It is the Spirit of God that helps us to make the mental ascent to heavenly bliss. Without the Spirit, it would be impossible. Without the beautiful mind created by God, it would be impossible. It’s not only possible for the followers of Jesus Christ, but also essential to maintain our sanity in a world gone mad. All the hateful rhetoric and all the horrible actions of humanity begin in the mind. As we fast approach the End of Time, Satan and the powers of darkness have taken over total control of what most people think even if they vehemently deny it. Satan wants your mind. Thoughts from the enemy come in like a flood leading humanity to think the most horrendous thoughts even if they don’t express those thoughts openly. Often those thoughts from the enemy will return again and again leading most to dwell on those thoughts for hours at a time as if they were their own thoughts. As a believer, if you are honest, you too have had to contend with these unwarranted thoughts invading your space more than you realize. Thoughts from the enemy often sneak in when you least expect them to tempt you to entertain the thought even if it’s only for a brief moment in time. Today we will talk about how to guard your thoughts so that every thought, even for the briefest amount of time, will be pleasing to God.
So, how can we as believers in Christ guard our beautiful minds from the malicious thoughts of the enemy? The simple answer is we must continuously fill our minds with righteous and heavenly thoughts every moment of every day. Yes, you can do this even while you are working in the real world which may require a great deal of concentration for efficiency and your safety. Our minds have the ability to multitask, which means we have the ability to think about one thing while concentrating on a difficult task or to do two similar tasks at the same time. Satan and the powers of darkness know this truth and are always ready to interject an unexpected thought into our minds. Yes, some of these ungodly thoughts can also come from the old sin nature. Mankind has been given beautiful minds that have the ability to control what it thinks about contrary to what the professionals of mental health or the medical profession have to say. In extreme cases, actual brain damage could seriously affect the person’s ability to form rational thoughts. On the other hand, the majority of mankind can control their thoughts, either introduced by Satan or from the old sin nature.
Typically most believers can easily differentiate the thoughts introduced by Satan and the thoughts, that come from the old sin nature. Furthermore, most believers can determine if the thoughts come from the Spirit that typically directs us on our path of righteousness and leads us in our service to the Lord. The thoughts coming from the powers of darkness are almost immediately discerned as totally unethical and opposed to the clear teachings of the Holy Scripture. These sudden thoughts can shock our sensibilities, which must be dealt with immediately by rebuking Satan and casting out the unwanted thoughts. Whereas the thoughts from the old sin nature tend to be much more subtle and easily accepted, which are absorbed into our consciousness. These thoughts are often driven by our selfishness, lust, pride, and our unwillingness to forgive others. They can be manifested in hate, anxiety, anger, and extended periods of depression. There is only one way to deal with these sinful thoughts, we must truly repent to receive the refreshing waters of forgiveness to clear our minds. Although we can rebuke the unwanted thoughts of the enemy, seek God’s forgiveness through repentance for our unethical thoughts, and even welcome the Holy Spirit, we still need to guard our every thought by determining what we think about. The Bible gives us exactly what we should be thinking about every moment of every day. Our best defense is a good offense.
So, let’s look at a good offense available for every believer to guard our beautiful minds against every malicious attack from Satan or an unrelenting thought from the old sin nature. The biblical offense is recorded in the letter to the Philippians, chapter 4, verse 8 (please carefully read this before proceeding). This offensive measure is like entering a beautiful circular staircase reaching up to heaven. With each step, you get closer to heaven’s glory. These are the things we should all fill our minds with from being a spiritual novice with the first step of embracing all truth to the last step of embracing all praise, which enters the heights of spiritual ecstasy and heavenly bliss. Thinking “whatsoever things are true” will separate us from a world of lies, deception, propaganda, and conspiracy theories. We will only focus on the unchangeable truth that gives us the answers for all of life. We will absorb all of the infinite wisdom that will uncover the greatest mysteries of the universe. Think only about these things and not about all the new scientific discoveries and the current news stories coming at us at the speed of light. The second step up the beautiful staircase of life is to fill our minds with “whatsoever things are honest.” We have witnessed all the dishonesty in the fallen world from cheating others for financial gain to peddling products of inferior workmanship. Let our every thought be honest with others even if we must take a personal loss of both time and money. Every thought should be prefaced with, “Is this honest and does it violate the truth?”
The third step up the beautiful staircase of life is thinking “whatsoever things are just.” Let us fill our minds with justice for all, where every person should receive equal treatment contrary to their social or financial status. Let us think how we can respect every creed and color by not judging, but gently pointing out their unrighteous deeds against their Creator. The fourth step up the beautiful staircase of life is filling our every thought with “whatsoever things are pure.” Now, we are beginning to feel the winds of heavenly bliss. Our minds and thoughts are not private from the presence of our holy God. He sees everything. With this step, we aim for perfection by keeping every thought pure with no defilement from the world. Even vain imaginations would be immediately cast out. The fifth step up the beautiful staircase of life is filling our minds with “whatsoever things are lovely.” This is a most beautiful step for it opens a whole new world of seeing past the surface to recognize the hidden beauty in both the human heart and every other created thing from the amazing wildlife to the glory of nature. To use an old adage, we take time to smell the roses. We learn the secret of causing time to stop. The sixth step up the beautiful staircase of life is “whatsoever things are of good report.” This step should always bring great joy. In a world of cruelty and fault-finding against one another, let us lift up our heads and look for the good in everything. Let us fill our minds with great joy from every good report that we aggressively uncover to the glory of God.
The seventh step up the beautiful staircase of life is, “If there be any virtue” let us think long and hard on these things. Christian virtue is the crown of our transformation in Christ. It is the epitome of our newly created lives. With every new virtue, we grow closer to God allowing His bright light to shine magnificently through us to the rest of His creation. Finally, as you think about all these things you will notice there is no room to think about anything else. At the top of the staircase of life in view of heavenly bliss, we are quick to see “If there be any praise.” With every little miracle, we praise God. When we see the depth of God’s beauty in His creation, we praise God. When we realize that God has been with us every step of the way, we praise God. When God miraculously works all things together for good, we praise God. Our beautiful minds have the ability to touch the face of God through the indwelling Spirit who has been so intimately with us from the beginning. We praise God. The Spirit has helped us to jettison all the things and thoughts of the world. Then the Spirit has taken us by the hand and filled our minds with the things of God with every step on the way up the beautiful staircase of life. For those who have truly accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and allowed the Spirit to transform their lives, then this exercise of filling their minds with the things of God as they ascend up the beautiful staircase of life will eventually experience heavenly bliss with amazing joy and peace to the glory of God.
The Gospel Presentation
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, which explains the many difficulties that you are currently facing in your life. Well, I have good news, God has solved that problem by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who was born of a virgin to show us the way to a beautiful new life in Christ. God has dealt with all of our sins past, present, and future by having His son pay the debt for our sins. Jesus Christ willingly went to the Cross in our stead by allowing all of the world’s sins to be placed upon Him as a sacrificial Lamb. As Christ hung on the Cross, the wrath of God was poured out on Him to pay the penalty for our sins. Jesus Christ died on the Cross and was buried for three days. On the third day, Christ arose from death to life everlasting. The good news is if we believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then we will be forgiven for all of our sins and receive the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will lead us into all truth helping us in the transformation process of putting off the old life, allowing the old sin nature to die with Christ, and then putting on our new life in Christ by being raised with Christ to everlasting life. You can accept Christ today by confessing your sins to Him through a simple prayer asking Him to forgive you and make you into a new creation filled with the Holy Spirit. If you have done that, then you have just begun the greatest journey of your life that leads to heaven and eternal life. Welcome to the Kingdom.
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