Daily Doses of Gospel "PiLLs": October 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

Have You Lost Your Mind?

Is your brain tired? Do many thoughts invade your mind and ultimately leave you stressed out?

Every battle begins in the mind. Your mind can be the devil’s playground if you do not stand at guard to resist and reject evil and unwholesome thoughts in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 4:7). Many people struggle because they have allowed their thought life to govern their actions.

The Bible addresses the topic of how to cope with the mind. Because we have a thought life, we are admonished in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Our life will change when our thought life changes. While some thoughts originate with us, others come directly from the enemy. Our mind is subject to follow unbalanced and unhealthy thoughts and emotions, which will eventually cause us to make decisions that, will take us off course and out of the will of God.

We must not compromise or desensitize this topic for fear of being considered too spiritual or too deep. Christian warfare involves bringing all our thoughts into direct alignment with the Word and the will of God. The church today is too often tempted to meet the challenges of the world by carnal means and by using worldly weapons, i.e., psychology, philosophy, humanistic wisdom, etc. These cannot serve as a replacement for the fundamental lifestyle of prayer and an uncompromising commitment to the Word of God.

We as believers overcome our adversary by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. We must tirelessly say “NO!” to the devil, temptation, and sin because failure to do so will lead to immorality and spiritual death.

Be resolute and determine to fill your mind with God’s Word. Set a watch to refuse to allow your eyes and ears to be an instrument to any worthless or evil thing. By doing this, you will obtain the mind of Christ, the peace of God, and rest for your soul.

Tilt your heart towards the SON!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

How Closely Related Are You to a F.A.R.T.? Let's Find Out

Have you ever ran across a F.A.R.T.? Yes, I said it … a F.A.R.T!!! FART, FART, FART! There, I said it again. I can just hear the “gasps”, the “eh’s”, and can even envision the disgruntled religious twisted face gestures.

Now, before you start busting my chops about crude humor, tact, or the like, let’s first get rid of the “OMGosh, oh, no she didn’t!” mindset. For at the end of this blog, you just might find out a little bit more about yourself and how closely related you just may be to a good old F.A.R.T.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog about roses and the fragrances they possess. This blog is definitely not about roses and sweet smelling fragrances, on the contrary, it’s about the smelly, stinking thinking we can sometimes possess and emit.

Ever notice how much emphasis is placed on our outward appearance? Society has placed such enormous importance and value from the clothes we wear to the type of gel or mouse we use in our hair. Nothing wrong with looking dapper, for I myself enjoy and appreciate the art of fashion, but this passion should never exceed or come close to competing with the inner beauty that should reside within each us.

God is much more concerned with what’s taking place in our hearts than what we look like on the outside. Jesus said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27) For their religion was outward in form with no inward godliness of the heart. They were all about ‘traditions’ and keeping the letter of the law by their own selfish interpretations, and they occupied their office all in the name of the Lord, but their lives were morally lax and worldly.

I know that anything that is unclean usually tends to stink big time. That’s how the lives of the Pharisees and Sadducees appeared to Jesus because He saw right through their impious funk. You see, they were often exposed for the hardness of their hearts and for their religious hypocrisies. Yet, many times they attempted to trip up Jesus by slapping down Scriptures and quotes from the fathers of old, but our courageous Lord would openly reprove them every time revealing their wickedness, double-standards, pretense, two-facedness, and insincerity.

Much like today, the spirit of the Pharisees (far-to-see) and the Sadducees (sad-to-see) still moves and envelops the hearts of many. They are what I call F.A.R.T.s – Fanatical, Analytical, Religious, Tarts, whose only aim is fulfilling church quota, attendance, and looking pious in the public eye. It is a fault-finding, overly critical, insensitive, behavior that is found WORKING rather than WORSHIPING.

F.A.R.T.s are constantly pointing the finger at others not recognizing that the same hand that points the finger has four fingers pointing right back at you. F.A.R.T.s are ready to throw you under the bus or into a den of lions saying, “See, see, doesn’t the Scriptures say …” all while Jesus is extending out His loving hands and saying, “I forgive you, now go and sin no more”. This hypocritical mindset sees everyone faults but never its own and will be the first one to shout, “Off with her head!”

The F.A.R.T. mentality is not kind or gracious and its mother Supercilious has made certain that they are planted on every corner of Condescending Circle Drive. They sport their shades of pride which blinds them and they are cloaked in the draperies of arrogance that hang from the hem of their garments. The flicker of their superiority shrouds and poisons the thought process so they fail to realize that genuine change takes place from the inside first and then emanates on the outside, not the other way around.

F.A.R.T.s never truly understand the JOY of the Lord or experience the bona fide liberty wherein Christ has made us free because they are so caught up in doctrines of men, which makes the Word of God of non effect.

Vow today that you will not be a F.A.R.T. and you will disallow the stinking thinking of the Pharisees and Sadducees attitude to dominate or influence your life. Vow today that you will live your life by putting on the cloak of humility and love others through their process of change regardless of how messy or smelly it is. It is always helpful to remember that you too are still a work in progress.

When you ‘buss a F.A.R.T.” just say excuse me. You’d be surprised how a little spray of meekness can dissolve the bad aromas of an old F.A.R.T.

Tilt your hearts toward the Son!

~Narda Goodson

Monday, October 17, 2011

Well, that's JUST ME and who I AM! Hmmm ...

Well, that's JUST ME and who I AM! Well, maybe that's the problem!

Ya' think? Ever heard those words before? I've had to make a conscious decision to smile more and configure my facial expressions to "nice".

My daughter told me during dinner one day that I look like a "snob" and people were probably afraid to approach me due to it; then my sister confirmed it. I was "offended" at first thinking "Gee, I'm a pretty nice and friendly person. How in the world would you think that?". But what I thought and what my body expression gave off were two different things. We have got to be WILLING to CHANGE.

I'm not talking about the petty people who nick-pick and criticize everything you do right or wrong. There are some people you will never please. What I'm talking about is becoming more conscious of your body language that sometimes speaks louder than words.