Guard your mind

20-05-2011

Proverb 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. NKJV

Survey shows that 1 out of 5 adults in the US are suffering from one form of mental illness or the other. What this mean is that we have a generation of young adult whose mind are perpetually bombarded by the satanic imposition. Today’s society somehow has managed to keep young adult in state of denial; unfortunately, some of our churches are not helping matters. We need to realize that we are seating on a time bomb if we do not deal with the issues of wrong influence and values plaguing how society.

Dealing with failure or other forms of disappointments is not necessarily denying the reality of your past pain rather. It is about learning to stop its negative effect over your present and future reality. Millions are still crippled by the effect of how life treated them. Travelling down the corridor of your mind requires that you are spiritually informed and empowered in the revelation of your present redeemed nature. Meaning that the most effective way of dealing with the state of your mind first require that you give your heart to the Lord.  Dealing with the graphic realities of your past stored in your mind can be overwhelming if you have not learned the principle and processes of mind renewal.  The old nature is highly rebellious when it comes to submitting to the authority of the word of God yet if you will keep standing in what the word says about your new nature in no time you will surely have the victory.

You may wonder why I am bringing up this topic repeatedly, well; am sure you will agree with me that one’s future is shaped and determined by how we think. If this is so, then you will also agree with me that what or who informed how we think ultimately determines the state of our mind and the reality of our future.   Please note, this issue before us is beyond the concept of merely been positive in our thinking.  If it’s that easy to stay positive in thought most of our asylum homes would have been empty by now.  A person who suffers mental breakdown one time in their lives had positive thoughts and memories but was not effective in changing the way they felt about themselves.

I’ll like to remind you this morning that outside the salvation of your spiritman-that’s if you are save that the condition of your mind is the next most important aspect of your life. It should be your core purpose to consciously invest in the transformation of your mind and that of the people around you. When you live a life consumed by past emotions, you certainly do not have a future. Until you learn to break the addiction of living within the confines of your yesterday’s reality achieving development and growth will remain difficult. The greatest challenge many are facing in terms of productive relationship is that they still allow their unregenerated thought to define the boundaries of the relationship.

Many are quick to blame others of their mistakes and failures without looking inward to see their misguided judgment and emotional dysfunctionality.  It is a general knowledge both in the church and in the world that our future is shaped by how we perceive. Yet in true practice, we seldom walk in the conscious reality of this truth.  It is amazing considering the numbers of Christians and none Christian alike who are struggling with suicidal and other forms of mental illness. As long your past still plays a major role in determining your state of happiness or sorrow, you need to reconsider the footing of your salvation’s experience. We need to go back to the heartbeat of salvation, which is the deliverance of the human mind from captivity.  Captivity is a state of mind bound manipulated by wrong view of self and the world in general. In other words, when you lake the capacity to believe and trust Gods definition for your life, the enemy has an access gate to lie and deceive you.

The unregenerated mind is the thief the enemy uses in most cases to rob you and me from our redemptive inheritance. Anyone who has encountered the true Christ automatically understands his or her salvation keck start the process of soul restoration. Your redemption is directly connected to the template of how you think.  People are seeking for peace, joy, happiness financial stability in themselves and in others, while they forget these are byproducts of ones relationship with the Lord. It’s like a person who goes into marriage hoping to find love, joy, security and fulfillment without the realizing these are values God expect you to have before getting married.

Rom 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. AMP

Therefore, every day is an opportunity given by God to deliberately use the tools of prayer and meditation on the word of God to alter the negative, rigid mindset defining our existence. A believer who has not learned the discipline of meditation will certainly be vulnerable to the carnal nature of sin. Mind you, sin is beyond an act; it is the very nature that defines the template of how the fallen man thinks and lives his life. So, if you are not aspiring in your walk with the Lord to know his ultimate will for your life, your struggle {battle} to be transformed will be soon suppressed and  overcome through the overwhelming voices of the sin nature mostly inspired by the media world. We are told not to be not conformed to this present worldly pattern of thinking but rather be transformed by the renovating of our minds… have you enrolled in the battle of minds transformation. Remember, your mind is the battleground, do not drop your guard.

Are you still entrapped in your pass?

Part 2

The miracles and possibilities of where you are can only become manifest when you shift focus from what you think you should have attained yesterday to the new opportunity standing before you.  Meaning, we only get to realize the best of people and places around us when there is a constant shift of attitude from regrets to believing that things and situations are designed to bring glory to God. This knowledge is liberating if you find yourself in a place of constant regret.

Phil 3:13-14 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. NIV

Living within the darkness of your past only creates a sense of fear, resentment; unforgiveness and bitterness even to those you seem to have their best interest at heart.  There is something in the heart of everyone of us that refuses to unjustly treated.  Learning to deal with the past through the eyes of forgiveness is something we all need to learn, especially in a society where betrayer, wickedness and injustice are the order of the day. It gets worst when someone takes you advantage of people you count to be very close to you.  It is very difficult to come to terms with the fact that people can get away for hurting others so badly when you do not have not experience the power of mercy and forgiveness.  When we understand that fear and insecurity is primary motivate behind most acts of cruelty and injustice, then you realize how weak the perpetrators of these evil acts are. Fear and insecurity made Europe promote the act of slavery and separatist ideology. Hitler killed over six million Jews not because he hates the Jews but because he was afraid of them. He thinks by eliminating them he could stop God’s prophetic purpose from coming to past.

