The Greek word for repentance means “ππ ππππππ πππ πππ πππ πππππ.” Repentance is a lifestyle, not an event. We are not done repenting until we have glistening hope in the area we are repenting about.
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this manβs treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. βWhy art thou cast down, O my soul?β he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, βSelf, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.β
The…duty rests on you, not to take up with mere surface reading. You must have your whole mind in it. For what use were your minds given but for this ? Be sure there is depth enough for the deepest mind. Go, then, and ask the Spirit to enlighten you fully. Do not be content with mere babe’s meat, but with meat for strong men, as the Lord grant..
Let the mind of the Master be the Master of your mind.
Just as the winds whip up the sea, so does anger stir confusion in the mind.
Peace, when “ruling” the heart and “ruling” the mind, opens in both every avenue of joy.
Some people say “Are you out of your mind?” as if that’s a bad thing. I beg to differ. I would love to stop living the majority of my life in my mind and would rather live my life in my heart.
We must not worship without study, for ignorant worship is of limited value and can be very dangerous. We may develop “a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom. 10:2) and do great harm to ourselves and others. But worship must be added to study to complete the renewal of our mind through a willing absorption in the radiant person who is worthy of all praise. Study without worship is also dangerous, and the people of Jesus constantly suffer from its effects, especially in academic settings. To handle the things of God without worship is always to falsify them.
There is a battle going on for the minds of people. We do need to be alert to the devil’s schemes and subtle teachings that masquerade as truth in our society. But the way to resist such mental error is not with emotional diatribes. Instead there needs to be a clear understanding of the Bible’s teaching about demonicpeace. From full assurance at His right hand, as we rest in His victory, let us rule in the midst of our enemies.