Proverbs 23:7
As he thinketh in his heart, so is he; Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
As a man thinketh in his heart…
The word thinketh, means (Strong’s)
1) It’s a primitive root
2) meaning to split or open
3) i.e literally but only as denominative
4) to act as a gate-keeper – this what struck me- wow
5) figuratively – to estimate: – think
I’ve been meditating for awhile on the mind and how powerful a tool it can be or how very deadly it can be.
We often make quick decisions based on visuals or pre-conceived ideas and usually once our mind is made up, rarely can it be changed.
Some interesting facts about the mind:
Our brain weighs generally about 3 pounds (depending on how intelligent you are…lol, just kidding)
Our skin weighs twice as much as your brain. (To bad that can’t be marketed as a weight loss tool) (Skin reduction…..lol)
The very first sense you develop in the womb is “touch”
100,000 miles of blood vessels make up your brain
100,000,000,000 neurons consist in your brain and each one fires anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 times per second, produces 10-23 watts of power.
If you were to harness that energy you could power a light bulb all day long.
My daughter says; this is where the light bulb going on over someones head comes from when they have a idea.
She’s probably right! Makes sense
There are tons of things our brains are capable of, it’s too many to list and too many to expound upon.
So I will boil it down to this one fact about our brain;
The average number of thoughts that humans are believed to experience every day is 70,000.
70,000 thoughts race through our brain throughout our day multiple that by days and you get 25,550,000 thoughts a year average that by 70 years and you get 1,788,500,000 thoughts in a lifetime.
The point I’m making is that we have so many thoughts run through our brain you have to question what is the deciding factor that makes our minds up on a given thought?
Culture- maybe…
Media – possible…
Social Interaction – likely…
Reading – good possibility if you read…
Personally speaking, I think our made up mind comes from influences that affect us on personal levels.
Whether personally as in financial, physical or mental, spiritually or futuristic.
We make up our minds based on sensory feelings and “me” related emotions.
What would cause people to give up houses and lands and family to cross plains and deserts, oceans or mountains?
What would cause people to shake nations and cultures with their ideas on politics and spirituality?
The power of a thought is so profound that even scientist can’t explain it’s depth nor it’s impact on society.
You see books on the power of a positive mind, overcoming the mind etc., etc.
Yet, as a whole our society and the world around us have no more power to tame the thought process than did any of our predecessors.
Stay with me here I’m not trying to lose you, nor is this another post about positive mind control and controlling our thoughts.
As he thinketh in his heart so is he…
So what am I?
If I were to take one thought as a definition of who I am what would it be?
We live our lives for the most part in a vacuum.
If it does not effect or affect us personally, we are content to quibble about it with nothing more than empty words that have no positive impact on our lives or those around us.
Therefore nothing changes.
As he thinketh in his heart so is he?
Dare I be so bold as to say that we think very highly of ourselves and the proof is in the way we live our lives?
As we drive, as we eat, as we as play, God forbid as we worship Him?
Our lives revolve around the thought that we are more than what we really are!
I’m meddling I know, but if it makes you think, if it makes you change Praise God!
You would say I’m not thinking I’m more than what I am?
Let me ask you some questions then?
Who do you spend the most time with?
Do you sacrifice any of your time for God in pursuit of Him equally or greater than you do with your family or your church (spending time with God and going to church are not the same)?
Who do you spend the most money on? (Before you say your family, your kids, your spouse, yikes your tithes or offerings)
What kind of car do you drive personally?
What kind of house do you live in?
Where do you shop?
You will say but God blessed me with these.
I would ask you to think carefully about that, did He? or was that something you desired and you went and got it?
What about the family in your church that has nothing?
What about the man on the streets without anything to eat?
What about the little elderly lady who can’t pay her light bill?
What about the elderly man who can no longer mow his yard?
Do you give?
Does the amount of money you spend on your personal life equal or surpass what you give to others?
As he thinketh in his heart so is he?
That was mostly financial.
Let’s talk about what we think about ourselves?
