THINK ON THESE THINGS
“…if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8).
An old adage says, “Idle
hands are the devil’s workshop”. I have
also heard it quoted that “An idle mind is the devil’s
workshop”. Either way, though neither
phrase appears in the Bible verbatim, there is much Biblical wisdom to be found
in both.
They say a mind is a
terrible thing to waste, but how many idle and vane thoughts pass through our
minds day in and day out? How many
sleepless nights do we spend tossing and turning because we can’t turn off the
restless thoughts in our heads? Such
thoughts rob us of our peace and feed our anxieties and fears.
Anxiety is the opposite of
peace. If we are feeling anxious,
therefore, it’s because something has shaken us from our peace. If we are at peace, on the other hand, our
anxieties will flee away. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give
unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let
it be afraid.” (John 14:27). It’s
the Lord’s own peace that He has given us.
“For He is our peace...”
(Ephesians 2:14). His is a peace that
defies understanding because it is not like the peace that the world
gives. The peace that the world gives is
dependent on circumstances and on feelings, but the Lord gives us peace even in
the middle of the worst storms that life can bring. Jesus admonishes us not to allow our hearts
to be troubled or afraid. It is a
choice, therefore. It is an act of
faith. Real peace is in Christ, and so
we place ourselves in Christ by faith in order to experience that peace. “Peace
be with you all that are in Christ Jesus.” (1 Peter 5:14).
Jesus is, after all, the
Prince of Peace!
There are a number of
things that the Bible recommends that we do in order to combat stress and
anxiety. Our mind really is the first
defense against the devil’s lies and deceptions. It is there that we must learn to resist him;
and when we do, he will be forced to flee from us.
TRUST IN THE LORD
“Trust in the LORD with
all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall
direct thy paths.” (Proverbs
3:5, 6). These words of Solomon are
simple and yet profoundly wise. We
cannot hope to have peace in our lives if we are not prepared to trust the One
Who has saved us. When irrational fears,
judgmental attitudes, or strong temptations fill our hearts and minds with
care, we need only to remind ourselves of that One Who has been faithful to us
in every circumstance. He never leaves
us nor forsakes us, but gently leads us across each rolling sea and every
valley of shadows.
The secret is not leaning
on our own understanding of a situation.
We don’t know what’s around the next corner, and we don’t know what is
in the hearts of others. The Lord does. Therefore, we must always lean on Him
alone. If, in every page of our life, we
learn to acknowledge God’s hand in things, then He will be able to direct the
path of our feet. We can trust Him to
navigate and pilot (not CO-pilot) our
ship through the troubled waters.
CASTING DOWN IMAGINATIONS
“Casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
(2 Corinthians 10:5).
Our imagination can only
get us into trouble! Based on a very
small collection of assumptions, we are able to construct the most detailed
conclusions about people and situations.
As long as we can imagine that
it is true, it must be. Christ’s goal
for us is that we take captive every thought to make it obedient to
Christ. Casting down imaginations is an
important part of that. Controlling our
thought life is no less important than controlling our actions. In fact, it is probably more important. What good is
it if we carefully manage what we do before men, but inwardly are full of cruel
and unjust opinions of others, unclean and lustful thoughts, and an inflated
ego. Jesus condemned the scribes and
Pharisees for being like white sepulchers: clean on the outside, but full of
dead bones inside. The Lord also told
them, “Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the
platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which
is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.”
(Matthew 23:25, 26).
You see, the carnal mind
is the enemy of God because it is not, and cannot be, subject to the true
knowledge of God (see Romans 8:7). God
reminds us by the prophet Isaiah “For as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
(Isaish 55:9).
TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION
“And take the helmet of
salvation…” (Ephesians 6:17).
We are aware that God has
given the believer a full set of spiritual armor with which we can withstand
the attacks of our enemy, Satan. One of
those articles of armor is the helmet of salvation.
The
helmet protects the head, including the mind, and the mind is the main
battleground where the devil likes to attack us. The assurance of our salvation in Christ
Jesus is a defense against many of the enemy’s onslaughts. It is an answer that the devil cannot resist. When he stands against us to accuse us, we
need only to point him in the direction of the cross and the empty tomb. It is Christ Himself Who is our advocate and
it is He Who has purchased us with His own precious blood. “Who is
he that condemneth? It is Christ that
died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God,
Who also maketh intercession for us.” (Romans 8:34).
SUBMIT YOURSELVES TO GOD
“Submit yourselves therefore to God.”
(James 4:7).
