If we are not walking in love and the other fruit of the spirit we can be a huge disappointment to someone who is truly searching for something genuine to believe in.
CHAPTER 45.
Guarding Our Hearts In Proverbs 4:23 we read that G.o.d tells us to guard our hearts-to watch over them carefully. But what does that really mean? It means to be alert or watchful about the ways of the enemy. It is easy to become careless about guarding our hearts and being alert to Satan"s subtle tactics when things are going our way and G.o.d is pouring out His blessings on our lives. It is sad, but the truth is, when things go really well for a long time we often get lazy and stop doing what we should be doing. We need to guard our hearts diligently, not just occasionally.
Instead of using the word guard, I like to think of it this way: We need to post a sentinel around our hearts. Think of what a guard or sentinel does-he"s on duty. He watches for the enemy to attack. He"s not just ready; he"s actively watchful and prepared to resist all attacks from the enemy. This is how we need to live-with a trustworthy sentinel. It doesn"t mean we live in fear or constantly have to check to see if the devil is sneaking around. Think of it more as posting a sentinel to do that for us.
What kind of sentinel do we need? I think of the two most obvious ones: prayer and the Word of G.o.d. If we pray for G.o.d"s Holy Spirit to help us guard our hearts, He will honor that request. When the enemy creeps up, the Holy Spirit will remind us of a scripture and we can meditate on it or speak it out loud and the enemy will flee.
In Philippians 4:67, Paul says not to fret or have any anxiety about anything; in a sense he is saying, if we push away our anxieties (which we do by prayer) and fill our hearts with thanksgiving, G.o.d"s peace stands guard over us. G.o.d helps us resist the attack of the enemy.
Don"t minimize thanksgiving, for it is powerful. As we give thanks to G.o.d through our words and our songs, we are guarding our hearts. As the old hymn says, we should count our blessings one by one and name them to rehea.r.s.e what G.o.d has done for us. It is more than just singing a few words; it is actually pausing on purpose to remember all the good things G.o.d has done in our lives. As we rejoice over past blessings, we open ourselves to more blessings in the future.
What better guards can we post than those who cry out to G.o.d on behalf of others? The devil doesn"t like hearing such prayers.
Another ally we sometimes overlook is other believers. When we"re aware of our weaknesses, we can agree in prayer with other believers. We can ask them to pray specifically that we won"t be misled or defeated by the enemy. Other believers can intercede for us-just as we can for them. What better guards can we post than those who cry out to G.o.d on behalf of others? The devil doesn"t like hearing such prayers.
One of our responsibilities as Christians is to guard our hearts. We must be careful what we permit to come into them. Being victorious does not just automatically happen; we must be diligent to do our part. We don"t receive from G.o.d by merely wishing, but we must act on His instructions to us. The enemy is always lurking around waiting for an opening into our lives, but as we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, Satan will be continually disappointed.
CHAPTER 46.
Overcoming Pa.s.sivity To be pa.s.sive means to be inactive. A pa.s.sive person is one who would like to see something good take place and then waits to see if it does. That desire is right, but the person takes no action. If pa.s.sive people spot a need, they usually say something like, "That is just not right, someone needs to do something about it." It never occurs to them that the "someone" who needs to do something might be them. Inactivity is very dangerous. Empty s.p.a.ce is a breeding ground for the devil. Jesus warned that if an evil spirit was cast out and the s.p.a.ce he occupied was swept clean and kept empty the evil spirit not only would come back but would bring others with him and the last state of the man would be worse than the first.
For example, if we cast down a wrong thought we need to replace it with a positive one; otherwise the devil will simply drop another wrong one in our minds. Always remember, empty s.p.a.ce is still a place and the Bible says we are to give no room or foothold to the devil (see Ephesians 4:27).
I once read an article about diets in which the author said most people who diet do lose weight-until they stop dieting. When they stop working at the problem, they not only stop losing, but they"re worse than before they started. The author went on to say that the only way to win the battle of being overweight is to make a lifestyle change-by becoming aware of the danger areas and guarding ourselves against making wrong choices.
It works that way spiritually as well. One way to keep wrong thoughts out of your mind is to keep the mind active and alert and full of right things. You can cast out the devil, but then you must remain alert, always aware of his tricks.
There are aggressive sins (sins of commission), and there are pa.s.sive sins (sins of omission). That is, there are things we do that hurt a relationship, such as speaking careless words. But we also hurt relationships by the omission of kind words, those thoughtful words that express appreciation, affection, or awareness of kind deeds done by others.
When confronted, pa.s.sive individuals yell, "But I didn"t do anything!" That"s exactly the point. It"s what they don"t do. Their lack of action actually invites the devil back into their lives.
That"s a strong statement, so I will say it a different way. You can win any time you take action and push away the thoughts and desires not coming from G.o.d. You may do this through prayer, reading the Bible, or even resisting the pa.s.sive feelings that may be natural for you. But once you"ve been set free, that"s only the beginning. It"s not just one victory that lasts forever. It"s an ongoing battle-it"s being willing to constantly resist if you need to. Satan seeks to wear out G.o.d"s people, but if we are persistent we will outlast him.
The best, easiest, and most effective way to resist the devil is to fill your mind and your heart with praises to G.o.d. When you worship and praise G.o.d, you"ve slammed the door in the enemy"s face and put up a "No Trespa.s.sing" sign.
The best, easiest, and most effective way to resist the devil is to fill your mind and your heart with praises to G.o.d.
I don"t want to make it sound as if you have to fight evil every second of your life. That"s a trick of the devil himself to make you feel defeated before you even get started. We do have difficult times but we also have times of great blessing. The Bible promises G.o.d won"t allow more to come on us than we can bear, but with every temptation He always provides the way out (see 1 Corinthians 10:13).
