Acceptable

Proverbs 10:32
The lips of the righteous bring forth what is acceptable, But the mouth of the wicked what is perverted.

How do we know what is acceptable?

Things that you and I find appropriate come from where we have been and what we know. When I first became a Christian, I didn't know anything acceptable. I wanted so badly to get it right but I didn't know how. Thank goodness we are all a work in progress.

As we finish up Proverbs 10 it seems to mean that one thing is very clear, our words speak for our knowledge and wisdom. If you question the things in your life, there is once source for the answer, The Word. If you find yourself wondering if your frame of mind, your choices, your words are lined up with God, Read the Word. I can't say it enough.

Romans 12:1-3 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

Please Pray for Janice J this week.

Mind, Day 4

Mind, Day 4

Don't stop when you know the answer

Our minds play a huge role in our lives. How we relate to others, how we choose to spend our time and whether or not sin will control our lives. We are asked to be like minded with other believers and not to have divisions. In this day and age, there are so many religions it is hard to keep up. I have always separated religion from relationship. What this means to me is that our relationship with Jesus Christ is what makes us Christians and our belief in God unites us with so many other religions in this world. Are we to judge what is right and wrong amongst them, no, but we are to caution what is in their teachings. The Holy spirit will guard our hearts and minds. We can only live by the Spirit if we believe in Christ Jesus. So for me, I know that I must stay like minded with those who also live by the Spirit, because they too, will have the Spirit guarding their hearts and minds. So be cautious in this world, not to fall into the evil schemes of the devil. I know this sounds so religious to so many people, but we cannot live in peace without being guarded by the Spirit. Today, be open to being like minded with others that may not carry the same denomination as you. Seek those that are like minded and live at peace with them. Continue to pray for those that may be blinded. Just like the example of Hayley and the Quiz meet. Some may have part of the answer, but not the whole thing, they may have closed their minds to the Whole answer. I praise our God, Jesus Christ and the Spirit for this revelation.

Dear Lord,
Thank you for this week. For the devotional and for loving us so much. Please help those who read today's devotional to know that I love them and that their salvation is so important. Lord, go ahead of this devotional and prepare those who will read it, open their minds to receive it. I love you Lord.

Luke 10:27 He answered: "`love the Lord your God with all your hear and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, `Love your neighbor as yourself.' "

1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.

Please pray for Debi

Please pray for Kathy L., an MRI returned results that are troubling. Please pray for neurosurgen for this matter.

Please pray for Jamison D. His surgery is Friday morning. He is 2 years old and was born with 1 chamber in his heart. He has already had sugery before, this one is to take care of some of the things they did not do before and is very serious. He is also sick this week, but must have the surgery because of his oxygen levels. Please pray for all those involved in his care and for him to be well. Please pray for his parents, Mindy and Darren as well. Thanks.

Please send in any comments, praise or prayer for this week. Thanks.

Mind, Day 3

Mind, Day 3

Spirit of Mind

Jesus promised us that he would send the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Him. What separates us from doing right is our mind. If we allow the Spirit to control our mind and our thoughts, we will be better off than if we were to try to do good on our own.

Romans 8:5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life[a] because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters,[b] you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature,[c] you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children[d] of God.

The Holy Spirit is sent to us to guard our hearts and minds. Do you know if you are a Christian? Do you have the Holy Spirit living in you? If you are not sure, then you can ask the Spirit to reveal itself to you. You can be assured that if you truly believe that Jesus Christ is your salvation, then he has sent you his Spirit. The Spirit reveals itself in everyone differently. Through dreams, prophecy, the language of tongues and other ways. I will always remember when I truly believed and received the Spirit. Subtle, yet the confirmation I needed. Give yourself a moment to receive him, even if you already have, reunite yourself with the Divine power of our God.

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Please pray for Debi.

Lord, I thank you for your Spirit that lives in me. I am so blessed by the relationship I have with you. Please continue to guard my heart and mind. Lord, I ask that you hear those who are reading this. Confirm to them the indwelling of the Spirit in them. I am so thankful for what I am in you and what you are in me. May we turn from the patterns of this world and find strength in our renewal of our minds to overcome the temptations of sin. Amen.

