mind of Christ

Declaring – VOTD.02.27.18

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Corinthians 10:5

We demolish every deceptive thought that opposes Who we know God to be. And we break through every arrogant and self-important attitude that is raised up in defiance of truly knowing Him. We take prison every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to Jesus.

Today’s verse is set in the middle of one long, complicated Greek sentence that begins in verse 3 and ends in verse 6. Paul describes some areas where not only knowing, but declaring, the Word prevails for us:
– We are empowered to declare the Word to dismantle strongholds.
– We demolish beliefs, opinions, theories, and philosophies, not by argument but by declaring the truth.
– We allow our thought-life no wiggle room but declare it captive to what lines up with the mind of Christ.

Last time we talked about Understanding God’s Word. Today we’re looking at Declaring it. In reality, we don’t really understand God’s Word if we don’t declare it… because declaring it is how it’s intended to be used. “Knowledge puffs up while love builds up” (1 Cor 8:1)

So we don’t just use the Word for mental exercise; we use it to speak forth present-day realities. By speaking things that are true, we demolish all arguments and pretentions with the weapons of our warfare that are mighty to the pulling down of strongholds – God’s Word, when we declare it, has the power to effectively dismantle the falseness and lies that people hide behind or use as a defense. It has the power to overcome puffed up feelings that knowledge alone can bring.

Using it, we harness the power to speak so that when temptation comes we can answer like Jesus did (Matt 4:1-11). We can answer with the Word of the Lord. We can speak the Word and cut through the lies of the enemy. (more…)

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The Big Lie – VOTD.07.25.17

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

Something one of my sons really got into several years ago is digitally restoring awful photographs. He took pictures that you’d never want to show anyone and made them look like postcard material. God is in that business, too… in dealing with our lives.

All of Satan’s lies are destructive. Keep that in mind. He never lies to us except to destroy us. It is foolish to embrace his lies…but they sneak into our thinking because they are usually subtle—so subtle that we can pick them up, even at church and Christian events … they are that pervasive.

There are two kinds of lies Satan tells us that are probably deadlier than any of the others: The first are the lies He tells us about God (WHO HE IS and what He’s like) and the second are the lies he tells us about WHO WE ARE.

You see Satan works to either diminish who God is or diminish who we are in Jesus. Diminish God’s Holiness or diminish His Grace and who we are because of His grace. And if we lose touch with either of those we will end up in a destructive situation.

To some of us, Satan diminishes the sinfulness of sin. He wants us to think that God is not as godly as He really is and that sin isn’t as contrary to His nature as it really is. This does 2 things: First, it smears God’s character. Second, it gets our focus off the consequences to sin. (Face it, if we came to grips with sin’s consequences, it would be obvious why we wouldn’t want to sin, and why God wouldn’t want us to sin.)

So Satan takes things that are hideous, and makes them appear harmless (even wonderful)—by doing that He makes God appear less holy and more of a killjoy. And he also clouds our ability to see that EVERY sin has negative consequences. (more…)

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Returning to Our First Love in 2017 pt 8 – VOTD.02.14.17

We have the mind of Christ. Yet I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit, but as people who are still worldly, brothers and sisters. (1 Corinthians 2:16-3:1)

Another tell-tale sign that we have distance ourselves from our first love is what I call a “putting up with God” attitude. When the direction Jesus leads us in seem more like obstructions to our aspirations or restrictions to our happiness we’re well off the path of our first love.

It’s not like we’re disobedient. We may be the picture of submission and dutiful to whatever Jesus asks, but…our compliance isn’t exactly unstinting. Eagerness wouldn’t quite describe it. Perhaps resigned to our fate. Sometimes we’re downright fatalistic about Jesus’ path for us.

And this quickly develops into a bad case of legalism…doing the right things for the wrong reasons. Going through the motions. Following the map but unenthused by the route and disinterested in the destination.

Putting up with God and His plans for our lives is not loving the Lord. It’s not having the mind of Christ. We don’t have the heart of Christ.

It is telling that in today’s verse, Paul associates having the mind of Christ with living in the Holy Spirit. Or perhaps it’s the other way around: Living in the Holy Spirit is a prerequisite to having the mind of Christ.

First-love faith is characterized by being of one mind and heart with Jesus. It’s not that we won’t have doubts or reservations, but our reluctance is overcome by trust in Him; our fears are overcome by faith and openness with Jesus about what we’re feeling. (more…)

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