Is Our Minds Right
Hello and welcome to My Little House of Prayer. I am your host Dayla Smith. I am so very glad that you could join me today. So far we have discussed Ephesians 6: 10-15 and 18. I hope that we are learning a lot in these discussions. I would greatly appreciate your input. Especially any questions you would have.In Verses 10-11, discussed how vitally important our need is for the full armor of God. That when we join this Christian walk, we are in a battle that belongs to the Lord. Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. In verse 12, we learned what and where the battle lies. That we need a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We need to know to whom we are and to whom we belong. 2 Chronicles 20:15-17 15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.16 To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.Then, in verse 13, we learned about our need to endure to the end. That we are to totally trust in Him who is able to save to the utmost. That after we have done all we know to do, we are to put our trust in Him. Exodus 14:13-14 13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.14 The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
Matthew 24:1-15 24 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) This sounds a lot like what is going on in the world today, doesn’t it? Because of a question that was asked, we jumped to verse 18 and learned about leading a prayerful life in verse 18 of chapter 6 in Ephesians, our desperate need to read the word of God on a daily basis and how to read it. Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God., and our need for living a fasted lifestyle and how, according to Isaiah 58. Then, we discussed verse 14. How we are to have on the belt of righteousness and our loins girt about with truth. John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Proverbs 4 :23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. And in verse 15 of chapter 6, And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Our feet in scripture speaks of our Christian walk. We either have one or we don’t. There is no middle ground. Our lives are our epitaph. Our eulogy. Our last will and testament. When Jesus walked the earth He never proclaimed who He was. He let His life speak for itself. And, it did.
Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. To show us by example that we could follow God’s laws. And, He came to fulfill all prophecies concerning Him.When something is important to you, you stress the importance of it through repetition. I believe what Jesus was really saying right here is ,”Peter if you love me? Feed my lambs and sheep. Take care of those I’m leaving behind. If you love me, show me. Show me by taking care of those that I am leaving behind. By sharing the Gospel. The Gospel of peace. The Lord has given us a gospel of peace. So, we are to put on the shoes, put on our walk; of the preparation ,be prepared; of the Gospel of peace; to pass the baton of Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s peace Then we discussed Ephesians 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
That this crucified walk is paved in faith. That faith requires action. That faith will and is tested. That the proof is in the pudding. We believe or we don’t. And, our shield of faith is the evidence of our complete trust in Him. Hebrews 11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Now, we are discussing Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. We are to put on the helmet of salvation. Why? Because the battlefield is in the mind. If the enemy can draw our attention off of the Lord, he has us in his crosshairs. There are so many scriptures about keeping our focus on the Lord and how it affects our walk with Him. Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed upon thee: becasue he trusteth in thee.
Luke 12:29-32 29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Romans 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
Philippians 2:5-9 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.These are just a few.
I have just gone through something that most people would have lost their minds over. How did I keep my sanity? Keeping my mind on the Lord Jesus Christ. Crying and pleading for His help. It is o.k. To break down under the Lord’s headship. He will keep you from falling apart. My first pastor taught me how to not lose my mind. The Lord used him and his beautiful wife to equip and teach me how to walk with the Lord. How to know that I know when it is Him speaking to me. This only happens by reading your bible to be a doer and not hearer only of His word. Matthew 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
At the beginning of my walk with the Lord. I had a situation where my heart was involved. And, fell apart. There is a difference between being broken and falling apart. When you are broken you are looking for the only one who can redeem your situation. When you are falling apart, you are allowing your carnal emotions to redeem your situation. There is only one who can redeem all things. Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Anyway, I was broken but falling apart. My pastor walks in and asks, “What’s wrong.” Well, I couldn’t even speak. My words were being shut off. That is when he yelled in authority over my situation. “Shut up!” I did it in shock. “Pray in your prayer language. I stumbled for a minute over getting it out, but as I focused on praying in my prayer language (the gift of tongues with the baptism of the Holy Ghost) my prayer language began to flow. I regained my right mind. This is one way to get your mind on the Lord. Jude 20-25 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. I regained my mind and was able to speak and tell him what caused me to fall apart. But more than that, I thank the Lord for the experience to learn of His saving grace once again. I also thanked my pastor for listening to the guidance of the Lord to help me. He is faithful to keep you from losing your sanity.
