SoulAs a Man
Thinketh
Scripture: (Proverbs
23:7 a KJV) For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:…
In a sense this is a
continuance of last weeks message in that the things we will be covering will
the most helpful in giving us true hope for living a full and fruitful life. I
realize that the scripture verse above, if you read it in its context, has
nothing to do with where I am going. But however as we take a closer look at it,
I think you will see the real truth of our essence, and in it, find the key to
enjoying our lives to the fullest. The Hebrew word translated Thinketh is shaar.
It is an opening or door. A shaar is a person or thing that acts as a
gatekeeper. Then the next word I want us to look at is the Hebrew word hephesh.
It is an interesting word that refers to a person’s life, or soul or passion. So
then what the scripture verse is telling us is the gatekeeper of your soul lies
within the thoughts you entertain. It is the thoughts that we allow ourselves to
dwell upon that make up who we are and our surroundings. Jesus taught us that
our eyes are the light of the body and that if our eye be evil our whole body
shall be full of darkness. It is the things that we choose to concentrate on
that direct our lives. Everything in your life today – who you are, whether rich
or poor, whether happy or depressed, every phase of your life has been
conditioned by the thoughts and feelings of your past. And so the condition of
your life in the future, tomorrow, next week, and next year will be conditioned
by the thoughts and feelings that you choose to entertain from now on. And so
then we see that the ultimate key to life is the fact that if you change your
mind your conditions must change also.
So there it
was Saturday morning and I had to get up way early to drive out to Orlando to
take this test for work. I was tired. I had not had a day off since I don’t know
when and I was not a happy camper. As I got in the van and started driving
across the causeway towards Tampa I began to pray. I am telling you the truth,
prayer will either change you or the circumstances or both. As I continued to
pray I suddenly noticed three rays of light shooting up in the sky from the
horizon. I remember thinking Wow, that was cool. But it just kept getting better
because then I looked and the water was so still and a couple of seagulls were
flying gently in the morning sky. Within the next couple of seconds the sun
ascended over the horizon and just as it did, two dolphins jumped out of the
water and I began to praise God for the wonderful blessing He was giving me on
this beautiful morning. My point with this is that sometimes in order to get the
blessings of life that we so desperately desire sometimes we have to do some
things that we do not like doing. And you know, if I had not changed my attitude
that morning I would have missed the glory of God and continued to grumble
through the day. It comes down to changing our minds. As we do, the whole world
changes with it.
If you
remember last week’s message, you might recall the rabbit trail I took down the
road of existentialism. Give me just a minute to try to tie this in.
Existentialism states that every human being creates and recreates his or her
essence in every moment through their thoughts and actions. Well, the man who
first coined the term existentialism was Jean Paul Sartre. By quickly looking at
this philosophical ballyhoo I believe we can come out on the other side with a
wonderful revelation of the hope that is in the Lord. In an attempt to define
existentialism I would have to say that it is the idea that existence comes
before essence. Here are the basics of it. For thousands of years man has
naturally assumed that there was an underlying human nature that ruled our basic
behavior. In essence our fundamental nature was set before we ever existed. In
other words, God created us in His own image. Yet the philosophers of the 20th
century, expressly Sartre, try to take God out of the equation by stating that
we decide our own nature or essence by the way we think and in turn by the way
we choose to live. Thus we first exist then decide for our selves our way of
life. Now, the little bit of truth in this thought was enough to change the
world as we know it. This idea of being free to choose our own reality sprung
into thoughts of subjective reality, then into deigning any objective truth
altogether. Can you see how a little bit of truth can disguise a huge lie? You
see because the truth is, as the Bible teaches us, that the things we think
about direct our life.
There is a
battle going on within us. It is a battle for our souls. Looking at the
tri-unity of man we can see how we have a body, a soul and spirit.
Soul
Spirit Body
Now before I was born again I
did not have any problem with the struggle between by flesh and my spirit. That
is because I had the nature of sin. Both my body and my spirit just cared about
the fulfillment of the hedonistic desires of life. Oh, yes there was still a
fundamental hierarchy of needs. But there was no conviction or any war like Paul
talks about in the 7th chapter of Romans. (Rom 7:19-24 NIV) For
what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I
keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do
it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I
want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in
God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war
against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work
within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body
of death?
When you come
to the realization of the good news of Jesus the messiah, we in fact get a new
nature. A new essence. We become a new creation in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians
5:17 KJV) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. So then there is
now a new nature within us that is from above, and its desires and ways are
higher then those of our physical passions. We see how this internal war could
keep us from finding lasting peace. Now for practical purposes lets call the
body our actions, the spirit our thoughts and the soul our emotions. Do you
recall how the bible teaches us that the Word of God is able to divide the soul
and the spirit (Hebrews 4:12 NIV) For the word of God is living and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and
spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
So then if you want to change
your life change your mind. Interestingly the Bible has a word that means just
that. In the original Greek it is metanoeo. It comes from two Greek words, meta
which means change and noieo, which is where we get our word knowledge, meaning
the mind. So then metanoeo means to change your mind. It is translated repent.
We need to repent, change our minds, and walk in strength and victory. We need
to bring every thought into captivity. (2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV) Casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ;
Now
lets try to bring all of this together first by tying up all this talk about
this internal warfare. (2 Corinthians 10:3-6 KJV) For though we walk in the
flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your
obedience is fulfilled.
Do you want
to change your life? Do you want to win the victory of the negative power of
your fleshly lusts and desires? Whether we are talking about fighting
depression, overeating, smoking, anger, lust, drugs or alcohol, no mater what
the battle the power of God is able to overcome it. The power of God is greater
then your anger. The power of God is greater then any drug. The power of God is
greater then alcohol or sex or any lying spirit. Do you really want to overcome
and win this battle for your soul? Then it is time that you really believed the
Word of God. You need to take God at his word and believe the Bible more then
the things that you see, feel or touch. You need to know that you know, that you
know, that greater is He who is within you then He who is within the world. You
need to know that we are more then conquerors in Christ Jesus our Lord. You need
to know that God has a wonderful plan for your life, that you would be of good
health and prosper in all things. You need to know that no weapon formed against
you will prosper. The Word of God is perfect. It is sure. It is right, pure,
clean and true. It is infallible, inerrant, complete, authoritive, sufficient
and brings us salvation, deliverance health, hope and happiness.
Are you ready for a change? Are you ready for your breakthrough? Are you ready to win the battle of your mind? Then lets get determined. Return to the Lord and get into His word, meditating on it daily. Lets make a fresh commitment to spend more time in communication with Him. Remember if you will draw near onto God, Submit yourself entirely to Him, Satan will flee. There is no struggle when you are in the arms of the Father. Commit for the next seven days to cast aside every negative thought. And think positive, productive, thoughts that will bring new life and joy and love and hope to your entire life. Seven days will change your entire life. (Philippians 4:8 & 9 KJV) Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.