What's in your wallet?

We all have seen the Capital One card commercial that says “What’s in your wallet?” I especially remember the commercial when the Vikings a storming upon this poor guy when at the last minute he pulls his Capital One card out of his wallet and the rushing attackers just go away. Well wouldn’t that be great if that were true spiritually. That when the forces of hell come charging at us with all types of temptations we can simply pull out our spiritual one card and they all go away. Boy I sure wish I could at times don't you? Well unfortunately we can't and that’s why we need to ask the question not “what’s in your wallet?” but rather “what’s in your mind?” Because the thoughtlife is one of the great battlefields of the Christian life. Satan knows that if he can win this battle, he will most likely win the war in our life

Several years ago fifteen college professors concluded after their study on the brain that: what the mind attends to, it considers; what the mind does not attend to, it dismisses; what the mind attends to continually, it believes; and what the mind believes, it eventually does. Simply put, whatever we think about is what we become and do. This is why Solomon said in Prov 23:7 “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” And as another anonymous author wrote:

Sow a thought,

Reap an act,

Sow an act,

Reap a habit,

Sow a habit,

Reap a character,

Sow a character,

Reap a destiny.

Whatever we dwell on in our minds will eventually be displayed in our life. Attitudes becomes actions. There is nothing any of us has ever done that the decision was not first made in our minds. What we do in life is the sum total of our thoughts. That is why the Apostle Paul address this subject in Philippians 4:8-9. Paul knew the importance of the mind, the importance of our thinking in regards to having the right perspective in life, living and acting right.

Connected to God

A word that I got today from God is that sometimes we connect with God, we get the experience and we think that is enough. Enough to get by our day, we think that it is enough because we encountered God. It's good but its more than the encounter we get in the room, it goes beyond the church, the connection we get in the room/church. Its turning the connection we get from an experience to a relationship. If we go to God just for the connection to make us feel good then we are using God for an unworthy purpose.
The fruit of the encounter should cause us to love Jesus more, not a life of discipline going 'oh I must love God more, I have to pray, I must read my bible' but rather these disciplines are the result of the heart being set on fire from God. You see when someone loves you, our response is to love them back.  A one way love is not a relationship at all but it takes two party loving, connecting and communicating with one another.

I just want to encourage you to turn your experience to a relationship. Loving Jesus, Loving people more. Being set apart for Him and eat the goodness He has for you from the word

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. " John 15:5-6