The Architect and the Builder

Architect: One who designs and supervises the construction of buildings or other large structures.

Builder: One who builds; one who develops or gives form to according to a plan or process; create.

Many years ago (more than I want to admit) I was in the construction business: block laying, carpentry, superintendent, but was mainly in the residential concrete business. When working in all phases of construction, you have to be able to read blueprints. If you can’t read and understand them, you will fail to correctly do your job. In turn, your work may not pass inspection or worse, the building may suffer structural damage in the future.

For many years I had a misconception concerning my part with my daily walk with the Lord. I didn’t have the attitude of living life on purpose for a purpose. I mainly read my bible and prayed for direction. Most of my life I lived passively. I let my career and financial life suffer all for the sake of waiting on the Lord. I lived mostly in the wishes and dreams realm and not the action realm. Both are important and both are needed to fulfill all God has called us to do.

Paul wrote in Philippians 2:12 (KJ) :Wherefore, my beloved… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. The word work in the original language means: to accomplish, by implication to finish, fashion, cause, do, perform, work (out). This is a strong action word. Clearly we are to participate in our own life after salvation. Adam Clarke writes in his commentary on this subject, “We must be workers together with Him, that we receive not His grace in vain; because He works in you, therefore work with Him, and work out your own salvation.” We are not to be passive in our walk with Christ as I was for so many years.

Let me bring this back around to “The Architect and the Builder”.

Fortunately, I’ve had a change of perspective in my career and financial life. I now see my life like a builder builds a house.

Building a house all starts with an architect having a thought or picture in his mind of the final product. He then with a team, starts implementing his thoughts by creating blueprints or plans. After the plans are complete with every detail drawn our, they go to a builder. The builder starts the process from the ground up to build the architect’s vision.

One thing I didn’t see on the construction site was an architect. The architect did his part with vision and plans. He may occasionally consult on the project but he doesn’t grab a hammer and nails to work on the house. The builder does the work with the detailed plans to complete the project.

We as Christians can use this analogy to help us complete the call on our lives. We know that God has work for us to do. Read what the Apostle Paul told the Ephesians: “…. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” (Eph 2:10 Message) We also know that He has already laid out good plans for us. (Jeremiah 29:11) These plans are written on the tablets of our heart. (2 Corinthians 3:3) It would do us well to spend more time listening to the desires of our heart for out of it flows the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23) Listening to our heart, in part, is listening to God’s plans for you.

God is the Architect.

We are the builder.

Too many Christians are falling short of God’s best because we haven’t read the Architect’s plans.

What about you?

Where are you at in respect to “working out your salvation”?

Are you a passive bystander or a builder?

If you want to learn to be a builder, here are some steps to take.

Commit

Decide today you will do what it takes to be a builder. You will need this in your spirit because it will take some work to shift your mindset. Your mind will still want you to be passive but your commitment will help you push forward.

Listen

Set a daily time and place for you to get alone with God. Make it a time of reflection, intimacy and study. Don’t get stuck with the idea that your time alone with God will look and feel the same every time. Some days just read the bible, others days pray and listen. Be flexible and enjoy your time with God.

Write

Writing is a gateway to your heart. So write down your desires, passions and visions. Write on a grand scale as if the whole world was yours to create with a pen. Be completely vulnerable to your own desires. There are no boundaries or rules when you write. It’s not about grammar or spelling, it’s about opening up the floodgates of freedom in your life.

Remember that this is a progressive learning process. In time you will begin to see the Architects plans. It will be up to you to implement them and create the life God has called you to live.

Now go and get your nail bags on and start building.

Andy

Death in the Garden

Jesus crucifixion started in the garden. The Father gave Him a vision. (Luke 22:41) Jesus died to His own will. (v42) Jesus accepted, visualized and internalized the Father’s plan. (v44) This sequence of steps was a defining moment for Jesus and for us. No, it was much more than that. It was the beginning of the final great battle that led Jesus to the victory that had been foretold for thousands of years. This was the established point in time for Jesus. The same point in time God gives to all of us. He gave His only begotten Son, our only chance, a vital, critical and crucial choice in the matter at hand. Make no mistake, the vision and the weight of it was clear. (v44) He chose to die.

I know I often choose to carry my cross. I do have to ask myself why. It could be of pure motives wanting to be more like the Lord. It could be I may get some sort of gratification out of it. It’s the “woe is me” syndrome that could get it the way of my sincerity. I could carry my cross all my life and never have to die. This way I can still partially have my way in any given situation in my life and not die. As long as I don’t die to a situation, I still have a bit of control in my life…so I think.

