Who or what do you serve?

My daily devotional "From faith to faith" by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, has an interesting and thought provoking entry today. The headline is: Don't serve the problem.

I have for a long time been interested in how my mind (my mind = my thoughts, will, and emotions) function as a "roadmap" for my life, and today's devotional gave more insight into the question. I will use it in my own words here in todays entry.

Some time ago I heard Terri Savelle Foi say something interesting about thoughts: Your life goes in the direction of your most dominant thought!

Have you ever thought about how your thoughts stear you along life's path? If you think about doughnuts, pretty soon you have bought a box full and are eating half a dozen before you know it, even though you know that you shouldn't.

Point taken, I guess. Doughnuts is one thing, life's big problems is something quite different and much more serious.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:24-25: "Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life."

Right after Jesus said that we cannot serve God and mammon (which includes our physical lives, material possessions and money), He said: Take no thought... The connection is clear: We serve our thoughts! If I have a problem, and I'm constantly thinking about this problem and how it will make life difficult for me and how difficult it will be to get out of this situation, that thought is my master.

No wonder the Bible is full of clues as to how we should master our thoughts, and not let our thoughts master us.

Here are a few of these Scriptures: Isaiah 55:7 says that the wicked shall forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. To forsake means to let go, not keep on to, let loose (my definitions). To forsake my thoughts means that I don't hold on to them, but let them go, and then replace them with other thoughts. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says: "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

The important thing here is that ungodly and unhealthy arguments (thoughts) that are not in line with God's Word, must be taken captive. That means we throw them out and make our thoughts obedient to Christ. What does the Word say about my situation? Will God let the righteous suffer loss? No, He satisfies the righteous with good things.

"The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing (Psalm 34:11) and

"... for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things" (Psalm 107:9).

To learn to do this and to be good at it, you should practice. Start with small, minor thoughts that "pop up" uninvited, kick them out and replace them with God's Word on the matter. Then when you have practiced a while, "attack" the major thoughts that usually almost chokes you. Tell them to go, tell them that you don't allow those thoughts in your mind, and fill yourself with God's Word in stead.

You will be amazed at what a difference it will make in your life!

What do you know?

Kind of strange question, perhaps, but anyway a very valid one. What do you really know?

"What is so important about knowledge? I thought faith was the main thing in Christendom."

Absolutely. Faith is important, and without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

There is, however, another factor that's highly overlooked, and that is knowledge.

Example: You receive a painting as a gift from your uncle. You like the painting, and hang it on the wall. It hangs there for years, until one day you take it down to clean and dust it. When you examine the back of the painting, you see something that looks like there is a pocket or something behind the outer layer. You open the pocket and find $ 1 000. You're overjoyed, and call your friends and family to tell them of your discovery.

The point? The money was there all the time, you just didn't know about it. You had no knowledge about the money, and it was for you as if you never had it - until you found it!

That's the way it is with the knowledge of God. It's "hidden" in His "treasure chest" - the Bible. You just have to open it and find the treasures, then you can use them to live a victorious life in Jesus Christ.

The Bible has much to say about the importance of knowing. I have picked just a few scriptures to show you what I mean:

"Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?" (2 Chronicles 1:10) You need not only wisdom, but knowledge to be a leader.

"Job speaks without knowledge; his words lack insight" (Job 34:35) To have insight, you need knowledge. You need to know what's going on.

"Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands" (Psalm 119:66). To be a good judge, you need knowledge. You have to know, rather than suppose.

"Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness" (2 Peter 1:2-3). Grace and peace come through knowing God and Jesus. We have everything we need in this life and the next in Jesus Christ, but if we don't know about it, it won't do us any good. It's the knowing that makes us able to use it.

Just like the thousand dollars behind the painting, there are great riches and thruths hidden in the Word of God, riches and truths we need to live victorious, joyful and fulfilled lives here on earth. You need to know about these riches and truths, so start digging for knowledge today!

How does God chastise us?

Have you ever heard the phrase "Acts of God"? It's used in insurance policies for extreme catastrophies. And have you ever heard someone say that "God sent this disease to teach me something" or "God let me experience this accident so I would be a better person"?
I guess you have heard all this and more about how God sends accidents, catastrophies, sickness and death to "teach His people something". But that is absolutely not true. God doesn't send any of these. He does not send bad things. We live in an evil world, and bad and evil things happen. In the Lord's prayer we pray: "Your will be done on earth as in heaven". Is there sickness and death in heaven? No. Do accidents happen in heaven? No. Why? Because God doesn't have any of these. He's not the author of accidents, sickness and catastrophies. He's the author of GOOD. He's a Good God.
God has, however, a way to chastise and teach His people, and that is through His Word. Let's look at a few verses of Scripture that show us this: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Here it says that all Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. Why is that so? So that the Christians may be thoroughly equipped for every good work! That means that if there's something wrong with me in the sense of me lacking something in my faith or I am doing something I shouldn't, THE WORD OF GOD is my teacher.
Paul also writes about this in 2 Corinthians, where he explains the result of a letter (= words) he sent to the church in Corinth. He says: "Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it - I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while - yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us" (2 Corinthians 7:8-9). A situation in the church at Corinth needed to be addressed and corrected, and IF God's method of correction was sickness, death and accidents, Paul would have asked God to send this. But he did not do that. He sent A LETTER with words of caution. And the words he sent did their work; people repented and things were straightened out. The church was back on track again!
It's always God's Word that is the means God uses to chastise and correct us. Next time you hear someone say anything else, refuse to accept it. Sickness, death and accidents happen in this evil world, but they are not from God. And He does not use Satan's tools to teach His people. He uses His own tools, the Word to teach His people.