1 Corinthians 2:16 – For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

THEME OF THE DAY: IT RISES AND FALLS IN OUR MINDS. What is the guide that directs our Christian life? Yes, it is the person of the Holy Spirit through faith in His Word, but I am looking more from the vantage point of what lies within us as humans. I am attempting to help us discern whether we live the Christian life through our minds renewed by Biblical truth or our hearts by feelings and emotions. This is a critical issue because what becomes our “navigator” through the “sea of life” will determine the joy and effectiveness we have in the Lord. The question becomes, “Is our knowledge of God put into our minds through the scriptures guiding our lives or are we allowing our ever-deceiving hearts and emotions be the guide? Allow an illustration to drive home the difference between being led by truth and being led by fallen emotions. The Lord has said, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). This is a statement of fact and promise to be accepted and relied upon by us when we sin. Now, do we ever “feel” unforgiven? Have periods of doubt of being forgiven from past sins, though confessed, plagued us and produced fear and anxiety over our standing with God? Do we encounter the battle of what we know is true and what we feel is true? Every Christian engages this painful experience. We too often allow our fallen emotions, feelings, and accusations from the devil become the filters, even evaluators, of our relationship with the Lord instead of the knowledge of His inerrant and inspired Word. If we stay there, we will be miserable Christians. To allow experience and feelings to determine our status with the Lord produces such a rollercoaster spiritual life; up one day because we “feel” spiritually good and close to the Lord, and then enter the pit of despair the next day when the “feelings’ are gone.

How do we successfully engage this war in our souls? The Apostle Paul gives us the strategy. It is difficult; requires every fiber our being in the battle, and cannot be slacked one moment of the day. He wrote, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). Everything in the Christian life starts in the mind; in our thinking. And everything else that follows in the Christian life is determined by our thinking. We are told “be transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:1-2). There is never a time in our walks with the Lord we are to trust what originates in our hearts; feelings, emotions, even impressions. The mind, renewed in Biblical truth, must control the heart, not be controlled by the heart. Think of the Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. If He would have given into the guidance of His feelings, His emotions, we would not have a Savior. He said, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39). The Son of God was guided by the knowledge of and submission to the will of His Father and raging emotions could not or would not alter His course. It is the same with each of us. Don’t let times of “emotional highs” from a spiritual event, whatever it may be, cause us to act impulsively toward the things of the Lord such as commitments and service. It will be spiritually disastrous when tough times come. Saturate the mind with the Word of God daily so the Spirit of God may take this truth and control the heart to prevent it from ruling and guiding our walk with the Lord. It is true. Right thinking leads to right living. And when it comes to the Christian life, it really does rise and fall in our minds; in our thinking patterns.

PRAYER: “Father, please help me to not believe the lies of the devil, even my own understanding of who You are.”

QUOTE: “The Bible must define the character of our God; not our experiences, our own perceptions, or anything else”