Sound Mind Set

(Psalm 16:1-3, 5-8 NIV)Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.” … Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (Psalm 16:1-3, 5-8 NIV)“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.”King David is counting his blessings and includes the fact that he likes where God has placed the boundaries in his life. Boundaries that both bless and protect him. Part of his spiritual inheritance from God includes proper boundaries.So, that tells us where our boundaries must also come from … not from pain or revenge or walls around our heart … but from God who knows us and has our best interest in mind at all times.Choosing to try and protect ourselves on our own terms usually ends up with an emotional wall that just creates more hurt. But when we allow God to lead us, He can provide a way to create a healthy boundary that blesses and protects, just like David referred to.So, to love in the biblical sense, do you need to tear down a wall and trade it for a boundary? Or maybe there’s been nothing in place for you, and you realize a boundary needs to be installed for your health.Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, I know that walls of protection too often become homemade prison cells. Teach me to create boundaries. Show me how to love the way You love. For myself. For my kids. For those who have hurt me and those who help me. As above, so below.”

You’d be hard-pressed to go to a Christian wedding and not hear some part of 1 Corinthians chapter 13 read, also known as The Love Chapter. But today, let’s look at how Paul defined biblical love in verses 4-7 as we think about being proactive in love to battle hate. 1 Corinthians 13 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud, or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. I tend to read or hear this passage and think about how I fall short in loving, based on the definition we are given here. Do you feel that way? Why might we hear these words through a negative filter? Because even with those closest to us, and when we work really hard to be good at love, we still have a selfish sin nature. Can you think of a situation that you are aware of your conditional, maybe self-serving love towards another person? So, how can we possibly love anyone like this passage talks about? Listen again to this same passage, but I’m going to change out one word throughout. That will give us the only possible way to love as we are taught here. Listen with your heart … Jesus is patient and kind. Jesus is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Jesus does not demand his own way. He is not irritable, and He keeps no record of being wronged. Jesus does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Jesus never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Isn’t that incredible? Jesus can be interchanged with the word “love” because He is love and the embodiment of God’s love. So, the closer we get to Jesus, the closer we get to love. The more we follow Jesus, the more we walk in the ways of love.

Matthew 5:43-48 MSG - Jesus' Words “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. “In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” I ask you what has become a familiar question from me to you in this podcast: What words stood out to you? Say it back to yourself. Then ask why? We don’t really like the world-turned-upside-down verses like “Love your enemy,” do we? When someone gives you a hard time, pray for them? Really? These are tough and challenging words, but then it’s also the very reason we are drawn to Jesus, right? With this in mind listen again to part of the passage “… I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best … to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. … “In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” Can you think of someone in your life, or maybe even someone you don’t know… but you know of, that you strongly dislike or perhaps even hate? Can you pray for them right now? Prayer changes things… more than changing others and circumstances…it changes us. Let’s take a few moments and pray for those we don’t like but God says He loves. Pray that they would encounter God and His love the way you have. What in Jesus’ teaching do you need to “grow up” in, as verse 48 stated? Where have you been rationalizing hate and you have to trade it in for some of God’s love? I love the last line … “live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, help me to love my friends more and turn any hatred I have to love and pray like You said. I know you know that’s hard but if anyone can help me get to that place, it’s You, right? Teach me to live generously and graciously. As above, so below.”

We know from history that humans have gone through constant change. When one part of the world is at peace, another is in chaos. Economies rise and fall. Civilizations rise and fall. Life and death are constantly occurring. But the reality is that any season won’t last for long. Things change. Life cycles. King Solomon gave us one of the most prolific and poetic texts for this concept in Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1-8. For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die.  A time to plant and a time to harvest.  A time to kill and a time to heal.  A time to tear down and a time to build up.  A time to cry and a time to laugh.  A time to grieve and a time to dance.  A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.  A time to embrace and a time to turn away.  A time to search and a time to quit searching.  A time to keep and a time to throw away.  A time to tear and a time to mend.  A time to be quiet and a time to speak.  A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. Ask yourself 2 questions. Where do hear your own life, what time are you in right now? Where did you hear our culture, where might we be right now? Regardless of what time, or season you are in, or our culture is in, one truth remains, the other side of the coin, the other “time” will come back around soon enough. Interestingly, all of these ‘times’ I just read are choices we make. Deliberate mindsets, or as the scripture calls it, ‘activities’ that we choose.  Is there a mindset that you need to reaffirm today? Or maybe readjust? Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, You created the seasons and the times of our lives. Help me to know what time you want it to be for me in every season. But help me to constantly make the current season a time to gather, embrace, mend, and love. As above, so below.”

