Our internal life is where we live, really. It's in our thoughts that we respond to the outer world of people and problems. It occurred to me today that our thoughts have tendencies to react in certain ways. It's almost like we've been "programmed" by our experiences, our personality...a lifetime of habits. As I considered this further I thought that this is where the Lord comes in. He wants to be "behind our thoughts", so He can fill our minds.
I believe this is how it can work >> We can establish the attitudes of our heart when we're away from the heat of problems, pressures and people. We are able to do this by reflecting on God's Word, which is God's Way for us to respond, act or react and we internalize the truth. Our heart is changed by the persuasion of the Lord, through the Holy Spirit in the quiet times (the wonder of faith springing from exposure to God's living truth). When we find ourselves in the battleground of life, He will bring to our thoughts those attitudes He made real earlier. As we practice that mindset and experience blessing, we are encouraged to continue.
Just as an apprentice learns by doing and his learning is driven by real needs, so our spiritual growth is driven by life's problems and challenges. The key is preparing our heart in the quiet times when we come to the Lord and He makes truth become real on a personal level...it's another way His Word becomes flesh (in us !!).
Job 33:
2 I am about to open my mouth;
my words are on the tip of my tongue.3 My words come from an upright heart;
my lips sincerely speak what I know.4 The Spirit of God has made me;
the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Psalm 16:
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
blessings,
Rob Smith
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