Set Up for Success - Set Your Mind on God
It is hard to live the Christian life with you mind divided between
two allegiances.
As a Faithshaper you have already been asked to clear out all obstacles
between you and God. This can be a sin that you think God does know about or some other love that occupies a place in your
heart where God should be.
Remember this acronym J.O.Y
Jesus first
Others Second
Yourself last
We are to put Jesus first because that in turn will set up all the
rest of our relationship with others as well as the way we view our place in this world. So the first thing you need
to do is focus your heart and mind on Jesus.
Set Up for Success - Set up your quiet place
Part of learning about God and Jesus is reading the Bible.
If you don’t know what God expects of you how can you ever think you be successful at serving Him? Faithshapers
is not meant to be a Bible study in and of itself but a program that gives you the basic of what you need to be doing as a
Christian.
After you have prayed and eliminated all distractions that cloud
your relationship with God set up your quiet place. This is somewhere you can go to read God’s Word, pray or just
be alone to listen for the quiet still voice of God. Some people choose a closet, an extra bedroom, some place outdoors.
It doesn’t matter where it is just that it is free from any distractions. Even jesus himself went out into the
desert, up on a mountain and other places just to find a place to pray to and listen for God
Set Up for Success – See yourself for who you are
Now that you have your quiet place the next thing you will need
to decide is your commitment level. What this means is so far in your life how much time have you committed to the Lord.
An example of this would be how much time do you actually spend reading your Bible each day: half hour, hour, maybe not at
all? The time is now to set aside some time each day to go to your quiet place and read.
At first it might seem like a monumental task, but the more you
do it the easier it will become. There are no excuses for not reading God’s word. I know you are probably going
to say I don’t have anytime to do this. Look at my schedule I have to run the kids here, I have to be at church at 7
PM and the list goes on and on. My only answer you can always make time. If you watch tv cut out one show,
get up in the earlier in the morning. If you look you will find time.
Set Up for Success - Set Your Mind on God
Where is your mind at this very moment
in time?
Is it actively seeking after God or
is it distracted by all that goes on around you?
I think where your heart is there you
mind will be also. Read Jeremiah 17:9, though this verse is about the heart,
see if you can figure out why you mind is involved.
Everything we do starts in out minds. All actions started out as thoughts. Those
thoughts are then deemed by you as worthy of doing or not doing. The problem
is that sometimes we do not think before we act, which usually results in getting us in trouble. A good example of this would be Jonah. I know you are going
to say that Jonah thought about what he was not going to do, which was go to Nineveh.
The question I have to ask you is this, “Did Jonah truly think about the consequences of not listening to God
before he acted?”
The answer would be no, because if Jonah
had really thought about the futility of going against God, he might have realized the consequences of his actions. There are a lot more people in the Bible who suffered from the lack of thinking, before acting, David,
Moses, Paul the list goes on and on. So we are all in good company.
The Bible talks a lot about setting
your heart on God. Read the following
Bible verses and think about how easily they could apply to your mind.
Psalm 51:10
Ezekiel 36:26
Psalm 42:1
To be successful God must be at the
center of your heart and mind.
