As a man thinketh so is he.

[Chuck7]

Proverbs.23:7a. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.
This is so true. My wife and I just discussed this in lenghth. She has been doing great lately..much better than I . The difference, she is faithfully having an online Bible study. Her mind is being renewed thus she is fulfilling God's will in her life. I used to live by a sweet pentecostal lady. Always busy and alsways wearing a smile. I noticed her light was always on before mine was. I ask her what she was doing up so early.She said spending an hour with her Lord in Word and prayer. It was a life long habit for her. Many of us have good intentions but halfway through the day our strenghth wears out. Then I began thinking, what is so valaable to take the place of spending an hour with God before the day starts. What is in my thinking .Where do these selfish thoughts come from??? Truly all of our battles are either won or lost in the mind. Jesus said "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and ALL these things shall be added unto you." I am so ashamed of myself for putting anything ahead of God and His Word. Knowing that really ..only through Him can we overcome anything. His Word is what renews our thinking to comform us to His will and gives us the ability to overcome our selfish desires.
A few verses on the mind.

1.Luke12:29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
2. Romans 8 :7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
3.Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
4.Ephesians 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind
5.Hebrews 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
6.James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
7.Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
8.Hebrews 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
9. Phil.4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
10.Proverbs.4:20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
4:21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
4:22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

[Rebel Hog]

As a man thinketh so is he.

Tell me who you hang around with and I'll tell you who you are.

[Leafrivermac]

This is true Chuck, we really should give God our first fruits of the day, maybe sacrificing a little extra sleep to get up and spend time in scripture and prayer. Good post.

"If we had a bank that credited our account each morning with $86,400, that carried over no balance from day to day, and allowed us to keep no cash in our account, and every evening canceled whatever part of the amount we had failed to use during the day, what would we do? Draw out every cent, of course.
Well, we have such a bank, and its name is "Time." Every morning it credits us with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off, as lost, whatever of this we have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balances. It allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account with us. Each night it burns the records of the day. If we fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is ours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow. We must live in the present-on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!
Only one life
'Twill soon be past,
Only what is done for the Lord
Will last!"

[Chuck7]

Amen Leaf,
I am really seeing that the heart of man is evil and must be renewed daily. It's amazing all the other things I can think to do to replace time in God's Word. Well..today I read my wife's devotion {It's a through the Bible in a year deal} and I must say it helped so much I'm having Aaron read it daily as well. Truly..apart from God's Word I'm a royal mess. No arguement there. I'm expecting growth .God's Word will not return void.
C7

[m.t.hands]

so true, agreed reb, you are what you surround yourself with

A man is what he thinks about all day long.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Grasshopper13]

Leaf

That's one of the best analogies I've seen in a long time. Would you mind if I submitted it for inclusion in our weekly bulletin? It's a needed message for us.



GH

[Tazman]

This thread is overflowing with spiritual advise from all.

C7 Brother you are so right, we are what we think, we must strive to maintain our thoughts in a manner that if we are judged at that instant what is in our hearts/thoughts are what God would want us to have in our hearts.

Reb you are right and wrong at the same time when you say "Tell me who you hang around with and I'll tell you who you are.", you are right when you are hanging out with friends, your friends do refelct who you are, but wrong when it comes to hanging out with sinners, although they may not be friends they are part of the folks that we should hang/witness to even though they are not a reflection of us, just as the sinners Christ hung with were not a reflection of Christ. The sinners can not be saved if we do not hang/witness to them, the difference is we must as part of our witnessing stand out from them in our actions and heart.

Leaf.... Brother, you have truly been on a spiritual roll lately, the "$86,400" analogy is beyond excellent!

[Leafrivermac]

Thanks Taz, I have this really good website that G-Man turned me on to tho . . .it's called e-sword, and has a section with all these quotes from different folk.
Grasshopper feel free, . .it's not mine anyway. Do you do the bulliten for your church? My wife does the one for our church and the e-sword is a real aide in something like that. I think you can find it at www.esword.com , if not , and anyone wants it, I'll get the correct address for you.
God bless

PS . . .I wonder what happened to G-man? I really miss his posting.

[Tazman]

Good site leaf, thanks.