Today I’m not going to name any situations. I believe you are already thinking about them.

I’ve become tired of carrying my cross without the end game of death. I’ve had to die to what I’ve wanted in this life and cry for Him to give me the desires of His heart so I could live again.

I thought I would share this from my heart.

Andy

The Blame Stops Here!

I’ve heard it for years. The “Blame Game”. Family, friends and co-workers blame, blame, blame. I did it for many years.  But what good does it do? Does it somehow solve problems? Does it strengthen relationships? Does it insure a strong future for you or others? Of course not.

So why do we blame?

v Blame can give us a false sense of self-confidence.                                

      

   +  If we fail at a project or relationship, blaming someone else 

       could make us feel as if we gave it our best shot.

v It can shift negative attention off us and cast else where.                                            

   +  We might say, I can’t lose weight because of the way my 

       parents treated me.

v It can give us a sense of self-righteousness.                                                                

   +  We may hear from someone, I’m divorced because she is 

       immature.

Blaming others is never justified. Read the story of Adam and Eve. After they ate of the forbidden fruit, God called out to Adam and asked, “Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Adam responded saying, “The woman whom You gave to be with me--she gave me [fruit] from the tree, and I ate.” Adam blamed Eve. Then God asked Eve, “What have you done?” She replied, “The serpent seduced me, and I ate." It all sounds like blame to me. Think about this a moment. What did they really think they would accomplish by blaming others?

I think the act of disobedience changed their level of faith in God’s love for them. For them to blame others for their disobedience, they must have lost the belief that God fully loved them and would redeem them. The blame they put on others was a spiritual fig leaf, to try to cover their sin. They were trying to tell God that they were still good people. When we blame others for our sin, mistakes or shortcomings, we are simply saying we don’t truly believe God can forgive us, restore us and change us. When Christians blame, it is denying the redeeming power of Jesus the Christ. Blaming is trying to justify ourselves. It is an act of trying to show others our righteousness. Instead of admitting our lack of character or integrity, we blame.

So what is the answer to this hypocrisy. We must fully submit to living under the grace of God. When we do, He then can shape us and mold us into His image.

Next level thinking requires us to take full responsibility for our mistakes. Then and only then can we fully rely on our Redeemer to make us who we ought to be.

Here is a question to ponder.

Day to day, how do you blame others for the part of your life you do not like?

Andy

Picking Scabs

As a boy, I had several cuts, scratches and bruises just like most boys do. I remember one particular incident when I had a good sized scrape on my knee from a bike accident. After few weeks I had a full scab and was on my way to complete healing. Unfortunately for me, we had a friend of the family visit us. Somehow this “friend” convinced my parents to pour peroxide on my scab. In a panic I tried to talk my way out of the forced treatment but it was to no avail. As my parents held me down, I cried through the torture. I’m not sure what it was to accomplish. The only thing that happened was I felt pain, I was angry and the peroxide removed the scab. The scab had to grow again before I healed.

I’ve had to deal with some deep pains lately. What I’ve come to understand in my life concerning emotional healing is this. I couldn’t deeply believe God the Father completely and absolutely loved me. My experiences, since I was child, left me believing I was unlovable. Even though I received Christ as my Savior at sixteen years old, I was so emotionally injured I couldn’t grow in His love and grace. Even though the chains of my addictions and issues were broken through Christ I continued to destroy my life. I would accept criticism from others and would listen to the condemnation that was screaming at me in my head.

Here is the picture in many Christians lives. Before accepting the invitation to follow Christ, we were fettered. After Christ, the fetters were broken and we were set free from sin and death. Unfortunately the fetters left deep cuts on our wrist. Through our walk with Christ our cuts begin to heal and scab. The scab in the natural is protection until the wound heals. The scab in the spiritual represents Gods grace as we grow in Christ. In the natural we are constantly tempted to scratch and pick at the scab because it has a nagging itch. We tend to do the same in the spiritual. Because we do not fully believe God’s love for us is full and complete, we keep pulling His grace off of our lives. We keep going back to the past pain and sin disbelieving in full redemption through Christ. In this place of unbelief we cannot believe the Father absolutely loves us. This starts the cycle of self criticism and condemnation and keeps us from deep inner healing. This unbelief of total redemption corrupts, misrepresents and twists our perception of God and how He sees us. It doesn’t allow us to live beyond our past. Instead of healing, our damaged past becomes a logical and acceptable part of our daily lives. There are a couple of problems with this scenario. God is not logical and Jesus came to heal the broken hearted.

