“Where your heart is so goes your mind!” Sara
I have this thought in my mind often. I think my Mother was a hammer on such things. So I thought I would test and see if it be true.
Test Questions:
One:
When I am not very busy and have time to recognize my thoughts what are they?
a) another person(s), family, friends, enemies
b) food, what to eat and where
c) shopping, surfing the shops on internet
d) wisdom on life
e) other
Two:
a) how many positive thoughts have I had today?
b) How many negative thoughts have I had today?
c) Did I do anything about my thoughts?
Three:
How does one change their heart?
___________________________
Four:
How does one free their mind?
___________________________
Five:
I am what my mind says I am?
What causes my Heart to leap?
___________________________
thedailylily.com 
Well, I guess I better get busy, taking my exam this morning!?!?!?!?!?!
Sara, you have me busy trying to find answers to these tough questions. Read with me Romans 8:5 – 8 “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature THINK about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit THINK about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your MIND leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your MIND leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.” Now for the footnotes for verses 5 – 6: “Paul divides people into two categories: those who are dominated by their sinful nature, and those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit. All of us would be in the first category if Jesus hadn’t offered us a way out. Once we have said yes to Jesus, we will want to continue following him, because his way brings life and peace. DAILY we must CONSCIOUSLY CHOOSE to center our life on God. Use the Bible to discover God’s guidelines, and then follow them. In every perplexing situation, ask yuourself, what would Jesus want me to do? When the Holy Spirit points out what is right, do it eagerly. For more on our sinful nature versus our new life in Christ, see 6:6-8; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:3-15.”
After reading this, I am wondering, Sara…..does it all start with the mind and our thinking????
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”—Ezekiel 36:26.
Oh, thank you Sara, read the footnotes with me from Ezekiel 36: 25-27 “God promised to restore Israel not only physically but spiritually. To accomplish this, God would give them a new heart for following him and put his Spirit within them to transform them and empower them to do his will. Again the new covenant was promised, ultimately to be fulfilled in Christ. No matter how impure your life is right now. God offers you a fresh start. You can have your sins washed away, receive a new heart for God, and have his Spirit within you–if you accept God’s promise. Why try to patch up your old life when you can have a new one?”
To answer some of these challenging questions TRUTHFULLY…I must admit when I have a break between classes….my mind does veer toward FOOD. Although not always but…enough to make me look at that.
Positive thoughts? Many. For when mean thoughts try to take over my mind I use that ROCK of a Scripture…”Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowedge of God and what He has revealed to me …and bringing into captivity, every thought to the OBEDIENCE of CHRIST. (2Cor 10:5) That Scripture, prayed in earnest, is a one of my greatest weapons against the onslaught of the enemy with his thoughts of rejection, retaliation, vengeance, reciprocation, foolish reveries, and every other thought that the devil throws my way.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free and when we contemplate that we are free, not under bondage, no longer enslaved to sin and when we meditate and think about that, we start to free our minds from closed-box thinking, narrow mindedness, being over-scrupulous, (if there is such a hyphenated term) and veiled eyes of the soul.
What causes my heart to leap is when I contemplate the REALITY of HEAVEN and that it is where I will spend the rest of eternity; when I read about people who have been taken to heaven by the Lord on a mission and seen His glory and been sent back to tell it to God’s people; when I read in the WORD of God the promises all laid out for us if we would just grasp it….then my heart soars and leaps….and like Sara’s song says…
“makes my heart to bud” (c) GLORY OF THE KING
How does one change their heart?
Change your treasure.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12:34
My homework assignment last night was: Q&A I am in 5th grade.
Q. Why do you have to be so careful what you think about?
A. Because you become what you think
Proverbs 4:23-27
Matthew 12:34.35
Noah, I love your new school! And, I love you! Thanks for answering my questions. You are a great help to me.
Proverbs: NIV 23″ Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life. 24 Put away perversity from your mouth;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
fix your gaze directly before you. 26 Make level [a] paths for your feet
and take only ways that are firm. 27 Do not swerve to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.”
Matthew NIV 34 “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Noah, Thanks for the scriptures that confirm that we better watch our hearts closely!
Money and Possessions always predicts our heart health! ie according to Debi’s scripture in Luke 12:34…
Luke 12: 34 CEV “Your heart will always be where your treasure is.”
GREAT JOB DEBI!
I have more scriptures and footnotes to share, on this blog. Read with me: Colossians 3: 1-4 “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.” Now listen to the footnotes for verses 1 and 2 “Setting our sights on the realities of heaven means striving to put heaven’s priorities into daily practice. Letting heaven fill our thoughts means concentrating on the eternal rather than the temporal. See Philippians 4:7 and Colossians 3:15 for more on Christ’s rule in our hearts and minds.”
Noah….you are a ‘Jesus genius”. You got the answer from the Holy Spirit, sounds like!! I hope you share some more of your …”out of the mouths of children, God has ordained wisdom and praise “
Debi, I love that…”.change your treasure” quote from your comments.
If we treasure the good, the pure, the holy, the right, the moral, the truth, the fair and the healing…..then our hearts will be there, and ….out of the abundance of our hearts of truth and righteousness… our mouths will speak forth. When our feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel then as we JOURNEY in our sandals we will speak forth the treasures in our hearts….peace, love, joy, truth, JESUS. Thus we will expand and extend the Kingdom before Jesus comes for us.
From Needles comments above,“Setting our sights on the realities of heaven means striving to put heaven’s priorities into daily practice. Letting heaven fill our thoughts means concentrating on the eternal rather than the temporal.” Now this is a chip of wisdom for us.
I have been thinking about the news reports of the sorrow some of our American Soldiers are suffering upon returning home. Loss of direction and much metal agony. If we could offer them this gift, ‘think about the things of heaven and concentrate on the eternal rather than the temporal maybe mental pain of horrid memories would vanish.’ I pray for God’s Word of Hope offering eternal life, peace and health to be available wherever the need may be.
Also from Needles comments:”…Letting heaven fill our thoughts means concentrating on the eternal rather than the temporal.”
If our heart is longing to reach and live in our heavenly home and help others to do so also while on this earth, than our minds can have direction and purpose. We are here such a short time on earth as Hebrews 11:13-16 reminds us.
“And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. “