Hey people,
Its been a while (I do apologize, life has been BUSY), but I do hope you’ve all been doing well.
I’d also like to give a shout out to my new readers, welcome to ‘the christian lady after Gods own heart’ blog, may you find insight and wisdom from my posts, and just generally know that you are not alone, and the experiences which you face, others have also faced. Our challenges/experiences can make us become the best of who we are called to be. You are not weak, you ARE strong.
So enough of my babbling, today I’ll be sharing a message on the MIND. So what is the mind??? ‘The mind is the element of a person that enables them to be aware of the world and their experiences, to think, and to feel, and is the faculty of consciousness and thought’. Sometimes I feel that people can underestimate the importance of the mind, until something goes horribly wrong. Being mentally sick doesn’t happen overnight, it is a process. Your mental health is just as significant as your physical health. We have the responsibility to look after our mind. Mental health is simply put as, a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being. So we all have mental health, its just that some of us have good mental health (a healthy state of mind), whilst others may struggle with being mentally ill. I believe that most of the decisions, and choices we make in life require us to use are head rather than our physical heart.
The reason I’m writing on the mind today, is because I never knew how much the bible emphasized on it until recently. Whilst doing research I found that the Hebrew word for mind is ‘Lebab’, which can be used interchangeably with the words heart, inner man, and will. So then I decided to replace the word heart, with the word mind whenever I read scripture. In doing so, I found that the bible on multiple occasions encourages us to protect our mind. Proverbs 4:23 for starters ‘Guard your Mind (heart) at all costs’. This led me to start thinking why? The mind is a place the devil LOVES to attack, and I guess its a perfect place for him to assault since our minds are constantly being bombarded with thousands of thoughts per day. One of the ways the devil likes to hurt us is by putting tempting thoughts into our minds. I’d just like to clarify that yes, some ungodly thoughts come from the evil desires within us (James 1:14), but also the devil can tempt us. Being tempted is NOT a sin, but giving into, and committing ungodly actions is when a sin is committed. I mean even Jesus was tempted (Matthew 4:1-11), yet He never sinned (1 Peter 2:22). So don’t feel condemned when an ungodly thought comes into your mind, just don’t act on it. Always remember that you can’t prevent birds from flying over your head, but you can surly prevent them from building a nest on top of you. Its the same with thoughts. Continuing with temptation, when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He told them to pray that they should not be lead into temptation. And this is of great importance because from this passage, we can see that temptation is something we should pray about daily. Because in the same chapter Christ says we should pray that God should give them this day their daily bread. This shows me that praying over my mind and for it, is something which I should be doing DAILY (Matthew 6:9-13).
My second point with regards to the importance of protecting the mind, is that when the bible speaks of putting on the FULL Armour of God, the mind is not left uncovered. We have the helmet of salvation come into play (Ephesians 6:17), which is the word of God. It is so important to know the truth, to clothe and soak your mind in the truth. And this truth is the word of God, and in that word you find the key to protecting your mind. It is your defense against the lies of Satan. So if the devil comes at you with ‘you are a failure’, you tell him ‘In Christ I’m more than conquerors’ . You must learn to get into the habit of silencing the enemy.
The final point which I have for you today, revolves around the bible verse which states, that David was a man after Gods own heart (Acts 13:22). I decided to view Acts 13:22 from a different angle, to how I’d previously been looking at it. I then asked myself the question ‘What does it mean to be an individual after Gods own mind’??? I looked into the life of David, and I could not help but notice, that a lot of the time he would consult God before he made a decision. Even though he was an experienced man of war, and had fought many battles, he would still seek God, to see if he should go to war or not (1 Samuel 30:8). So a way in which we can pursue to be individuals who want to understand God more, is by involving Him in every sphere of our lives. David also understood the necessity of holding onto Gods word, in his mind (heart). In the book of Psalms we see that David says that he will meditate upon Gods word, day and night. For example Psalm 119: 9 reads ‘How can a young man stay pure, by meditating on Gods word’ . So another way in which we can pursue Gods mind, and understand Him more, is by reading the bible. After all the bible is Gods own words (2 Peter 1:20-21) . I believe that the bible is Gods way of communicating His thoughts to us.
So I’d like to leave you with this, your mind is just as important as your physical health, and when your mind is sick it can affect your physical body. But you MUST remember, you have been given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)! Don’t let the devil bring you down. You are NOT unworthy, you are not unholy, for Christ makes all things new (2 Corinthians 5:17). You are forgiven, you are loved.
Love you all
Enjoy your week
Christian lady after Gods own heart