CHAPTER 47.
Right Action Follows Right Thinking A friend once talked about a building bought by his church. "Function follows form," he said, as he described the shape of the building and the size of the rooms and how that determined how they could best use the building.
As I thought about it, I realized that"s exactly how our lives work. Once we decide the form, the function follows. This could be stated another way: Once we set our minds to something-that"s the form-the function, or the action, follows. Many people want to change their actions but not their thoughts. They want to be free from anger, gossip, l.u.s.t, dishonesty, or lying. They want the bad behavior to stop, but they don"t want to change their bad thinking.
The principle of G.o.d"s Word is simple: Right action follows right thinking. None of us ever walks in victory unless we understand and put this principle into practice. We won"t change our behavior until we change our way of thinking.
Many people struggle over trying to do the right thing. One woman told me she had been a real gossip-not that her words were always evil, but she just liked to talk. It was as if she felt compelled to be the first person to know anything and then to pa.s.s it on as quickly as possible. She struggled with holding back or saying less, and it frequently ended up causing trouble.
My advice to her was, "Until you change your way of thinking, you won"t be free." Then I said I would be glad to pray for her, but added, "You must be accountable."
She interrupted me and quickly said, "I am-and I will be." I could tell she didn"t really hear me so I said, "No, you haven"t heard me. You want deliverance from all the gossip, but you don"t want to make any changes in your thinking. It just doesn"t work that way. You need deliverance in your mind; then your words and actions will change."
She resisted my words, but she did ask me to pray for her, which I did. When I finished, she began to cry. "As you prayed, I understood. G.o.d showed me that the root of my problem is how insignificant and unimportant I feel. When I"m the first to pa.s.s on information, it makes me feel good-at least for a while-and important."
She had to shift her thinking and learn to accept that she was worthwhile and loved by G.o.d just for being who she was. Once she learned to change her way of thinking-and she did over the course of weeks-she no longer had these problems with her tongue.
It"s impossible to change wrong behavior to right behavior without an att.i.tude adjustment, which means we first must change the way we think.
I like the way Paul contrasted the old nature with the renewed mind. In Ephesians 4:2224, he admonishes his readers: "Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life. . . . And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual att.i.tude], and put on the new nature." Another translation puts it this way: "Let the Spirit change your way of thinking, and make you into a new person . . ." (vv. 2324 CEV).
It"s impossible to change wrong behavior to right behavior without an att.i.tude adjustment, which means we first must change the way we think.
There it is: Let the Holy Spirit change your way of thinking. That"s the only way you can make permanent changes in your life.
CHAPTER 48.
Be Thankful-Always Someone once told me there are more exhortations in the Bible to praise G.o.d than there are of any other kind. I don"t know if that"s true, but it ought to be. When our minds flow with thanksgiving and praise, we develop immunity to the devil"s infectious ways.
If we complain or grumble, the opposite is true. The more we complain, the worse life gets, the more victorious the devil becomes, and the more defeated we feel. It is interesting to note as we study the history of the nation of Israel, this kind of negative att.i.tude was the major problem causing them to wander in the wilderness for forty years before entering the Promised Land. We may call it by many names, but G.o.d called it unbelief.
G.o.d"s att.i.tude is if His people really believe Him and continue to have faith in Him, then no matter what happens in life they will know He is big enough to handle it and to make it work out for their good. Joy and peace are found in believing, not in murmuring, grumbling, finding faults, or complaining. If we are going to live in victory, praise has to be one of our major weapons. A wise pastor once told me, "Praise fills the heaven and the earth with G.o.d"s presence and drives away the darkness. So if you want to live in the sunshine, praise the Lord."
When good things happen to us, most of us turn to praise. It"s easy to lift our hands and our voices when G.o.d answers our prayers and delivers us from problems. It"s not always easy when things go wrong or we have to wait for an answer. What do we do when we"re sick or lose our jobs or people talk against us? How do we fill our minds with joyful thanksgiving in the midst of those situations?
Two verses give us options. First Thessalonians 5:18 tells us, "Thank [G.o.d] in everything [no matter what the circ.u.mstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of G.o.d for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will]," and Philippians 4:4 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice!"
The negative option is to take the att.i.tude of Job"s wife, who was so shaken up by the loss of her children and their possessions that she cried out, "Do you still hold fast your blameless uprightness? Renounce G.o.d and die!" (Job 2:9).
Job answered with great wisdom: "You speak as one of the impious and foolish women would speak. What? Shall we accept [only] good at the hand of G.o.d and shall we not accept [also] misfortune and what is of a bad nature?" (v. 10). Job understood a righteous life doesn"t mean everything always runs smoothly and only blessings fall on top of blessings.
We have two positive options open to us. Most of us can practice the first, but not all of us can accept the second. The first is to praise G.o.d in spite of what"s going on in our lives. Or another way to say that is in the midst of our troubles and hardships, we can choose to look for things that are not wrong and rejoice over them. It may take effort, but if we can turn our eyes away from the immediate problems, we can see that everything in life isn"t bad. We can also rejoice because G.o.d has faithfully taken us through the turmoil of the past, and we can rejoice and know He will do the same thing again.
G.o.d is not the Author of our troubles, but He may well use them to help us become better people.
The second option when circ.u.mstances are difficult is to ask, "G.o.d, what can I learn from this? What do You want to teach me through this so I can be closer to You and rejoice more fully in Your goodness?" That"s not an easy question, and the answers are often even harder. G.o.d is not the Author of our troubles, but He may well use them to help us become better people.