-Strength for Today- “It’s Time to Santizes Our Minds.” - James 4:8.
?The news media,?have the airwaves “flooded with devastating effects of Covid-19" causing?many “to feel?pressured with?vile insecurity.” ?But “when our focus is on the presence of God, there’s joy, because of His?“divine presence of hopefulness.”?
But in order for His “hopefulness” to guide us,?we’ll need?“clean our hearts.” And just as “we need to wash our hands in public,” likewise, our hearts “repentantly,” and “prayerfully” needs cleaning. This “world-wide pandemic” has caused us “to really examine how much of God is really in our lives.” Matter of fact, if I were a medical doctor, “I’d be asking you about your physical health.” But I’m a pastor, and “I’m concerned about your soul.” “??I’m concerned that the one thing that’s eternal in you is “spiritually healthy,” and “in the care of Almighty God!” ?
We all need to grasp the truth of that?fact that from the beginning, “...the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul,” (Genesis 2:7), but because of?the fall of Adam, (Genesis 3:6-7), his act of disobedience caused the whole human race’s soul to “default,” into the ungodly instantized mess of Satan.” ?
That act was?vile and unclean enough?that it “separated innocent” mankind from “God’s cloak of righteousness.” The psalmist said: “Who may ascend into the hill of the?Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has?clean hands and?a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor?sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the?Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation” - Psalm 24: 3-5.?
If you’ll let Him, His?Spirit “will transform your mind,” (Romans 12:2), because “repentance is paramount to the Christian experience.” Dirty hands “can't handle the holiness and power of God.” To this James said: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.?Cleanse?your?hands,?you?sinners; and?purify?your?hearts,?you double-minded" -James 4:8. ?
We “can’t keep dirty hands and dirty hearts” and “expect the presence of God to be a part of our lives.” Over the last two years some of you “have picked up some things during this pandemic,” that’re “more deadly than COVID 19.” Even the language that’s being?used “needs to be cleansed.” ?
Sure, “sanitizing our minds can be regretful.” Regret?“can?cause anxiety to flare up.” And like “old, rotting trash,” the odor of “regret lingers, contaminating our joy” and “polluting our future.” It's time “to face the past,” and “leave it there.” But until “we clean house” and “deal with the past,” we’ll continue “dragging with us a smelly garbage bag.”?
So, whenever “you recognize your mind is circling on an old thought pattern,” prayerfully?“sanitize your mind,” and “guard your ears,” and align, them “with the Word of God!”?
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