Mind, Day 2

Mind, Day 2

Our minds and hearts

Psalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

My daughter, Hayley, attended a Christian School for 4 years. Every week there was a new memory verse, she was required to memorize all of the verses by the end of each week. On Saturday, over 1 year of public school later, my daughter competed in her first Bible Quiz meet through our church. There were 4 sets of 20 questions with a break in between each. After a long snack break, the quizzers started to drift off. not as focused as before. The first thought is "what is she doing, where is her mind!" How could I help her to refocus. I couldn't concentrate anymore, my mind was stuck on what she was doing. She missed 6 more questions during those last 2 rounds. The reader kept reminding them to shake it off, if you miss one, don't let it get to you. At the end of the quiz meet, the score keeper came up to me and said, " Hayley would have got more right, she only missed 8, but what she did was interesting, she listened to the question and when she heard the right answer she turned her mind off, not realizing that others might be right as well. She missed the questions that had multiple right answers."

How often do I do that? When I know I am right or have the right answer, I turn my mind off to the possibility of another answer or one that would be the better answer. Do you do that too? Another thing that it helped me to see is that 4 years of memory verses have inscribed his word on her heart, just as yesterdays definitions stated. The two are closely related.

Society today talks about our minds being crazy, disturbed, imbalanced. Many times requiring treatment to "fix" them. When we loose a family member, or hear something bad, our hearts ache and our minds close. So I think our mind or "heart" is not physical, but more emotional. While our brains and hearts are physical. I am interested to see what the Bible says about our minds. The Bible talks about our minds being either good or evil, hardened, blinded, corrupt, debased, renewed, pure, loving God with all of their minds, mind of Christ, united in mind. Which one of these best describes your mind? I can answer that I have probably had most all of those words define my mind at one time or another.

I believe God has prepared me for this week more than I knew when I started. The verse he brought me to was one that my husband used this weekend. Read it carefully.

Romans 7:21 It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what it right, I inevitable do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart, But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to Obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

The mind is so powerful. It can cause us to question our inner most being and the things we can not fully comprehend. Whenever we feel we are going to loose our minds, we should remember that Jesus Christ was the only one without sin and that we do have a sinful nature about us, within us. Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ are still "close-minded" because the devil is at work to keep them from the truth.

Luke 8:12 Thus along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

Thank God that we have an opening of our mind when we receive Jesus Christ as our gift. It doesn't mean we will no longer sin, but it means we will have a better understanding of our sins and truly be sorry, hopefully be less willing to sin and to be an example to others so that they may come to know our Lord as well.

Luke 24:45
Then he opened their minds to understand these many Scriptures.... With my Authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: `There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.' You are witnesses of all these things.

Please pray for Debi.

Lord, thank you for helping me to see how close our hearts are to our minds. How they are separate from our brains and beating hearts. You are amazing, Lord, thank you for your reminder that we are forgiven when we repent. Thank you for knowing our minds and hearts.

MInd, Day 1

Mind, Day 1

Mind
The part of a person that thinks and reasons.

The part of humans that engages in conscious thinking, feeling, and decision making; in the Bible , mind is akin to the heart not the brain.

How interesting that this definition says that the word mind is not akin to the brain. I just use the two as one. Let's see what makes our minds so different from our brains. I am really looking forward to this one.

Please pray for Debi this week.

Please also pray for me. I have had many distractions and even now I am finding it hard to concentrate enough to write this devotional today. I guess that is where God likes me best and it is fitting considering our topic for the week. So, I will be learning right along with you. I chose this word because the definition sparked an interest to learn more. Isn't that what this is all about? Learning, growing, and discovering our awesome God together.

Dear Lord,
First of all I am thankful for the opportunity to be your servant. I thank you that you are using me, even in my state of mind. That you are willing to take me as I am and use whatever skills and talents that I do have to honor you and give you Glory. I am open this week as I have not studied, I have not basked in your word. So I ask forgiveness for the time I was not in your word. I thank you for the opportunities that I did have to hear your word this weekend, on the radio, my husbands message about courageously following Christ, through my sister's devotional on Love and through my daughters 80 question quiz meet on Saturday. I now know so much more about the book of Exodus. God, I just want to be in relationship with you this week. Keep my mind set on you and the things that are worth it. I praise you for every single person that reads this. I know that some of them are Freshman in High School this year and some are Seniors in life. May we fill the gap between our ages and see your living word in our lives. Amen.

Bitterness Day 3

What do we do when we have let our anger, jealousy, envy and hurt well up into bitterness? We renew our minds. It is time to change our focus. Acknowledge the things that cause bitterness in your life. Yep, all that unresolved anger from your childhood is causing you trouble and it is time to deal with it.