Do you glorify your appearance?
Do you glorify your talents?
Do you glorify your ability?
Whether you think your greatest thing since sliced bread or whether you despise yourself, you are glorifying yourself. This is idolatry… ouch… (we are all guilty)
Jesus came ugly and insignificant because HE wants your heart to love Him not because He was pleasing to the eyes.
As he thinketh in his heart so is he?
I’m issuing you a challenge today that you examine your thoughts carefully and considerately.
The scripture say that We are to cast down imaginations, and all high things that exalt against God, watch this… bringing into captivity every thought.
2 Cor. 10:5
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;
Reading that it requires action on our part that is not easy nor necessarily fun.
The power in a made up mind that is focused on Christ and His love for humanity is what will shake nations.
James 1:8
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Meaning that you cannot serve yourself and God at the same time!
If life is about God and we know that it is, then make up your mind that you will live accordingly.
We have somehow lost our way in society and in the church.
We feel God created us to have rights and purpose and meaning.
When Christ clearly told us all, that He came not to do His will but the will of the Father.
Likewise, we were instructed to follow His example.
Sadly we rarely do this.
The consequences are; hell is enlarging her borders by the second while people die without knowing who He really is and why He really came!
As he thinketh in his heart so is he?
Matthew 5:16
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
In my bible this is in red meaning these came from the mouth of the one we claim to follow.
As he thinketh in his heart so is he…
I think we have come to a crossroads, a dividing if you will.
Not surprisingly it was told it would come.
We are seeing the great falling away of the “church”
We are teaching a Christ of diversity and embracing cultures even to the point of denying His words, all in His name.
We gloss over the stuff we don’t want to think about that makes us uncomfortable and we accept the idea that God is love and therefore He expects no sacrifice of our will, our thought, our rights?
Can you imagine if we were to take even half of those 70,000 thoughts a day and focus on Him and what he wills, the impact it would have on our lives and the world around us?
If we were to make up our mind, unbending, unmoving that we were going to set aside our “self assumed rights to be what we want, have what we want and do what we want. Can you fathom the implications that would have?
If we were to actually pattern our lives like Christ, making up our mind that our sole purpose on the earth is to do the will of the Father, can you imagine the impact it would have?
So I have come to this conclusion after many days of prayer and thinking this blog out, writing here and there, that there are only really 2 distinct thoughts we have.
All the rest fall in subcategories under them
1) It’s all about me
my personal gratification
my family
my career/job
my retirement
my health
my wealth
my food
my spirituality
etc…….
2) It’s all about God
What does He want
What does He require
What is His will
What purpose do I have in Him
These are all things we say we believe but rarely do you find someone bold enough or brave enough or humble enough to say “Here I am Lord send me”
Rarely if ever will we work for God without some sort of validation and we pout if we don’t get it!
For love Christ gave Himself for me. He didn’t need approval or validation HE is the Lord of Glory, Creator of all things.He laid that down on purpose.
His purpose on the earth was not “me focused” His purpose was obeying His Father.
So as I close I urge you to examine your thoughts and see if you are double minded in any way.
The power of a made up mind can either bless or curse.
You cannot serve yourself and God, you must choose.
I would add that when you choose to focus singulary on Him all those “me” things He meets and provides. It’s part of being in His kingdom.
Make up your mind to serve God, there is where your strength is, your power is.
With your mind up I want to qoute that verse again because the revelation is not what my mind makes up but what my heart does…
Proverbs 23:7
As he thinketh in his heart, so is he; Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
If you meditate on this you can see God in it. We eat and we drink with Him but our heart is not with Him.
See the bottom line of all things is a heart issue, therefore it is a love issue.
Who do you love the most? God or yourself!
When you decide in your heart your mind will follow suit!
I will end with this one verse of scripture and I hope that you have had your heart stirred and that a flame of purpose has begun.
2Cor. 4:7
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us
God Bless!
I’m hid with Christ!
Shawn
Searching Gods Heart 