If this describes you, here are some steps you can take to help stop the cycle of self criticism and condemnation.

1.     Stop picking at the scabs.

Learn to filter what the media (including Christian media), family and you say about yourself. Filter the truth from the lies. Resist accepting and repeating the lies. This can be difficult at first but keep doing it and it starts to become easier to deflect the deceit of the past.

Give yourself time to heal.

We always seem to be in a hurry. Remember renewing the mind takes time. In addition, it’s not all about healing. It’s also about building a relationship with Christ. When you have a relationship with Him, your negative opinions of yourself and others opinions matter less and less. Relationship building takes time. But the closer you get to Christ, the more emotional healing takes place organically.

Use ointment.

Spend quit time reflecting on all the good the Word say’s about you. Also remember, since your salvation, you have done good deeds. Reflect on those actions or deeds for a moment and ask the Spirit to help you to enjoy this life by finding other ways of doing good deeds. There is something about serving others that helps bring healing. These actions are like a healing ointment for the soul.

Are you ready to break the cycle? Are you ready to heal? Start using these steps today to move forward in the life Jesus came to give you. Start believing in total redemption because God doesn’t do anything half-hearted.

What are other ways in which we can break unbelief in total redemption?

Andy

Indulging in Fruit

John 5:6-7 When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, Do you want to become well? [Are you really in earnest about getting well?] 

The invalid answered, Sir, I have nobody when the water is moving to put me into the pool; but while I am trying to come [into it] myself, somebody else steps down ahead of me. 

Think about this man’s response to Jesus. His statement gives us a very revealing look at his spiritual state.

To better understand this, we must clarify the meaning of the word “invalid”. This word has two pronunciations. 1) in-va-lid 2) in-val-id. Definition #2 means: an intended point or claim is not valid, is null or void. Definition #1, in which I will focus on, means: a person made weak or disabled by illness or injury.

Here’s the point. This man’s response revealed that he was not only physically disabled but also spiritually disabled. His first words to Jesus, who asked him a yes or no question, was a negative statement that had nothing to do with the question. He helped make him-self weak and disabled by the words that he spoke. Proverbs 18:21 states: Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life]. If his first response to Jesus was negative, he had a mental stronghold of negativity. Negativity mastered him. He had been thinking negatively for so long that he couldn’t tell Jesus he wanted to be healed. The man was weakness, failure and self-pity and his tongue followed. He achieved what he thought and spoke every time.

 Unfortunately, this man’s life reveals a part of mankind and our nature of negativity. So what can we do differently? Proverbs 8:6-8 says: Hear, for I will speak excellent and princely things; and the opening of my lips shall be for right things. For my mouth shall utter truth, and wrongdoing is detestable and loathsome to my lips. All the words of my mouth are righteous (upright and in right standing with God); there is nothing contrary to truth or crooked in them. When we read the Word regularly and pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance, we can stop our tongues before they repeat the negative. We will have scripture to replace the negative thoughts. Then we can speak the truth of God’s Word, in faith, and see it come to pass.

“Next Level Thinking” requires us to search out our negative thoughts and words and align them with the Word of God.

Ask yourself today what fruit am I indulging in? Death or life? 

Invisible Chains

The chains of your past may have cut deep into your soul. If you still feel the pain of the chains, it's not the chains, it's the cut. 

You are free from the chains but the Lord needs to heal the cut. 
Let Him go there.

The Ground

God gave us the perfect picture of how deep His Son's blood will penetrate our past and wipe it clean. Luke 22:44 says:
"And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
The ground is what God used to make Adam. Gods redemption can't go any deeper than that. When Jesus bled on the ground He was drawing a line in the sand stating His people are no longer bound to condemnation.

Don't let condemnation hold you back. Condemnation is only a shadow not a reality.

Are You Hoarding?

Matthew 6:19-20

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal

I admit it. I enjoy watching the reality show “Hoarders”. It used to be that my self-righteousness would want to kick in and judge. Fortunately the Spirit reminded me how messed I would be without my Savior.

