Behind
every word or action of life lies a thought, the mental process preceding all
human activities. It is here in the deep regions of what God’s word calls the
“Heart” and the world calls the “Mind” that a battle for control rages: To
control one’s thoughts is to control one’s life. This spiritual warfare is often
subtle, often painful, and always deadly, for something must die.
Saints,
we are not some squalid run down thought-hostel accepting the riff-raff thoughts
of this world, at least we shouldn’t be. Our heavenly Father is in residence; our
body is His temple... His Holy of Holies. God said it... and it is true. (1
Cor. 3:16-17, 6:19-20) We must allow this reality to change us. Jesus, in referring
to the ruler of this world, said, “he
has nothing in Me” (Jn. 14:30): he has no claim on
me; there is nothing in me that belongs to him so he has no power over me. Satan
had no place of access to put his thoughts into our Savior’s mind. What Jesus
was saying is “he (satan) has no thoughts in me.” The Apostle
Paul spoke of this when he said “Nor give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:27):
Leave no room... dwelling place, or
foothold for the devil -- give no opportunity to him. What Paul was saying is
“Do not give satan a dwelling place... access point, to induce thoughts into
your heart.” Let us be diligent to remember that our bodies belong to the Lord
-- purchased by His Son and inhabited by His Spirit. We are just property
managers of God, charged with keeping His temple clean, free from thoughts that would pollute
and be offensive to Him. (2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Jn. 3:3)
The
enemy’s most effective thought-tool is desire, the most powerful and compelling
of thoughts. Jesus warned of the saint’s desire for pleasure and the “other
things” of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and our concern...
preoccupation, with this life. (Sower Parables) To where... or to what, we set
our desire will determine our fate in this life and in the next life to come.
Jesus called our earthly desires thorns that surround and choke... suffocate,
His life giving Word. We need to stay out of the thorn bushes of misplaced
desires if we want to avoid getting pricked to death.
The
“pure in heart” are blessed with “clean hands”, for action follows thoughts:
They shall “ascend the mountain of God ... stand in His holy place ... for they
shall see God.” (Matt. 5: 8; Ps. 24:3-4) The pure in heart understand a
stronghold at its core is just a fortress of thoughts, a fortification of
misplaced desires Self does not want to give up: They have rooted out and
pulled down every last renegade stronghold, “casting down arguments and every
high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:3-5) The pure in heart have set their heart on
things above, not on the things of earth-life, for they have died and their
life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col. 3:2-3) The pure in heart have trained
their heart to meditate on true, noble, just, pure, lovely, good, virtuous,
praiseworthy thoughts, allowing the peace of God to mount guard over their
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:7-9).
The
pure in heart are submitted to the Lordship of Jesus and committed to the death
of Self, for they know they are in a war. An unleashed mind, with thoughts
flying in free-association like a ping pong ball, is the beachhead of the
enemy's assault. Victory comes through jerking the lease, bringing every
thought into subjection to Christ – obedience to His will, words, and ways --
until discipline creates a spiritual habit. Daydreaming is not good dreaming
unless it is God dreaming. Controlling that space between our ears, heeding and
heeling to the Holy Spirit, is essential to a renewed mind. And without a
renewed mind... well, we would be better off with no mind at all...
SO IS
HE... “
(Prov. 23:7)
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