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It’s All In Your Mind

Thoughts running rampant,

Thoughts running free,

Headed for disaster,

Can’t catch me.

 

Thought

 

This is what my ego scream when it tosses toxic thoughts in the air of my mind. The thoughts catch wind and drift, sail, free fall and course freely through my stream of consciousness.

 

But God.

 

He calms the wind. He calms the seas. When our minds are staid on Him, He keeps us in perfect peace.

 

He teaches me to ARREST the thoughts on the spot. He reminds me that those imaginations must bow down to the Truth. He reminds me I have the power to take every thought captive and make it obey Him.

 

Minute by minute I must renew my mind. As the ego seeks to feed and preserve its selfish longings, I must continue to flex my spiritual muscle, strengthening the inner man. This is metanoia.

 

Metanoia μετάνοια, ας, ἡ

To change one’s heart and life by the renewing of the mind.   When used most frequently in the bible, it is translated as the word repentance. But its connotation runs much deeper. Not only does it mean to have sorrow and turn away from, even more so it means a conversion, a changing of the inner man.

 

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:1-2

 

Because I am a Believer, the mind that is in me is the mind of Christ (Phil 2:5).

 

Like the leaves that are now changing color here in the Northeast, the pigments of yellow, red, and orange have been there the whole time. But it takes changes in the environment to ignite changes in the leaves. The same can be said for the transformation of the mind. As a Believer who has the mind of Christ, His thoughts, His pure, true, lovely, praiseworthy thoughts are in my mind. But I must call them forward. And I do that by continuing to strengthen my inner man. I do that by reading and hearing the Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

 

So when my mind screams:

~You coach countless parents but your own children are acting up

~You’re doing all this working out. And for what? You’ve still got that roll on your back.

~Everyone around you is prospering and growing. What’s wrong with you?

~You can’t speak on that topic with authority because you don’t have the credentials.

~You’ve tried before in business and failed. This time won’t be any different.

~God why are you doing this to me right now? I can’t take another thing!

 

I must effect change like the leaves turning their vibrant hues and reply with:

~My children honor their parents for it is the first commandment with a promise.

~My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and I will glorify God in my body which is His.

~I rejoice with those that rejoice. I do not covet. His promises are Yes and Amen for what He has already reserve with my name on it.

~The Holy Spirit has come upon me and I have received power. Now I can go and be your witness in the sphere of influence You’ve given me.

~When I obey You shall make my way prosperous and I shall be a good success.

~Lord I thank you for equipping me for every good work.  Through it all you’ve never left nor forsaken me.

 

[bctt tweet=”Like Jesus responding to temptation in the wilderness, I must stand on the Word.”]

 

I see myself having been raised with Christ. I set my mind on things above and am not consumed by temporal things that soon fade away. I see the beauty of the kingdom of heaven here at hand. I put to death my selfish ambitions and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

 

So join me in the sacred space of metanoia where the inner man is transformed by the renewing of the mind. It’s All In Your Mind. There is definitely a war being waged friends, and you know where that battle is taking place: The Battlefield of the Mind. But we are fully equipped in our armor and will stand steadfast on the Solid Rock.

 

I am victorious!

 

You are victorious!

 

As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!

 

Photo Credit
Happy to connect with these friends sharing the Good News Grace&Truth, #DanceWithJesus

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Do You Want to Be Changed?

A wonderful change has come over me. These were the words sung as I stood worshipping in church yesterday morning. Often we sing lyrics without deeply thinking about them. But as I sang the words, a movie of my many CHANGES since coming to know Christ began to play in my mind.

 

SELFISH

Hardened by childhood circumstances, I became a selfish person. Born out of my need for self-preservation, not knowing sometimes where I would sleep or when I would eat, I became territorial over MY things, MY space, and MY time. My selfishness was so severe that I even locked MY car and took MY keys with ME when I went out of town once leaving my husband without a car. Mmm. I am not proud of this at all. But I can be honest and share because my heart has been…

CHANGED

 

BITTER

Growing up, I had a relative who was mentally and physically abusive to me. When I was rescued from her torment, I harbored bitterness toward her. This woman not only inflicted pain on me, but on my younger sister and her own children as well. She left a trail of hurt in her wake. But before she passed away I was able to forgive her because I was…

CHANGED

 

PRIDEFUL

Just thinking about it makes me chuckle. I really did think I knew it all. Really. Hardheaded and a little rebellious, I was a piece of work. Until I had a head on collision with the King of kings and I was literally bought to my knees…

CHANGED

 

Scripture come to life right before my own eyes in my own life.

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

 

You and I are like pearls undergoing change. A foreign object or parasite gets lodged in the oyster’s soft tissue. To ease the irritant the oyster begins to secrete a smooth crystalline substance called nacre around the irritant. As long as the irritant is lodged in there, the oyster will secrete the nacre. The result is a beautiful, iridescent shimmering pearl. And unlike other gemstones, which are mined from the earth, the pearl is formed from a living substance.

oyster shell

The same can be said of our relationship with Christ. The Lord’s love for us is a living substance. Though we may have an irritant in our lives, like pride in my example, Jesus comes and wraps His loving arms around us, coating us in the TRUTH of His word, His nacre and out of that comes a new product, a changed heart.

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Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16

 

There’s no doubt about it. When you have a true encounter with Jesus, you change.

 

They came blind. They left seeing.

 

They came crippled. They left walking.

 

They came defiled. They left clean.

 

When you stand in the presence of that which is eternal, everlasting and unchanging, you can’t help but to be changed.

 

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.

1 Corinthians 15:51

 

He changes our hearts. He takes out the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh that beats in concert, in perfect time with His.

 

Thump thump…thump thump…His heart. Your heart. Unified beats enmeshed in love. And it is this unification, this joining of hearts that allows you to now love like Him, walk like Him and talk like Him.

 

The one who is seated on the throne says, “Behold I am making all things new”. This is active present tense. Not just something that may happen in the future, but He IS MAKING all things new and that includes you and I. For me this is good news because there are still many areas in which I am undergoing or still need transformation.

 

This good work He began in me and in you will continue until we see Him face to face.

 

I know I’ve been changed. The angels in heaven done signed my name.

Holler back at me. I want to hear about the wonderful ways He’s changed you.

 

If you have never received Jesus as your personal Lord I Savior, I am praying for you even now that this wonderful change will overtake you too. It’s just so sweet; I want you to be able to experience for yourself in a deep meaningful way what I’m talking about here.

 

As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!

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