“Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the outflowings of life,” Proverbs 4:23.

“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,” Romans 10:10.

We are told that we believe with our hearts and so this is where our faith is issued from.

A believing heart is the one that leads us unto salvation through our faith, and yet our mind may well not follow always what the heart believes.

If one would keep track of their thoughts during any giving day, they would view an entire spectrum of things from bills that need to be paid, the state of the government, what to eat, and a whole host of many other things.

The mind is a constantly changing thing and with its complexity it is at times a maze of ever-changing tangents that occupy it.

There are as many chambers and areas in it that would fill a thousand libraries. The human mind is more complex than any computer has ever been built and it is something deeply profound in how it works.

But as one believes with their heart, then the mind would seemingly follow what the heart is set upon.

But does one reign-in an ever-changing mechanism that is deeper than the deepest ocean?

We are told that we are to take every thought captive into the obedience of Christ. But this of course is a constant struggle and it isn’t something that happens once and for all.

It goes on and one every day, and every minute and hour. It’s a matter of being transformed and yet one cannot be transformed if their thoughts are scattered over a thousand different things.

One needs to then be able to quiet themselves and find peace amidst the chaos around them. We live in a world of constant sensations and noises and images.

They bombard us on every side vying for our attention. We hear the sounds of a long forgotten song and we are propelled back to a previous time and place.

Something on the news grabs our attention and suddenly our emotions rise-up in anger or sorrow. Every minute of every day our thoughts are ever-changing.

“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,” 2 Corinthians 10:5.

So, what is to be done with the seemingly hopelessness of an endless array of thoughts?

Find your place amidst the noise and confusion and seek those things that are above.

Remember the reminder to:

“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,” Philippians 4:8.

If one is like a tree planted by the river then that tree would prosper because it would be drawing sustenance from that life-giving stream.

The catastrophes and constant barrage of bad news, confusion, and deceit would be replaced by those things that are pure, lovely, virtuous and just.

It sounds perhaps too simple and of course it is easier to say than do.

I must be true and say that my mind wanders and I recognize it. It takes a constant reminder and I’m not always aware until I’ve gone down the road for miles before I have to rein-in a rolling away train.

But it would seem that with what we believe with our hearts to be true that our minds would then follow.

The heart would say to the mind: “Come this way, because it is good and I know it to be true.”

And yet the mind hears the words and then finally gives in seeing the fruitfulness of the advice perhaps or perhaps not.

It also must be said that our hearts can be deceived, for we must know that one’s heart can be caught-up in different emotions and be carried away by sorrow or anger or hurt.

It’s a transforming process that one goes through. Some have called this all the process of sanctification and yet it isn’t something that one musters-up on their own.

It can only happen through the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit. He is the One that changes us in our hearts and minds.

If indeed then we attempted to do these things all on our own, then we wouldn’t need Him now would we?

If then we are changing and being transformed into God’s image, then our thoughts would also be changing, because the image of our hearts and minds are then not focused upon what they used to be upon.

We then are receiving as it were “new updates” from the Father that would strengthen and enlarge our own personal hard drives, our own complex machinery.

Perhaps then as it were, the pathways of our thoughts would take on a new journey and that journey would be in thinking and dwelling upon those things that are above.

 

Selah,
~ Stephen Hanson

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Stephen Hanson of In His Truth Ministries came to the LORD is a special way in 1975 and has prophesied regularly since. In these end-time birthing pangs we are reminded that judgment must first begin with the household of God. Will we be prepared and ready?

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