Paul
N. F. (9 Feb 2007)
"Our Thoughts Reveal What
We Are Becoming"
Our Thoughts
Reveal What We Are Becoming
By A. W. Tozer
. . .If there be any virtue, and
if there be any praise,
think on these things.
- - Philippians 4:8
The Bible has a great deal to say
about our thoughts;
current evangelicalism has practically
nothing to say
about them. The reason the Bible
says so much is that
our thoughts are so vitally important
to us. The reason
evangelicalism says so little is
that we are overreacting
from the "thought" cults,
which would make our
thoughts to be very nearly everything
and we counter
by making them nothing. Both positions
are wrong.
Our voluntary thoughts not only reveal
what we
are, they predict what we will become.
The will can
become the servant of the thoughts,
and to a large
degree even our emotions follow our
thinking. Thinking
stirs feeling and feeling triggers
action. That is the
way we are made, and we may as well
accept it.
Thinking about God and holy things
creates a moral
climate favorable to the growth of
faith and love and
humility and reverence. We cannot
by our thinking
regenerate our hearts, nor take our
sins away, nor
change the leopard's spots. But we
can by Spirit-inspired
thinking help to make our minds pure
sanctuaries in
which God will be pleased to dwell.
The best way to control our thoughts
is to offer the
mind to God in complete surrender.
The Holy Spirit will
accept it and take control of it
immediately. Then it will
be relatively easy to think on spiritual
things, especially
if we train our thought by long periods
of daily prayer,
** even
talking to God inwardly as we work or travel.
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Yours in Christ,
Paul N. F
** For
more 'very good' information on this, go to an excellent web site below ---