Psalm 97:9 You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.(NLT) So what does God hate and tell us to hate? … He says if you love Him then you will hate evil. So is evil a person? … No. Evil is the outcome of disobedience. Disobedience to God is sin, which creates evil. So, we are to hate disobedience to God and its results. Can you picture an outcome of your disobedience to God?  While there most certainly is grace for our disobedience, can you attach a sense of hatred for the outcome of that disobedience you have encountered? We are not to hate ourselves for the disobedience, but the forces that oppose God inside our own hearts and in the world today. So, what good does it do to hate that evil? The answer is a response of avoidance, of abstinence … of evil. Today, I’m going to provide some current context to hating evil by reading Ephesians 6:1…  Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Who are we not fighting? Flesh and blood. Each other. We may do evil things out of disobedience, but we are not evil.  Evil exists, evil is the destruction that comes from sin. We have an enemy, God has an enemy, Satan and his spirits. A force that exists in this fallen world that leads us to disobedience which leads to our destruction. So, how do we guard ourselves from this destruction? By hating the destruction the enemy wants for us and by putting on the full armor of God. We cannot fight an unseen power with our own ‘seen’ efforts. God’s Power, His spirit enables us to resist the enemy.  Psalm 97:9-11 … You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.  Love God. Hate Evil. Really feel the hate that disobedience to God’s ways brings to your life. Claim God’s power as your own to protect again the evil our enemy has planned for us. Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, forgive me when I show love for evil by cooperating with it. But help me to hate that which opposes You, even the sin in me. Teach me to love You more, and help me to show love that can conquer hate. As above, so below.”

In John 17, Jesus’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, we find God’s answer to redeem the Garden of Eden. John 17 - Starting vs. 13 - THE MESSAGE “I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing  So my people can experience  My joy completed in them.  I gave them your word;  The godless world hated them because of it,  Because they didn’t join the world’s ways,  Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.  I’m not asking that you take them out of the world  But that you guard them from the Evil One.  They are no more defined by the world  Than I am defined by the world.  Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;  Your word is consecrating truth.  In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,  I give them a mission in the world.  I’m consecrating myself for their sakes  So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission. I’m praying not only for them  But also for those who will believe in me  Because of them and their witness about me.  The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—  Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,  So they might be one heart and mind with us.  Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.  The same glory you gave me, I gave them,  So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—  I in them and you in me.  Then they’ll be mature in this oneness,  And give the godless world evidence  That you’ve sent me and loved them  In the same way you’ve loved me. (John 17:13-23) Jesus recognized the hate in the world that is opposite His heart for the world. But He also said while we do not belong here, He leaves us here. Why? To reflect His love in the same world that hates His ways. That simplifies and hones our mission on earth. We are here to be His love to others, even in the midst of hate.   Jesus was praying specifically for his disciples initially here, who are physically with him, then he looks beyond the present to the future - to you and me.  Listen again to what He prays specifically for you -  I’m praying not only for them (his disciples)  But also for those who will believe in me (that’s you)  Because of them and their witness about me.  The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—  Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,  So they might be one heart and mind with us.  Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.  The same glory you gave me, I gave them,  So they’ll be as unified and together as we are…  And give the godless world evidence  That you’ve sent me and loved them  In the same way you’ve loved me. Can you ask Jesus right now to unify your heart for the world with His? To be evidence of His love for others - not your love - But becoming His love for others - the world. Who is one person that comes to mind that you need to extend God’s love, beyond your love, to today?  Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, You are love and You also know what it feels like to be hated, to the point of death. You were hated centuries ago and You are hated today. Help me to be an expression of Your love, not mine, and to be an answer for the hate in this world. Teach me to love like You. As above, so below.”