There really isn't a moment where bitterness comes from Spirit. But we know the Spirit that dwells in us rose our savior from death. I know it is powerful enough to help us heal from the hurt we have buried deep down inside of us.


Lets look at the Word:


James 3:13-18

Wisdom from Above
13Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
14But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.
15This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.
16For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
18And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.


When we have bitterness in our lives we are lying against the truth. As the scripture from Hebrews 12 says, It causes trouble and causes people to fall short of the glory of God. Both passages give us an answer though. It does mean doing a little something but I know we can do it.

"....make peace."

"pursue peace"

Bitterness will not go away because you hope, wish or pray it away. It requires a little action on your part. Yep, you have to deal with all those emotions, it is time to cut off the food supply to that terrible root. You have one of two choices here, you can pursue peace and be chasing after it. Or, you can make peace and create it. Let us grab hold of the power that dwells within us and become creators and pursuers of our own peace.


I pray that you have been spending a little time in reflexion over any bitterness that may dwell in your life. Tomorrow we will look at practical "how to" steps to create peace in our lives. God bless you all.

Please continue to pray for Verla K this week. Remember to email us your Praises, Prayer requests and testimonies.

Mind

Day 1

Mind collectively refers to the aspects of intellect and consciousness manifested as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will and imagination; mind is the stream of consciousness. It includes all of the brain's conscious processes. "Mind" is often used to refer especially to the thought processes of reason.

Romans 8:26-27
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Day 2

"...be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

I was in high school when I first heard these words. It wasn't because I heard it in a great sermon and it wasn't in a bible study. A Christian family that volunteered with my youth group had taken me under their wings, so to speak. One Sunday afternoon at there home they told me plane and simple that I could have all the hope in the world to change myself. But, if I didn't make a conscious effort to change the way I thought, things would never truly change for me.

I was 16. I had recently said the sinners prayer. I had been involved in "church" for just about a year. For the 15 previous years of my life I hadn't known what being a Christian even was. Many of the examples that had been set, the patterns of living were already part of who I was. How do you break free from abuse, sexual immorality, anger, self-indulgence? You have to renew your mind, focus in on the things you want for your life. For those of you who don't think teenagers are listening, they are. I heard the words spoken to me and it took me almost 8 years to understand what they meant.

The renewing of my mind was a process of understanding how truly great my God is. Trying to grasp the fact that his love is bigger and greater then all that I know. Now, each day I get up and focus my thoughts on Him and pray that my life be a response to how great He is. I keep God's word close to me, I fill my heart and mind with it. I trip up and wonder and make my mistakes but I know how to recognize the patterns I don't want in my life. My mind understands that when I mess up, I can turn to my God and be renewed.

Day 3
Romans 8:1-8
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

What did God do for you by sending Christ to die for you?

What things do you focus on that keeps your mind set on what the Spirit desires? (See Galatians 5:16-26)




Day4

Hebrews 8:26-27 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

This verse comforts me in so many ways. Weakness and admitting weakness is not one of my best characteristics. To know that when I am weak, at a loss for words, in so much grief and heartache that my own mind is too full to see clearly, I have a Helper. The Spirit, praying on my behalf, knowing God's true will in all situations is truly going to get it right.

I truly believe that our greatest challenge as Christians is to understand God's great love for us. If you read a little further in Romans 8 you come to verses 37-39,

...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How would your life change if each day you woke up and knew that you are a conqueror? You will never be separated from the love of God.

Day 5

Ephesians 5:15-21

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Give thanks to our Loving God for the sacrifice that has been made on your behalf. Take time sit with your thoughts, are they lined up with the Spirit of God? It takes time to mature in our faith and change our focus. I think it is easy as a new or mature Christian to focus on the things we should and shouldn't be doing verses the gifts we are given. I truly believe that if we can change our minds to focus on love, hope, joy, self-control, kindness our lives become living examples of our thoughts.

If you don't know where to start, your mind is muddied with lives wrong lessons, find a mentor. Find a strong Christian who you can trust to help you get started. Fellowship is an important part of your faith and so is accountability.

Heavenly Father, Your love is Amazing. Because of your sacrifice I am given a love that I cannot grasp. Lord I pray my life be a response to your love for me. Increase my desire for your Word to fill my mind and my heart. For all of the amazing people that read this Lord, I pray you place a person in our lives to mentor us, I pray you place a person in our lives that we can help lift up. Challenge us to trust the Spirit to pray on our behalf when we are weak. Thank you for all that you are, all that you have done, are doing and will do in our lives. ~In His Precious Name.