You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. —Isaiah 26:3

Is your mind stayed on God or is it starved? Starvation of the mind, caused by neglect, is one of the chief sources of exhaustion and weakness in a servant’s life. If you have never used your mind to place yourself before God, begin to do it now. There is no reason to wait for God to come to you. You must turn your thoughts and your eyes away from the face of idols and look to Him and be saved (see Isaiah 45:22).

Your mind is the greatest gift God has given you and it ought to be devoted entirely to Him. You should seek to be “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:5). This will be one of the greatest assets of your faith when a time of trial comes, because then your faith and the Spirit of God will work together. When you have thoughts and ideas that are worthy of credit to God, learn to compare and associate them with all that happens in nature— the rising and the setting of the sun, the shining of the moon and the stars, and the changing of the seasons. You will begin to see that your thoughts are from God as well, and your mind will no longer be at the mercy of your impulsive thinking, but will always be used in service to God.

“We have sinned with our fathers…[and]…did not remember…” (Psalm 106:6-7). Then prod your memory and wake up immediately. Don’t say to yourself, “But God is not talking to me right now.” He ought to be. Remember whose you are and whom you serve. Encourage yourself to remember, and your affection for God will increase tenfold. Your mind will no longer be starved, but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.

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Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
Today we are reinforced with yesterday’s message: Think correctly, (like you think) and we will do well… have the peace that passes understanding, etc) But how to do that, is our question today. We’ve found that rigorously trying to force our minds to think your ways rather than our ways… seems to always prove futile… and discouraging. So the advice in Corinthians, to be bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:5) is correct, it just doesn’t seem to work by just willpower. At least that’s what we’ve found. Surrender, Connection, and Curiosity in a context of believing that all things work together for good because we love you:(Romans 8:28) and that you have good plans for us, for a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11) seems to have better results at actually bringing those thoughts into captivity rather than just knowing and repeating the scripture.

Walking in the peace that passes understanding requires more than knowing the scriptures and attending church… you’ll remember that the Pharisees did that better than anyone in their day… and I called them “whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones.” Thinking my way calls for a complete “paradigm shift” where you look at all of life, including the bumpy parts, through the lens of those scriptures you mentioned. Then, when “all things work together for good” is your life paradigm, your fallback position can be curiosity. Curious about how things will work for good… but confident that they will. It’s a better way to live. I highly recommend it.

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