(Post continued...)
In the next posting I will show a chart that I think will really help and encourage you, as it was for me.
"Thinking on what is TRUE"...
"I know that years ago a chart very similar to this one helped me SOOOO much! Each time I was tempted to think, ponder, and roll around in that wrong thinking...I could go to this chart and expose the wrong, untrue thought and choose to replace it with the right, biblical thought from God's Word.
This dramatically began to change my life! And it helped me to fear less, worry less, and trust more! I began to have much more peace and rest in my heart. This is the "quiet peaceable spirit" that God is talking about which is of GREAT worth in his sight in 1 Peter 3 when he talks with women. We can have that peace and rest as we learn to take our wrong, sinful thoughts captive. And replace it with God's truth. Each time the wrong thinking or fear "bubbles" up in our thoughts and heart, we need to turn to the Lord and to his truth.
If that means every 5 min. at times...then it means every 5 min. If we turn to Jesus each time we feel that “bubbling” of fear and worry come, or each time we feel discouraged and hopeless then the Lord will be so very faithful to give us grace, and mercy, help and hope! As we turn to him and look to him, we are reminded of where our help truly comes from. We remember how very dependent we are upon him. And as we CHOOSE to trust the Lord, and walk out his leading in our lives…we will begin to see how pleasant his way is!
Proverbs 2:10-11 says “For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.”
As we spend time EVERY day getting to know God and his character we will come to know that we can trust him and love him and we will be learning how VERY much he loves us! His love will become a reality in our lives as we die to self and live for Christ. James 1:22-25
As we spend time every day in His Word and praying and looking to him often...we will begin to allow the Lord to write his truth upon our hearts and minds and as we abide (drawing closer and closer to Jesus) we will begin to experience the fruits of his Spirit in our lives....love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Gal. 5:22
If you don't feel you have joy in your life, or self-control...spend more time with Jesus and in His Word…not as something rote we do, just to check it off our list or just to gain knowledge…but instead, as part of our desire to have an intimate relationship with Christ. I guarantee it will make a HUGE difference in your heart and life...especially as you begin to count it important to remember his truth and to obey it, by his grace and through his understanding.
I know it was so hard for me to understand so much of what I read in God’s Word in the beginning...but as I tried to concentrate and focus on the things I did understand that I read in God's Word and as I tried to apply those things...the Lord allowed my understanding and wisdom to grow and grow over the 24 years I’ve been reading it each day. I still have far to go…but I’m sooo thankful for what the Lord has done in my life and I have been sooo blessed to have God’s Word in my heart and mind to act as a sort of “filter” that everything I’ve read, heard and seen is filtered through his truth.
The more you read, the more you will begin to understand more and more of God’s Word and you will have more and more “light” or wisdom and discernment from what you're reading.
Like a Polaroid picture coming slowly into focus, so it is with God's Word and with his principles...we grow in our understanding if we don't quit or grow weary and give up and quit reading. We need to persevere and continue to spend time with Jesus each day praying and reading his Word, and he will continue to reveal Himself and his truth to us."
(Chart to follow in next post...)
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