Philippians 4: Strength for Our Thinking

Strength for Our Thinking

As Paul ends his letter to the Philippians he sends them off with words of encouragement in the Lord. Think about how often we choose words that are not encouraging and are condemning outside of what God wants from us. I often wonder if the words people say are what God wanted from them or what they just wanted to say themselves. But, in verse 8 Paul says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." He wants us (as it is God honoring) to focus on what is righteous and not unrighteous things.

How do we do that? What power do we pull from? In verse 13, Paul says "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." He shows us the source of his strength which is not his own. He relies in God/Christ/the Holy Spirit to give him the strength he needs. It is not will power, but God power.

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Wednesday Wake Up #14

Living in a Box

I was driving home the other night and was thinking to myself about some of the patterns I have in my life. One of these patterns is living in a box. Not a literal box, but a figurative one. There are fears that I have that have been in control of decisions I made. I rationalized these decisions and utilized the boundaries I created in order to keep the "worst" from happening. There is nothing wrong with boundaries, but when the boundaries are outside of God's will, that's where the problem lies.

When we read 2 Timothy 1:7 we know that God did not give us a spirit of fear. God does not want us to live in fear, especially when we are doing things that glorify Him. There would be no need to be fearful when God tells you to do something to glorify the Kingdom. That fear can come from not thinking you are good enough to do it. Or that fear could come from thinking people won't like what you are doing. But, God can use imperfect people to get His message across (2 Samuel 11 and Matthew 1:6). And what we do for God isn't about how everyone will take it (Matthew 10:28). We are not people pleasers. We are servants to the will of God, our King.

Now, as I move forward in live I see that the box was supposed to be keeping me safe, but it was also keeping me from living life and living it abundantly in God's will (John 10:10). It kept me from doing what God wanted me to because I was not thinking how God wanted me to think. When I am in tune with Christ like thinking on God sized goals, I have no reason to fear. Maybe that fear was from Satan to keep me from being one with God, but we need not fear as we walk with God (Isaiah 41:10).

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Mark 7:21-23- From Within

The old way of thinking was that if a person did not wash their hands before eating, then what ever they touched and then ate would defile their soul. Jesus said that this is not true. It was not about how you washed your hand or what you ate that would defile you, it was about what was in your heart, mind and soul and what came out of your mouth.

Your soul cannot be ruined by the food you eat. That belief was not from God, that belief came from man (see Mark 7:2-5). Jesus pointed out that the Pharisees were holding on man's laws more than God's. We do need to obey laws that are on earth, but ultimately God's law is more important. God's law gets overtaken for the beliefs that elders put in place.

Jesus made it very clear that the evil thoughts we have come from within. The sexual immorality we have comes from within. The theft, murder and adultery we commit comes from within. All things wicked that man expresses outwardly, starts inwardly. Remember that God's will and ways are far more important than man's.

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