THE LIFE OF FAITH AND THE GLORIOUS CHURCH - 2009
FEBRUARY 26th
THE
IMPORTANCE OF CASTING "ALL" OF OUR CARE ON THE FATHER
...."Rejoice in the
Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your forbearing spirit be known to
all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And
the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever
is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy
of praise, let your mind dwell on these
things"....
Philippians 4:4-8 NASB
In a previous teaching
teaching we looked at the importance of casting ALL of our care on the Lord
,and not taking any anxious thoughts for anything that crosses our path. We
also looked at the fact that as we become dependent upon God for all things -
and as we continually seek Him first in all things - THEN He shall guard our
hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. In other words, it is God who will empower
us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, and it is God who will empower us to bring
every thought captive to His Word - if we will seek Him with all of our heart
and come to abide in the intimate fellowship with Him that He so desires of
each one of His children. This is a revelation that EVERY child of God must
have! For in attempting to do it themselves in their "own" strength -
and, thus, apart from a perfect obedience and consecration - they will most
certainly fail to guard their heart with "all" diligence.
"TAKE
HEED WHAT YOU HEAR"
Jesus said, "take
heed what you hear", or, take heed what you "listen to". We need
to be very sensitive to those things that we "allow" to influence and
infiltrate our minds and hearts. We need to guard our hearts with all diligence
through a continual exercising of our will towards the Word [Will] of God and,
as we step out in faith with the desire to do that, the Holy Spirit shall
SURELY guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. As far as "our
part" is concerned we need to make a deep and determined decision in our
heart to let our mind "dwell" only on those things that are of God.
When one first begins their walk with Christ, it seems difficult to keep their
eyes fixed on the things above, because in the past they have been so
"enmeshed" in the world and its ways. Everything they looked at and
heard: the news, the paper, the negative confession of all those they once
fellowshipped with before Christ "bombarded" their thought-life, and
caused them to find it very hard to keep their attention "fixed"
[focused] on the Word of God. But as one begins to keep their eyes fixed on
that Word, and as they begin to separate ourselves to a continually greater
degree from the "world" - literally "immersing"
[saturating] themselves in the Word of God they THEN came to that place wherein
every thought was - and continues to be - brought captive to a perfect
obedience and perfect conformity to the will of God at all times. Even in the
"evil" [unrighteousness] that is perceived [seen and experienced]
through one's five physical senses, they shall be "enabled to
discern" which portion of God's Word applies to the situation - and is
needed to rectify it. Through "believing" prayer we can indeed change
any situation that is not in accordance with the will of God, and this is that
Father's aim in the renewal of our minds: that we might be pure vessels of His
life and truth to a world encompassed with darkness and death - in order that
the captives might be set free and, thus, enter into the perfect liberty that
is available, in Christ.
Related
Scriptures: Proverbs 4:23; Hebrews 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Colossians
3:1-3; Joshua 1:8;
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