The Kingdom of God!
Chapter 144
In Chapter 138, I wrote to you
about the many thoughts that come into our minds. Quote,
The Word of God can only be understood by
listening to the one that wrote the Bible, the Holy Spirit of God! Dr. Charles
Stanley was not Pentecostal, but he believed the statement of Jesus in John
10:3-5, (NIV)
'The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and
the sheep listen to his voice. He calls
his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own,
he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him
because they do not
recognize a stranger's voice."
Our problem with hearing the voice of Jesus
speak to us is our carnal mind. We have not been taught how to listen to the
Spirit of the Lord. When we pray, it's a one-way conversation with the Lord
because we have not been taught to listen. Someone says, "Well, I tried that
and didn't hear a word!" I know what you mean because I was once exactly where
you are.
That's because I didn't understand where my
thoughts came from! I just thought they were just mine and nobody else.
However, there are many voices trying to get your attention. The flesh has
needs and desires and will speak them to your mind
such as, I'm hungry. My left leg is hurting, do something about it. I really
would like to have some sex tonight. I am tired, sleepy, etc.
Not only that, but evil thoughts will come
into your mind, and you will have to deal with them. You should watch what
movies you watch because they will plant ungodly thoughts in your mind. You definitely need to watch what news programs you watch. Many
are masters at lying to you so they can control your thinking. End Quote
I want to give you an example of this happening to one of Jesus disciples. Mathew said in Matt. 16:21-23, (NIV)
"From that time on Jesus began to explain to
his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands
of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of
the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
"Never, Lord!" he said.
"This shall never happen to you!"
Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind
me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but
merely human concerns."
Jesus immediately recognized that this was Satan speaking through Peter and He rebuked him for saying this! Wow! I wonder how many times I have allowed Satan to speak through me! Peter was speaking from his carnal mind because he reasoned that such an awful thing should not happen to Jesus and if it did what would happen to him.
This is why Paul said in Rom. 12:2, (NIV)
"Do not conform
to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to
test and approve what God's will is;his good, pleasing, and perfect will."
Also
in 2 Cor. 10,
"The weapons we fight with are not the
weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish
strongholds. 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."
Peter was with Jesus every day of His ministry and even he had trouble with his carnal mind. Just because you may have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit doesn't mean that these thoughts don't come into your mind.
This is one of the hardest things we, as Christians, have to deal with today. Probably because there is not much teaching on how we must guard our thoughts and take authority over any that doesn't line up with the word of God. James said in James 1:22-26, (NIV)
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what
it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says
is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at
himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever
looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it not forgetting
what they have heard, but doing it,they will be blessed in what they do.
Those who consider
themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive
themselves, and their religion is worthless".
These thoughts that come into your mind that
don't align with the word of God are not a sin unless you meditate upon them
and speak them forth. In Matt. 6:31-34, (NIV)
"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we
eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run
after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and
his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about
itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
That is a powerful statement! It deals with
using our faith in our Father. Jesus had a lot to say
about faith. He said in Matt. 17:20, (NIV)
"Because you
have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you
can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for
you."
Here is another powerful statement! It
doesn't take much of the God kind of faith to move mountains in our lives. The
question, then, is how do I gain that much faith? Paul said in Rom. 10:17,
"So then faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,"
(NIV) "Consequently, faith comes from
hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ."
Why is this so! Because the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword even able to divide between the soul and the spirit. (Heb, 4:12)
Paul also said in Rom. 12:3,
"For I say,
through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure
of faith."
Why, then, do we have so much trouble seeing
our prayers answered! Doubt and unbelief and not fully understanding the Word
of God. Jesus gave us the answer to this in plain English in Mark 11:22-25,
Do you believe what Jesus said here? Notice
that He told you to speak to the mountain or the situation you are facing and
to believe that what you said will come to pass!
What causes this to not work in our
situation? Doubt, unbelief, and patience! I ran into a friend that I had not
seen for some time at Wal-Mart and he said that he
remembered me prophesying that it often takes the Lord some time to arrange
events and people in order to answer our prayers.
What should we do in the meantime? Praise Him
for answering our prayers! And most importantly, watching what comes out of our
mouth. Never allow doubt to be expressed through your mouth! What we say does
matter and can kill our faith because of doubt!
John said in 1 John 5:14-15,
This week practice watching what comes out of your mouth and don't allow unbelief to enter your thinking!