Change Your Mind

 Happy New Year!

"I do not consider myself to have fully grasped it even now.  But I do concentrate on this: I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal—my reward the honor of being called by God in Christ."(Philippians 3:13-14 Phillips).

The Apostle Paul experienced so many things.  We've talked about it before.  But in the scripture above he gives us a hint at his secret to success. He focused on what was ahead, and forgot the past.  I know that this may sound contradictory given the Word of God tells us so many times to remember.  But we are to remember certain things.  We are to remember to be thankful to God and others, we are to remember how God has protected us and blessed us, and we are to remember the Word of God!  All the sad, negative, and fearful things we can push them out of the way and move forward!

I heard the testimony of Manny Arango this week.  His father had been in prison in Cuba, was released, and ended up in the USA.  Manny's earliest memory of his father involved being taken to a crack house.  His father abandoned the family, and there were many negative memories.  Manny eventually went to a Christian Therapist.  He told the therapist the whole sad, traumatic story.  The therapist shocked him when he turned all of his father's seemingly negative attributes to positives.  He encouraged Manny to consider all of the things he learned from his father.  He tells the story in his book entitled, "Brain Washed".  He glorifies God and recognizes that a change of mind is necessary!  The Apostle Paul said, "For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the MIND of CHRIST (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart."(1 Corinthians 2:16 Amplified).

Romans 12:1-2 says, "So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."(Message).

Love and prayers, Cynthia