Month: November 2024

“Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. ” Ephesians 4:23 NLT

Paul is talking to the Ephesians about what it means to be a Christian. When we become a Christian, or follower of Christ, we are made a new creation. That new creation, the new thoughts and attitudes, do not happen over night and the old thoughts and attitudes don’t simply go away.

As we mature in our walk with God, our thoughts and attitudes change. While that is happening, we have a mix of old thoughts and new thoughts, old attitudes and new attitudes. We will never be completely rid of the old thoughts and attitudes because that would mean perfection and that will not happen until we are in heaven.

Instead we are to embrace these changes that God wants to make in us and one way to help us with these changes from old to new is to let the Spirit renew us, daily. For us to be separate from this world and how this world lives, thinks and acts, we need to be living, thinking and acting differently, which can be hard since we still have to live in this world.

So how do we become renewed? One way is to remain in constant communication with God, by prayer and reading His word. Another is to let the Spirit flow through you, filling you daily with God’s peace and love. Another way is to let the Spirit work in your life and not fight the changes that God wants to make in you, especially in how you think about how you are to interact with the world around you. Our thoughts direct our actions and how we interact with others. In other words, be willing to hear God’s plan for your life and then be willing to do what God wills you to do, follow His directives.

These are only 3 suggestions about how to be renewed daily, there are more but thinking about these, beginning to do these is a good place to start. When you let God renew how you think and the attitudes you hold, your actions become renewed as well. Being renewed is such a freeing and wonderful place to be that when I let life get in the way of being renewed daily, I miss it tremendously.

When was the last time you were renewed? I pray it will be today.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8 NIV

As with most scripture, when a verse begins with the word ‘for’, we are directed to look at the verse before it for context. The verse before this says “Let the wicked forsake their days and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” Isaiah 55:7 NIV

This verse talks about how man, who is born with a sinful nature, should be aware of their thoughts and actions. That they should return to the Lord because the Lord is righteous, not like man. The verse for today is giving the reason for man to turn from their wickedness and either turn or return to the Lord, because He is different than us, mightier than us.

I am so thankful that unlike man, the Lord is willing to forgive and pardon because His ways are not the same as our ways. We are unforgiving, we hold grudges, we count wrongs. God is forgiving, He forgets our sins once He has forgiven them and since He forgets them, He doesn’t count them again.

God’s thoughts are not like our thoughts because He is the Creator. He is the One Who put this world, universe and galaxy into being. Clearly our thoughts can not be like His, we are not God. In as much as our thoughts are not like His thoughts, our ‘ways’ are different. His ‘ways’ are not sinful like ours. He created the world to be perfect and we, as humans, messed that up.

‘My thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not My ways.’ We know the Lord’s thoughts are mightier than ours, again we did not have the idea to create an entire world, which means that His ways of doing things are mightier than ours as well. Our ways, how we think something should be done, pale in comparison to how God believes them to be done. The act of forgiving is a beautiful example. God forgives when we come with a genuine repenting heart, where we have been known to withhold forgiveness from another who has genuinely admitted their mistake and asked for forgiveness.

Today, I pray that each one of us would look at our thoughts and the way we do things, compare them to how God wants them thought about and done before we commit to them. If we are taking our thoughts and comparing them to what the Bible, God’s word, says they should be, then we can change our thoughts. If we take how we believe things should be done and compare them to what the Bible says is the way they should be done, then we can change our ways as well.

It all takes time, prayer and willingness to change. Are you willing to commit to the time it takes to change?

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 NIV

I have heard pastors recite this verse before they begin preaching at different times in my life. I find this comforting, not just the verse but also the idea that the shepherd of the congregation that I am sitting in is concerned about what he or she is going to say. Most of the pastors I have had in my life as the shepherd of the churches I attended and currently attend, were and are God-fearing, Spirit-filled servants. It is important to them that they show God’s love and spread His message to everyone so everyone is able to make the choice of whether to accept God’s merciful gift or not. I believe this should be important to any person who stands behind a pulpit and proclaims God’s word.

I have had the privilege of being a guest speaker at my church for over 7 years now and each time I am filled with nerves. Originally those nerves were about not saying something wrong because truthfully I didn’t want to look stupid. I have grown a lot over the years and now those nerves are about not saying something wrong because I don’t want to misrepresent God or lead anyone astray from where God wants them to be. I also don’t want to say anything that God doesn’t want to be said.

As important as it is for pastors, anyone really, speaking to a body of people to make sure they have their hearts and minds in the right place, focused on God, I believe it is equally important as we represent God in our daily lives that we also have our hearts and minds focused on Him. We don’t know what someone might need to hear as we interact with them but God does. If we are willing to open our minds and hearts up to be led to interact with others in the manner in which God knows they need, we will be amazed at how the love of God can flow through each one of us.

As we go about our day today, I pray that we each have the attitude in our minds and hearts of wanting what we think and say to be pleasing to God, not only to help others but to also keep us in line with God’s will.

I hope you have a wonderful day today.