Today, we live in a world that has lost the true biblical concept of grace and forgiveness. We turn on the news to hear another horrible stat and see that evil somehow seemed to win again. Yet, many passages in the New Testament encourage us that, no matter how bad anyone else gets, how bad the culture gets, we must keep steady in our faith and follow God even if that means walking against the grain and walking alone. Listen to 2 Peter 3:17-18: My dear friends, you have been warned ahead of time! So don’t let the errors of evil people lead you down the wrong path and make you lose your balance. Let the wonderful kindness and the understanding that come from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ help you to keep on growing. Praise Jesus now and forever! Amen. Scripture warns us that we have to stay away from evil to keep our balance and stay on the right path. How? By growing in the wonderful kindness and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What is one area of your life that you tend to follow the ‘path’ of the world? We all struggle with this. What would it look like to apply these principles of 'kindness and understanding' to that situation or area of your life? Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, one thing about the world getting worse is that the disparity between good and evil, right and wrong, You and Satan, are quite clear. Help me every day to stay away from evil by staying close to You. With You, in You, I have nothing to fear and everything to gain. As above, so below.”

Deuteronomy 32:46-47: “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are to possess.” In our quote-unquote Christian culture, it is so easy for us to hear Bible verses and treat them like “idle words,” isn’t it? But what did God call His laws, His precepts, His principles? … They are your life. Literally, “Words to live by”. With this in mind listen again to the passage, this time from The Message “Take to heart all these words to which I give witness today and urgently command your children to put them into practice, every single word of this Revelation. Yes. This is no small matter for you; it’s your life. In keeping this word you’ll have a good and long life in this land … think for a moment what having a good and long life in this land means to you.  The scripture tells us the living by His word is no small matter, it’s literally your life. Is there an area of life right now that you know you are not living according to God‘s laws? Instead of just beating yourself up and heaping more shame and guilt on yourself, can you reframe it and see that God‘s commands and God‘s laws are for your benefit. This is not just trying to control behavior… it’s like looking at scripture as an instruction or user guide for our life. Now, how can we pass that critical principle down to our kids? Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, I know I am the pathway of Your Word and Your life to my kids. Help me find ways to express You to them and make Your Word a part of our everyday life. For You to be the head of my home. As above, so below.”

Isaiah 55 verses 10 thru 12: “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace.” Lets think through this Who sends out God’s Word? … He does. What does it do when He sends it out? … Produces fruit. When will it produce fruit when He sends it out? … Always. … Not sometimes, but always. So, how do we receive His Word? Reading, listening to, ruminating on Scripture. Just as we are doing right now. With this in mind listen again to the passage, this time from The Message “Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them. So you’ll go out in joy, you’ll be led into a whole and complete life.” This passage is not a metaphor. It literally means that when we take in God’s Word, it will do a work in our lives. Our part is simply to obey and allow the Word to do the work God intended. That is why you can read a verse a hundred times over many years and get something different out of it almost every time. As we take a few more deep breathes think about this promise to you from the scripture So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do… So you’ll go out in joy, you’ll be led into a whole and complete life.” Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, I invite Your Spirit to interpret to me what You want to say and do every time I hear any Scripture. Complete Your assignment in me. As above, so below.”

Psalm 1 from the Message Bible How well God must like you—  you don’t walk in the ruts of those blind-as-bats,  you don’t stand with the good-for-nothings,  you don’t take your seat among the know-it-alls. Instead you thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month,  Never dropping a leaf, always in blossom. You’re not at all like the wicked, who are mere windblown dust—  Without defense in court, unfit company for innocent people. God charts the road you take. David tells us how much God loves obedience as he contrasts those who follow God versus those who don’t. But verse 2 talks about the concept of rumination on God’s Word, which is exactly what Sound Mind Set is all about. “Instead you thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night.” The way we find truth and find balance in this life is by repeating, thinking on, considering, and ruminating on His Word, allowing it to have a 24/7 impact on us. As you have been listening to the passages of the Bible I read each day, do you find yourself thinking on, even repeating back parts of a verse to yourself later in the day or when a difficult circumstance arises? Almost like a song can get stuck in your head that you find yourself singing later? That, my friend, is rumination. And God loves it and can work in your life to bring balance in your heart and your home when that happens. As you think/ruminate about a phrase that stood out to you from the scripture Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, I want Your Word to go deep into my spirit to speak to me and make a difference. Bring the verses You want me to live by back to my mind as I go through my days and my nights. As above, so below.” If this has been helpful, will you help us in spreading the word by sharing this on your social media. You can do that where you see the three dots below or above the podcast cover on your podcast platform. Share to Facebook and encourage friends to join us each day for a few minutes; to get still and know God more because Scripture promises that He meets us in the stillness.