I think of this passage when I look at this scripture on the helmet of salvation. Salvation comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. We must put our minds under His divine headship. Matthew 14:22-33 22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. What did Jesus do? He got away to pray. He didn’t let circumstances and situations arise and then pray. He got alone every chance he could to pray. To seek the Father’s face. That is why He wasn’t surprised. And not only wasn’t He surprised, He walked upon it boldly with the authority the Father had given Him. He has given all of us that same authority to walk in. But we have to get alone as often as we can to pray. If you are looking for a time to pray, Satan will never afford you that. You have to make time and take time to pray.
The wind and waves allowed fear to grip the apostle's heart. Their eyes were not on the Lord. Their mind was not under the headship of the Lord. Therefore, He could not keep them in perfect peace. Then, like a child, Peter cries out, “If it is you Lord, bid me to come walk with you.” Did the Lord condemn him for this? No. He gently and lovingly, with open arms replied to him like we would to a child who is first learning to walk. “Come.” And Peter did. He walked on the water as long as his eyes were upon Him. When the enemy distracted him by the waves, that is when fear was allowed to come in and try to drown him. Do you feel like you are drowning in your circumstances and situations? Put your eyes back on the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Keep your thoughts on Him and what He has done for you so far. When Peter began to drown, he reached and called out for the only one who could pull him up and out of it. “Jesus save me!” He put on the helmet of salvation.
The Lord also said to take up the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Now, I find it very interesting that my Word search always came back to our tongue and how to control it. James 3:5-12 5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Matthew 12:34-40 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
The Lord has given us something to speak. His Word and the gift of tongues with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. As we read and think on the Word of God in our bible, we are allowing it to take root in us and be our constant profession of faith. 2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: What is your profession of faith.
I had an experience early in my walk. I was talking with a friend. She asked me about someone. The Holy Ghost got a hold of my tongue and wouldn’t let me speak in my English. I tried 3 times to answer her. But, only tongues would come out. Keep in mind at that time I was fasting and praying. I also chose to allow the Word of God to be my food. So, the Holy Spirit was allowed to take control of my tongue. Psalm 141:3 Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. By the third time, we both began to laugh and accepted the fact that we were not to talk about this subject. The Lord wants to take our tongues and make them a flaming sword of His Word. Where we follow the example of His Son and only the Word of the Lord will spew out of our mouths. Where we speak life. Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Galatians 5:22-25 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Are you enjoying the fruits of your lips today? Get in the fight. Put on and apply the full armor the Lord has given each and everyone of us. Focus on the Lord and His life saving arm. When we address one another, think on your words and let’s ask ourselves if it is edifying. Will our words help or harm? Is our words words of faith or doubt and unbelief? Remember that facts change, but His Truth will stand forever. Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
If you do not know the Lord Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Let me introduce you to Him. It is real simple. First you must acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of a savior. Acknowledger all of your sins. Ask Him for His forgiveness for all of your sins and call them out to Him. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Then, forgive those who have sinned or transgressed against you. Then, repent. Repent means to change your mind concerning sinful habits. Change your choice making. Let Him influence your choice making decisions as you get in His Holy Word. Ask Him to be Lord over your life. I want to pray this prayer with you. But, this is just another outline. The real work begins after I pray with you.
Lord Jesus, I confess my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Please come into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Take complete control of my life and help me to walk in Your footsteps daily by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for saving me and for answering my prayer. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Next week we will start a series on the Our Father Prayer. Breaking it down verse by verse. Thank you so much for joining me today at My Little House of Prayer. I am so glad that you could join me today. See you next week. Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise.
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