The show has a central theme of why most hoarders are hoarders. An unfortunate or traumatic experience in their past has made them get stuck. As Christians we could be “spiritual hoarders”. No, I’m not promoting a new reality show. What I am doing is looking at what I’ve had to realize in my life and share it in hope’s it will help someone else. In essence, I’m removing clutter from my house and giving to others. This very act of removing clutter from a house is the beginning for a real life hoarder to heal and get unstuck. So it is with Christians. Some of us Christians get stuck at the cross of Jesus. They never grow or build from there. Some of us grow for a few years until we get offended or a tragedy happens. Some just quit because they were looking for all the goodies of God and didn’t get them fast enough. (Sorry for stepping on some toes.) It could be any number of situations that would keep us from moving forward in any area of our life.

What is it for you? I would guess if you’re not experiencing growth in any area of your life, you are stuck. If you’re stuck it’s hard to see a good future. It’s hard to see a way to get unstuck. You’re likely frustrated with life. When we are stuck it’s difficult to have faith and hope in our God.

Here are a few steps that have helped me get unstuck.

1.  Identifying the area(s) of your stuckness. (Is that a word?) Is   it you health, career, a relationship or is it emotional? You may find it easy to identify or you may have to dig deep but do this step first. Once found, you can then start the process. Remember Peter before he denied Christ. He was stuck in his own limited ability to follow Christ. After he came face to face with the truth, he then became a pillar in our Christian history.
2.   Read Luke 9:13-17 several times in different translations. This is a powerful principle for “spiritual hoarders”. Simply put, when we give the wisdom, knowledge or gift that  God has given to us to feed the hungry, we don’t lose it. It multiplies when you share it. If you share your story of  salvation, you aren’t suddenly un-saved. If you share some bit of helpful information at work, you don’t suddenly  not know what you just shared. On the contrary, it multiplies. In addition, Jesus said, “For whosoever will save his  life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. If we start sharing little by little what we  know, in any area of our life, to the benefit of others, we will start to notice the flow of life again. To not share your  wisdom, knowledge or gift is hoarding.                                                                                                                                   
3.  Go with the flow. Revelation 22:1 (AMP) says, “Then He showed me the river whose waters give life, sparkling like crystal, flowing  out from the throne of God and of the Lamb." We have the fullness of Christ living in us. Therefore we, potentially,  could have the river of life flowing out of us. Hoarding stops the flow of life. First it stops your life then the life  you could have touched. If a kitchen sink is clogged, the water will flow slower and slower because of build up in the drain. When the drain  is completely clogged the water will back up to the surface and will bring a vomit inducing smell with it. (Sorry for  the gross description but I’m trying to make a point.) This is what happens to us if we get spiritually clogged. We slowly die and become a bitter smelling portrayal of Christ and Christianity. Sharing your wisdom, knowledge or gifts keeps the river flowing.

Are you hoarding? If so, start with these steps to begin to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

The Spirit helps us in many different ways. I hope this helps you.

What are other ways the Spirit has helped you get out of your stuckness? (There’s that word again.)

Don't we all have choice in our future? Most of us realize we have this choice daily. What most of us don't realize is the effect it will have on countless others for the good or bad.

God the Father gave Jesus a choice in the garden and He chose crucifixion because of the long term effect on your life.

What we do today, good or bad will make a difference in someone's life.

What will you do different today for the long term effect of someone you don't know?

This Is Going To Hurt

Psalm 42:7 (AMP)

[Roaring] deep calls to [roaring] deep at the thunder of Your waterspouts; all Your breakers and Your rolling waves have gone over me.

   This is not a description of a gentle God. It sounds like God is trying to drown the writer with a mighty vengeance. I love this description and I need it to be true in my life. Let me try to explain why.

   The apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians to know the depth of God’s love. I’m sure I will never completely know this because God is Love. It’s too deep to comprehend. I can’t comprehend the depth of the core of the earth so how could I ever truly know the depth of His love. I see the first three words of the above Psalm, “[Roaring] deep calls…” as God calling. He is as a roaring Lion that loves us with an in-comprehensive love and He is calling to something. What is He calling? He’s calling to another “roaring deep”.

    Recently God has called to a “roaring deep” in my life. He has called to deep emotional injuries of my past. And He has called to it with a vengeance to be feared. Jesus said He came to give us life and life to the full. One way for Him to give us life to the full is to heal us emotionally from past pains.

    Emotional pain is a bit different than physical pain. In most cases we can narrowly pinpoint the cause of a physical pain. It can be very different with emotional pain. In many cases it will take years to expose its disfigured head. It may take a tragic event or help from a therapist. And if we don’t confront it head on, it will lead us to a sad, pathetic and regrettable end of life. I don’t want that for me or you.