It is essential that we
learn to submit, or yield, our bodies and our wills to God. Paul wrote to the believers in Rome and told
them to “…present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
(Romans 2:1). If our life is submitted
to God in every way, there will be no place for vain thoughts to lodge in our
hearts and minds.
When Jesus was facing the
passion of the cross, He was honest with His Father about how He felt in His
flesh. He said, “…if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me...” Jesus fully understood the pain and the
anguish that awaited Him that evening.
He was the sacrifice that was holy and acceptable to God. There was no other. Therefore, He prayed, “…not My will, but Thine, be done.”
There is no greater prayer
that we can pray than that. It is the
very definition of submitting to God. It
would be a good way to open each new day with the Lord. “Whatever You have for me this day, dear
Lord, I yield myself to Your will.”
RESIST THE DEVIL
“Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7).
Satan, our spiritual
adversary uses our thought life to oppress us.
Some of his most effective weapons are lies and half truths that he
whispers to our subconscious. He is so subtle
at his craft that sometimes we don’t even recognize that it is him. We think, instead, that it is our own
thoughts. With maturity we can begin to
discern where such things are coming from.
Paul gave us a list in Philippians of things to fill our minds
with. Anything that causes us fear,
temptation, anxiety, false judgments, or the like, are not of the Father, but
originate with the devil. Paul said, “…whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on
these things.” (Philippians 4:8).
Anything that steals our peace and falls outside the parameters of these
things and the like, is from Satan and we need to deliberately resist him. When we do, he will be forced to flee because
he is exposed and he cannot operate in the light.
CAST ALL YOUR CARE ON JESUS
“Casting all your care
upon Him; for He careth for you. Be sober, be
vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the
same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”
(1 Peter 5:7-9).
We can cast all our care on Jesus knowing that He
loved us enough to die for us. It isn’t
sufficient for us to merely try to control our thoughts and cares. We must take those thoughts and cares to the
Lord and leave them at His feet. “Be careful for nothing [or, don’t be
anxious over anything]; but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known unto God.” (Philppians 4:6). It is God Who can sort things out for
us. He has all the answers; and if we
aren’t yet mature enough in our faith to receive the answer, He will give us a
peace in believing until we can see
His plan.
I was impressed recently
with the story of King Hezekiah of Judah who received a threatening letter from
the captain of the army that had surrounded the walls of his city,
Jerusalem. Hezekiah read the letter and
then went before the LORD and laid the letter out before God. The King knew he was powerless to change the
circumstances that he found himself in – and they were indeed dire – but he
trusted that God could do something about it all. And He did!
The next morning, 185,000 troops of the enemy’s army were found dead in
their tents! The Angel of the LORD had
passed through the host.
No matter what our
distress might be, if we take it to the Lord and leave it with Him, He will
make a way for us.
KEEP FOCUSED ON GOD
“Thou wilt keep him in
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.”
(Isaiah 26:3).
It is important that we
stay focused on God. Even when we are
working or involved in other activities, we can keep a prayer line open to
God. This is what Paul means when he
says, “…pray ceaselessly.” It is the difference between a true
relationship with God, and just being religious. Someone has well said that religion is
sitting in church thinking about fishing, but relationship is being out fishing
but thinking about God!
LOVE GOD’S WORD
“Great peace have they
which love Thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”
(Psalm 119:165).
Discipleship is all about
abiding in, and continuing in, God’s Word (John 8:31). We can’t love the Lord and not love His Word because the Word is God (John 1:1). As we meditate on the Word, then we receive
great peace. It is a peace that passes
all understanding because it is not based on circumstances, or on what appears outwardly to be true. Jesus sleeping soundly in a ship that was in
the middle of a violent storm is an example of the peace that He gives us even
in the middle of the worst tempests that we find ourselves in.
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
But his delight is in the law of the
LORD; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” (Psalm
1:1, 2). God’s Word brings calm,
assurance, and direction. It shines a
bright Light on our pathway that shines more and more as we continue in the Lord.
Again, our peace is not
something that is separate from Jesus.
Christ is our peace. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
if it could be contained in a human body.
And scripture says, “Ye are
complete in Him.” (Colossians 2:9, 10).
Every need we will ever have is supplied in our dear Lord Jesus. It reminds me of an old song that says:
“I am satisfied, satisfied
with Jesus.
I am satisfied, satisfied
with Him.
Every need has been
supplied,
Praise the Lord I’m
satisfied,
Fully satisfied, satisfied
with Him.”
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