Final Devotional Thoughts From Day 31 of The Waiting Room by T.C. Spellen – Renewing Your Mind

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Songdove Books - What we Listen To Philippians 4:5-13  Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.  6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.  9  Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.  10  But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.  11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Spellen opens up her final devotional session with Philippians 4:8-9.  As is my habit, I like to look at the context of each verse or passage shared, and felt the need to share today’s context.  Spellen makes an incredibly powerful statement in one paragraph, that I’ve been doing my best to tell others as well!  It is a series of statements that most Christians I’ve met are all too eager and even forceful about refusing to accept.  She says the following:

A 31-day Daily Devotional for Single Women Waiting for the Right Husband“It’s important that we censor the music we listen to, the TV programs we watch, the books and magazines we read, the games we play, and the places we frequent. All of these activities influence our thinking and therefore our behavior. Whatever we feed on will eventually be revealed in our conversations and decision-making. It’s like eating with our mouths open. Everyone can see all that we have taken in – the garbage that we consume will be highly visible to others. The only way to prevent it from spewing out of our pores and giving off a foul stench is to change our mental, physical, and spiritual
diets. The Bible tells us that as a man thinks so is he (Proverbs 23:7)”. (from page 70 of The Waiting Room in the copy I was given to review, copyright either 2012 or 2013)

We are also told in Proverbs 4:23-27  Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.  24  Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.  25  Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.  26  Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.  27  Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

Songdove Books - Where We GoHere in this passage, we are told to be careful what we speak, what we see, where we go, and what we do.  Let us go and sit for a moment at the feet of Jesus as He offers a few words about what we allow into our hearts:

Matthew 5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:27-30  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:  28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.  29  And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.  30  And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Matthew 6:19-24  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:  21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  22  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.  23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!  24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 15:7-9  Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,  8  This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.  9  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Matthew 15:10-11  And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:  11  Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Matthew 15:17-20  Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?  18  But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.  19  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:  20  These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

So if the heart, when left to itself is so wicked, what do we have to do in order to put Philippians 4:8-9 and Proverbs 4:23-27 into practice?  This is where context comes in.  The answer has already been given to us in the surrounding verses in Philippians 4.  I would encourage the reader to read that entire chapter as it is very powerful!  In addition, The Psalmist nailed it on the head when he repeatedly wrote in various Psalms, that spending time in God’s Word kept him from evil, guarded his footsteps, lighted his path, taught him the right way, right thoughts, right words, right worship, how to judge good from evil, and so much more!  He says in Psalm 119:

Psalms 119:9-11  BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.  10  With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.  11  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Paul reflects these sentiments in Romans 12:1-3  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.  3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Songdove Book - What we SeeWe renew our minds by deliberate, methodical, and purposeful efforts to spend time with God and in His Word, and applying what God teaches us to our everyday life.  Brushing off what we feed our minds as nothing more than mere entertainment allows the enemy of our souls to fill our hearts with much that does not please God.  I have witnessed first-hand, the kind of tainting of speech and laughter that comes from those who really don’t care that their choices of media intake are not pleasing or upright before God.  You can learn a lot about a person by listening to what they laugh at.  Not just hearing the joke, or seeing the supposedly funny scenario, but actually seeing and hearing what God sees and hears.  Too many modern Christians have a very lax attitude toward where they go, what they do, what they see and by consequence of those three, what they say.  This is a message that needs to be out there louder than it is.  We are not to look like, sound like, or be like the world.  We are to adopt a different culture, the culture of heaven, of whose citizenry we are.  We are called to be ambassadors to this world, representing a much higher calling.  Just as am ambassador from a different country will visit with, make friends with, and generally move among those  of the country to which they have been sent, and yet all the while maintaining their own sense of the culture back home, so we are called in like manner.  We are to be different in a way that draws others to Christ.  This won’t happen if we are mingling and blending in so well that the unsaved look at us and wonder why they’d ever even want to join us because we are no different than they are.

The heart of the saved man or woman should reflect the heart of God.  James puts it this way:

James 3:9-13  Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.  10  Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.  11  Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?  12  Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.  13  Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

In the King James English, “conversation” refers to the way we live everyday life.  So he is saying, “Let us show out of good daily living our works with meekness of wisdom”.

How are you living YOUR everyday life?

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