    Once exposed, the Spirit of God will get very definitive and go to the root of the pain. For us it’s a dreadful journey through an intense hidden path that leads us to the graveyard of our emotional disfigurement. This path is hidden by the wilderness of an untamed jungle created by our neglect, disregard and dismissing the fact that we have a deeply infected injury. And to get through the jungle of our bitter justifications, we need to take hold of the Spirit of the Lord until He blesses us. We must take hold of our spiritual machete, the Word of God, and allow it to cut away the untamed jungle of our soul. Hebrews 4:12 (AMP) says:

“For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.”  Your heart was injured and Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted.

    It will be extremely difficult at times to confront the source of the brokenness. But remember Psalm 23:4. Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me.

    What next? If you feel suffocated or overwhelmed with life and you can’t seem to hear from God or get a sense of direction, it may be the Lord has His rolling waves over you. Maybe He is calling you to go deeper with Him. If so, you have two choices.

1.      Panic and do nothing but continue in the neglect of your injury. In this case you will notice the infection will lead to a slow agonizing spiritual and emotional death. Your relationships will not flourish. You will live a shallow and incomplete life. But the most devastating result will be living out phantom Christianity, not ever knowing the depth of God’s love for you.
2.      Admit your need for deep healing and allow the God of Love to cleanse you with His healing power.

    What will you do? I encourage you to pick up your machete (The Word) and allow it to cut away the untamed jungle of your soul. Let the depth of God’s love go to the depths of your brokenness and heal you. I promise you He is faithful to finish the good work He started in you.

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He Upped The Ante Part 2

Last week we discussed the expectations Jesus has for us if we are to follow Him. In Matthew 5:20 Jesus said, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness (your uprightness and your right standing with God) is more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” In addition He added to the requirement. In verses 21-22,27-28 He digs deeper into our spiritual pockets and makes it clear on what He expects of us concerning our heart and mind.

When Jesus brings in these additional verses, He is stating that we have the responsibility to control what goes on in our mind and heart. Jesus also said in verse 48, “We are to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect.” He is making it very clear that we must, at all times, be conscious and cautious about our thoughts. In Philippians 2, Paul says to “work out our salvation.” He later goes on to say that part of doing that is to do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless… If we grumble and complain, it is because of our mindset. Wow! To be perfect as God the Father and prove ourselves blameless, are some big commands.

The bible is trying to teach us that the bottom line is we must take responsibility for our own thinking. Before Christ came and died and rose again for us, God said, “"My thoughts are completely different from yours," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) But now that Jesus came and gave us a new and better covenant, as Christians, we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16) We don’t have any excuses to think differently than Him.

So how do we start thinking like Christ? Here are some pointers.

1. Remind yourself daily that it is your responsibility to change your thinking for the better. No one else can make you think differently.

Others can give you different perspectives on subjects but that is all they can do for you.

2. Read the bible. It is the surest way to find out how the Lord thinks. Proverbs gives insight to His wisdom and the Psalms give insight to His great love for us.

3. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the areas of thought that need to change in your life. He will show you and He will help you change those thoughts.

“Next Level Thinking” requires us to take responsibility for our own thinking patterns. Then we can take action to remove those patterns and replace them with God thoughts.

Some thought patterns can lead to self defeating behavior. Find an area in your life you wish was different. Ask yourself: What is a present thought pattern, I could change today, to change my life in the future?

Be Thoroughly Patient

James 1:4 AMP

But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

    The best long distance runners not only need to be physically tough but also mentally tough. They must be patient or have much patience to get to the finish line. What does patience mean? This is how the dictionary defines patience: The quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.

    Paul said: let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and  let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, (Hebrews 12:1 AMP)

    We all know what the sins are. The bible makes it clear what they are. But it is the encumbrances that it doesn’t name. Could it be that a negative attitude is an unnecessary weight that clings to and entangles us? I think so.

    Let’s break this down. The word attitude is defined: A settled way of thinking or feeling, typically reflected in a person's behavior.

    Many of us have decided that we want everything fast. Hamburgers, weight loss, and answers to our prayers. Yet we know that anything good is worth waiting for. Personally I’d rather wait for a great tasting burger than have a fast food burger. Health professionals tell us to loose weight slowly so it will be easier to keep it off. And as for prayers, we all know they don’t always get answered when we would like. And to make things worse, the bible says to let patience have full play and do a thorough work… in us. I’m not so sure that I’m being comforted by the scriptures right now. But there is good news.