The white apartheid regime who also followed the footpath of Hitler thinks, by killing and forcefully overpowering the natives of South Africa, they can own the land. Well, they have also been proven wrong. Maybe you grow up in a home where you where badly entreated and it still feels very difficult to find within your heart, a place of forgiveness. The truth is when you do not forgive; the enemy of hate will keep you imprisoned.   They are many things we do not understand about life, justice and equity but one thing is clear, sin before God is the foundation of all wrongdoings.  You only need to look around you to see the manifestation of hatred because someone has refused to forgive. The world is becoming more unstable because we have refused to let go of the past. Letting of those who hurt us does a lot in helping us to move on to the place of greatness.    Even if you find yourself at the king’s court with all the opportunities at your disposal, if you have not learned to break the attitude of past mental imprisonment, you will seldom notice what has placed before as an opportunity to breakthrough. Your future lies within the context of the present opportunity to give up your past mistake and misfortune.

This implies, to take advantage of your now moment opportunity, you must stop imagining the entrapment of your past.  Personalities are not only formed by habits, they are also designed to be active by accepting the opinions and action of others over your life.  The human imagination is of the most powerful gifts the Lord has endowed him with yet it can become his worst nightmare if not properly disciplined. Who you is not only defined by what you think but how you see the world around you. This becomes worsen as a Christian if the same viewpoint determines how you see God and his word.

Actually, the reoccurrence of the feeling of your past that brings bad memories are the images stored up in your imagination or is usually call your memory bank.  This memory bank releases certain chemicals reactions under certain real life events that trigger your sensory feelings{ brain} to react in certain way when events similar to your past occurs in and around you.  By learning to behave according to God’s word you are building new positive neurons {memory lines} while the old ones dies off.

The scripture above gives you deep insight into the new season of freedom, hope and laughter if you chose to see from the Lord perceptive. Solomon understood season and the challenging reality they post to man. Winter symbolized a period where you feel imprisoned, can’t move or do what you really desire to because of the very harsh weather.

Yet it remains part of the circle of human life. No matter how we pray not to have winter because its harsh feeling, it must come for life’s circle to be complete. Unbelievably, winter has it good side just like the terrible challenges of our past has its ordained purpose when we allow the Lord to show us intent.

Becoming positive in attitude is not something that happens magically as we would have love to happen. You have to decide what you want of life. You cannot allow the evil seed sown in your past to keep bearing fruits of unrighteousness in your present. You have to pullout every root of bitterness for Gods will and purpose to have the right round of bearing fruits.

Remember that all Christ needs to do concerning this matter has been done; he’s only waiting for your choice to decide on what side you want to be.   The God designed future for your life only gets activated when you not only see your past through his view-lens, but also when you allow that dreadful past to be consumed through the newness of your regenerated spiritman. {2 5:17}

The Pain of the past is definitely real but the glory of what awaits you cannot be compared that past. The worldly philosophy of a ‘perfect new age culture’ has done so much damage to people’s outlook, that it’s becoming more difficult for people to understand the values of love, forgiveness and mercy.  This false culture does not give room for humans to be real even in situation that dehumanized them.

This new age culture makes them feel rejected and useless to the point of seeking a reprisal.  Revenge in the name of justice has been used by the enemy to create very bitterness in the hearts of humans including Christian who ought to know better. Depression and other forms of emotional resentment diseases are very high among adolescents and young adult the US, Europe and South Africa. Billions of US dollar are annually been channeled to anti-depressant drugs.

As much as we should allow legislative justice to take her course in dealing with the matters, we also should remind ourselves that we have the power to let go of issues that are keeping us in bondage. The lord has given us the grace to break away from the past. See what the Lord is doing through where you are now and his word we strengthen your heart and mind to remind in his live. Holding unto things the Lord desire to handle is allowing the enemy to keep robbing you of joy and peace.

You cannot live in your past and expect to have a productive future! Unfortunately Many Christians are still trapped in their past; so many have become addicted to the experience to the point where their present life has become imprisoned by those horrific past. You life is as good as the state of your mind. Your present achievement does not make up for your past failure; failure is a negative condition of the mind, one can be highly successful but still trapped in his or her past.

This past then becomes your measuring road of success and not necessarily what you’ve achieved in your now. This is a powerful tool the enemy uses to control and manipulate the lives of so many in the world. Many are living in a vicious circle of emotional pain and defeat, they become depressed and suicidal in their thought realm.

To properly function without been trapped in your past, you must consciously allow the inflow of the living word of God, thorough meditation to wash and saturate your thoughts. When you remember your past the knowledge and authority of the word of Christ enables you to stand on the position of courage to declare your victory in redemption. You remind yourself of what Christ did on your behalf on the cross to gain strength and faith in challenging your state of mind.

Irrespective of what you know at the level of spiritual information, if you have a past that still threatens your victory in Christ you certainly must deal with it, or it will definitely hinder your advancement in life.  Develop the attitude that creates new template {way of thinking} for each new day so you can override the ugly past existence. In him was life and the life became the light of men and the light shines in darkness and darkness do not understand its operation. You can have a productive thought life. just allow the power of forgiveness to override the experience of your past.