be transformed by the renewing of your mind?

WOW - have you ever thought about that statement. Romans is full of those types of statements. (Romans is a book in the New Testament of the Holy Bible...just in case!!)

Be transformed - what does this really mean? Say a prayer of "salvation" and zap!! ALL IS GOOD!! after all we are saved by Grace are we not?? (that is a completely separate topic - look at the book of James! - another book in the NT!!)

What does it mean to be transformed...by the renewing of the mind? I was thinking about this today, and thinking about my situation and my life and wondering what this really means.

I see how incredibly important thoughts are. The Bible talks about holding your thoughts captive. Taking stock in your thought-life. What are you thinking about? Do you live in fear...are you paranoid? Do you think that God is on your side? Do you fear that bad things will happen? Are you in a constant state of battling negativity? What holds your thoughts?

If we ask ourselves the tough questions about our thought-life I think we start to understand why God says that we need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind!! Maybe I am the only one that struggles with my thought-life! Maybe I am the only one that thinks very bad things about people that cut me off on the 401. Maybe I am the only one that thinks inappropriate thoughts, maybe i am the only one that has temptations to not claim all my income...maybe I am the only one that says...no one will see me? Maybe I am the only one that says...I can ask for forgiveness!! Maybe I am the only one that thinks is it OK to think those bad thoughts about someone and linger there and draw it out and even think about how I could get revenge!! Yeah REVENGE!! There's a positive thought!! I travel a lot by myself...there is a thought battle!

I am far too human, and I know the struggle that goes on in the mind...so i totally relate to the book of Romans when it says be transformed by the renewing of the mind!!!!

Now before you beat yourself up...There was a reason I wanted to talk about this today. I had a thought that I believe came from the Lord...

Here it is: As far as the battle for the mind is concerned, I have been trying so hard to empty myself of SELF. Trying to rid myself of pride, selfish thoughts, selfish motivations...SELF! The more I battled and removed those things from my life, I have a very frustrating problem!! IT COMES BACK!!!! Here is an example of what it feels like. I am in the middle of a field with a bucket of water and it is pouring rain!! I keep emptying the bucket of water and then i keep coming back to it five minutes later and it is full again...I empty the bucket and it fills up again...i have never taken the bucket out of the rain...I can empty it, but unless I take the bucket OUT of the rain and fill it with something else...the water will always come back to the bucket...

SO - to completely transform my life...and renew my mind, I must stop focusing on the emptying process and start focusing on the FILLING PROCESS!!! FILL my life with God's word, fill my life and my day with prayer and conversation with God. Keep my mind "stayed" on THEE! Pray without ceasing...keep the communication lines open with God...Study the WORD...

Pretty soon, the bucket will be so full of other "stuff" that water will no longer be able to gather and will run away from the bucket!! Pretty soon, you will not have to try to empty the bucket from your SELF, but you will need a bigger bucket to contain all the goodness the LORD wants to supply for us...

I have known this for years...TODAY I feel that God has truly shown me this to be true in my own life! Thank you God for being so patient with me...

Talk to you soon,

Kevin

Be a Fan