The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
“Stay Or Stray”
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusted in Thee” (Isaiah 26:3).
A “stayed” (leaned; rested) mind on God does not suggest a mind that will not be tempted otherwise.
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:5).
Regardless of how faithfully we walk with our Lord, temptation to think and believe in terms contrary to His truth will happen. Wayward thoughts will have to be brought “into captivity.” In fact, many challenges may confront us because we walk faithfully with Him. Worldly, devilish, and fleshly temptations abound for believers no less than they assailed the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. “We have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
What we do with these challenges in our thinking determines the quality and consistency of our response to God. How do we respond when we become aware of thoughts contrary to our Lord and His Word? Do we bring them captive? Or do we become captive by failing to see erroneous thinking as opportunity to remember, believe, and affirm the truth? Choices ever lie before us, choices we must see as opportunities to “think on these things,” that is, “whatsoever things are true… honest… just… pure… lovely… of good report… virtue… praise” (Philippians 4:8).
Regardless of how devotedly we pray, ponder the Scriptures, and seek to walk faithfully with God, wayward thoughts will confront our minds. What will we do with them? We cannot allow them to linger unchallenged. Nor do we simply attempt to not think them. No, we rather replace them. We take them captive and execute sentence upon their darkness by joining the Psalmist, “O Lord, I will walk in Thy truth” (Psalm 86:11). We remember and affirm whatever Scriptural truth counters the error. Thereby, we “stay” our minds amid great challenge to allow them to stray.
For example, consider temptations to fear. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee” (Psalm 56:3). The Psalmist determines to proactively respond to thoughts and emotions of fear by the chosen determination to think and believe in accordance with God and His Word. The temptation may and often does involve a walk in faith, that is, more than one step may be required as many challenges to our peace involve ongoing affirmations and determinations of “I will trust.” “The good fight of faith” is not easy, requiring believers to serve as “a good soldier of Jesus Christ” in conflicts that grant us much opportunity to wield "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (I Timothy 6:12; II Timothy 2:3; Ephesians 6:17). We greatly glorify God thereby as we walk in the triumph of the Lord Jesus, ever seeking to live from His victory by faith amid all confrontations of “What time I am afraid."
Believers in the Lord Jesus do not have to possess brilliance of mind in order to walk with God. We do require active minds, however, minds ever on guard against the falsehoods inevitably to be encountered in a fallen world. We respond by seeking to “walk in truth” (III John 1:4). When challenged by wayward thoughts, we stay our minds rather than allowing them to stray as we remember, replace, and fill our minds with the Scripture's thoughts of assurance, strength, and the peace of the Prince of peace. Stay or stray? Challenges to our thinking provide the opportunity to actively and assertively do what believers do by definition, namely, to believe in accordance with the light of God’s Word and leading of the Holy Spirit as we “think on these things."
“In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul.”
(Psalm 94:19)
Weekly Memory Verse
Great is our Lord, and of great power. His understanding is infinite.
(Psalm 147:5)
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