 Paul says in 1 Cor. 9:24(AMP): “run [your race] that you may lay hold of the prize and make it yours.”Now the questions becomes: “What is the prize?” This takes us back to James 1:4. One of the prizes is  patience mixed with endurance and steadfastness will help us be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing. This is wonderful news to me because sometimes I feel like I’m not much of a person to be admired by God. These scriptures remind me I have purpose in this life. They remind me, God will complete the good work He started in me. They help me to remember, with the Word and the Holy Spirit, I will become more and more like Jesus.                                                                                                                                     

    Next Level Thinking embraces perseverance knowing there is a prize at the end of the race.

    I challenged you today to let James 1:4 be a prayer for your life.

The City of the Dead

I recently read a very interesting article about people who live in, “The City of The Dead”. The City of the Dead is a four-mile stretch of tombs and mausoleums in Cairo, Egypt. The article states that tens of thousands live in the tombs without water or electricity. Yet they have a satellite dish and a television because it’s free. What a contrast of living and dying.

In the book of Mark, chapter 5:2-5, it describes a man who lived amongst the tombs.                  

       1.    He was under the power of an unclean spirit

       2.   He continually lived among the tombs

       3.   No one could subdue him, even with a chain

       4.      He had been bound often with shackles

       5.      He was always shrieking and screaming

       6.      He was always beating and bruising and cutting himself with stones

This doesn’t sound like a man that was enjoying his life. It reminds me of all the ways the Lord has had to change my thinking process. This man’s story is my story. It’s a story of many Christians. Let me explain.

1.      I know that we believers cannot be possessed by an evil spirit, but we can be influenced by them. It’s called temptation. With that temptation we make a choice to do it or not to do it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

2.      We may not physically live amongst the tombs but we do in our hearts and minds. (Matthew 15:19)

3.      We as human beings get set in our ways and tend to not want change in our lives.(Psalm 55:19)

4.      When we continuously give in to temptation, it always moves us closer to addiction.

5.      As believers, our shortcomings and addictions will always back itself up with a loud voice of justification.(Galatians 5:4)

6.      For believers, condemnation will scream out in our minds the hopelessness and despair of our life.

If you cannot relate to this, then stop reading because you won’t get anything out of it. But if you can relate, there is good news.

Read this: Mark 7:20-23 (AMP) ²⁰And He said, What comes out of a man is what makes a man unclean and renders [him] unhallowed. ²¹For from within, [that is] out of the hearts of men, come base and wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery, ²²Coveting (a greedy desire to have more wealth), dangerous and destructive wickedness, deceit; unrestrained (indecent) conduct; an evil eye (envy), slander (evil speaking, malicious misrepresentation, abusiveness), pride ( the sin of an uplifted heart against God and man), foolishness (folly, lack of sense, recklessness, thoughtlessness). 

²³All these evil [purposes and desires] come from within, and they make the man unclean and render him unhallowed. 

Jesus makes it very clear that our heart and mind is what makes us messed up. It’s a thought process and an attitude of the heart that keeps us from living the full life that Jesus wants us to live.

Here are 3 steps that will help you on your expedition to a closer walk with the Lord.

1.      Read the Bible daily.

a.      Jesus is the Word, so reading daily reveals more of Him and the contrasting life we may be living.

2.      Pray

a.      Praying can be an act of submission. Let the Lord know you need His help to change. Little by little He will reveal to you His thoughts and His ways. Then He will help you to renew your mind which will transform your heart.

3.      Believe that He absolutely loves you and hears your prayers.

a.      It’s take faith to absolutely know the Lord loves us just as we are. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The more you read and pray, the easier it is to believe He wants a relationship with you.

Next level thinking is thinking like Him. And thinking like Him will help you to live farther away from “The City of The Dead”.

Fill In The Blank

As a man thinks,
So is he.
Thinking Negative = Death
Thinking Positive = ( You fill in the blank.)

Next Level Thinking

Here are a few thoughts to 

help you start your day.

+ Think up, not down.

+ Think on things above, not below

+ We are kings and priest.

   So think like it.

+ Set yourself apart

   starting with your thinking.

+ As a man thinks,

   so is he.

+ Never think the glass is half full.

   Think of it as over flowing.

+ Make yourself have

   Next Level Thinking.