2 Cor 10:5. Take every thought captive to obey Christ
Encouraged by the VA, my son, my mission director and other close friends, I have been studying mindfulness. It is not woo woo yoga, or eastern religions. It is about not be a spastic shell shocked vet with adhd.
I am studying it, I am learning a lot about how to be a better Christian. The #1 thing I am learning is that God doesn’t just tell us to do impossible stuff. Everything we are told to do in the Bible we can do. God teaches us to be aware or the moment. To be in the moment. Satan uses my past experiences to fluster me or my foreseeable future to worry me while I am trying to do my devotion today. Be all here, today. Requires work, but it’s possible. Actually, it’s getting easier and easier.
‘Wherever you’re at, be all there’. Elizabeth Elliot
Pastor Howard Davies once told me that he doesn’t permit a negative (unGodly) thought to enter his mind. I didn’t really believe it was possible until now. I am shocked. Saying you want to obey Christ without applying yourself to do so is just lip service.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
To obey Christ, you have to apply truth. You need to study the Word correctly (anything Kay Author is an excellent source), stay emerged in the Word (I love Familyradio.org gently playing in the background 24/7), and listening to what you say to your self (your inner talk). The only place where the truth is is in the here and now. God is in the here and now as well
1. The past is a lie (or at least your perception). I see a lady with a certain look on her face and it reminds me of my mom when she was about to spank me when I was 5 and I immediately dislike her.
Phil 3:13 but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind
2. The future is a lie (we just don’t know)
James 4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. but in the moment is where God is and where the truth is
The only place you can do anything about is right now. That’s our ’safe place’ that we can be free from sin, to obey Christ and to be close to God.
Paul practiced being in the moment. That’s why nothing bothered him. I have spent the last 24 hours not being bothered.
Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have.
Paul, like Howard, made it a practice to immediately take their thoughts captive. How long do we have? If you hanker for a cigarette, or a shot? 1/5 of a second to seize it and kick it out. More than that, and your whole body will be fighting it. Anything over 1/5 of a second creates irresistible desires.
Proverbs 23:31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly;
What takes place in 1/5 of a second? Satan gets a foothold. But my admonition today is Resist! That moment when the thought tries to land, kick it out. Try to obey Christ and your testimony with ever fiber of your being. 24 hours later I can tell you it works!
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
God wants only good things for you. He wants you to have a long and abundant life here and an eternal life in heaven. He wants you to have peace! Satan wants to kill you. Sin, anger, turmoil and resentment are his weapons.
And there you have it – let the peace of God rule in your heart Col 3:15
