's much, much more. If I was delivering this message from the pulpit, I would stop and offer a prayer and ask God to use this message to make the best impression ever upon everyone listening in person or by technology. My friends, the phrase I used about was cut off! It should read exactly: "YOU are what YOU eat and YOUR mind is what YOU think!" Check out Proverbs 23:7 which says"...For as the thinks in his heart, so is he!"
Now here comes the problem and I've heard it over and over: "I agree with that verse but I have no control over what I think! I'll be having a great day when all of a sudden this vile, sinful thought come to mind! I can't control THAT!" The answer is simple. YES YOU CAN! Thoughts come into your mind via several sources like the world puts them there thru advertising, you can put one there, God puts them there and so does Satan. Satan wants to destroy YOU. He wants you DEAD and along the way to destroy your witness. That one single thought of evil doesn't condemn you but what you do next is what counts. All of us have bad thoughts, even Brother __________. (Fill in the name!) What you do with that bad thought is you take it captive and you DO NOT ADD a second evil thought to it! That boss of yours treats you poorly? YOU can stop that thought right there or you can add another thought about how bad that boss is and then a third, fourth and fifth. Or you can STOP at the first! I'll bet at some time in your life you had an incredibly embarrassing thing happen which you caused. Want me to get blunt? That stain on your clothes at the wrong spot that somebody took you aside to tell you; the time at the restaurant where your body did not like the food you put into it and told you so in no uncertain terms; maybe like me, you thought of something funny at the most inappropriate times like at a funeral. You may have your own and I'll bet you haven't thought about it for years because YOU STOPPED THAT THOUGHT! See, you can do it!
The battleground for Satan is your mind because Satan knows "as you think, so you are"! Satan will give you the thoughts which he wants so as to destroy your peace, destroy your relationship with God and destroy you. Satan will plant a thought in your mind about things like: something fleshy, immoral and sensual; thoughts to condemn you; thoughts to discourage you; thoughts of fear; thoughts of speculation (what if I develop cancer, get fired, run out of money and so on. When that happens, you STOP it right there and do not add to it with a second thought about what Satan planted there.
My friends, you can change your thinking and that's what Romans 12: 1-2 is all about. Go read it. Then go back to Proverbs 15:15 and see exactly what makes a merry heart!
Our key lesson for both you and me is we will receive bad thoughts that's not our problem. Adding to it a second bad thought is our problem and we don't need top do that! It takes practice and it takes experience but you can do it! I know you can.
Keep in touch!
