ICS Daily Devotions
Conquering Our Thoughts by Meditating on the Word
We are saved and our spiritman is a new creation. The body will continue to age until it is time to return to the Lord. Therefore, the last frontier for us to conquer will be our mind and particularly our thought life. There is spiritual warfare in this age and it is in our thought life. Our lives are influenced by what we watch, read and the process of our thoughts. Fear or peace enters through the thoughtlife.
Philippians 4:6-8 (NKJV) Be anxious fornothing, …. and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally,brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure,whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of goodreport, … meditate on these things.
Meditating on the Word is the very act of casting down arguments by replacing it with what the Word says rather than allowing our senses to instill fear in us. The weapon of our warfare is the meditation of the Word of God and it helps us to replace and take captive of other thoughts.
We are to take Paul’s instruction to think of what is true, revered, noble, just, pure, lovely, lovable, kind, winsome, gracious, and praise worthy.
Life Application Bible Commentary defines “pure” (hagnos) as free from contamination, blemish, these thoughts are unmixed and unmodified; they are wholesome……….
Meditating on what is pure: I am a child of God. I belong to the Kingdom of light and the Kingdom of God. I am a new creation. I have been set free from sin and I am no longer a slave to sin. Sin has no power over me. I walk in the spirit of life in Christ Jesus because I have been set free from the law of sin and death. The Holy Spirit who lives in me empowers me to live a holy and godly life. I can choose to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.
The Spirit gives me life and infuses strength into me to overcome temptations and sin. No temptation is able to overtake me because God will help me to stand up against it. God heard the cries of the Israelites and raised up Moses to deliver the Israelites from the affliction that they facedin Egypt. Likewise, I believe God would have heard about my plight and affliction through my prayers, therefore He will deliver me out of this situation (refer to Psalm 34:6, 17,19).
He is the God of all flesh and there is nothing too difficult for Him. He is the same God who parted the Red Sea for the Israelites when they were caught between the Egyptians who were pursuing them and the Red Sea. He will make a way for me. The Scriptures say that “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” Psalm 34: 19 (NKJV).I believe that the Lord will deliver me from this situation. No weapon formed against me shall prosper and every word that rises up against me I shall condemn because it is the heritage of God’s servant (Isaiah 54:17). I believe that whom God has blessed then nobody can curse. God has called me to be the head and not the tail. He has called us to be on top of a situation and not be beneath it.
Sermon Series: Don’t Panic