Matthew 22:37-38 (KJV)
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment. 

There is some very important things that we need to look at in order to advance as the true children of light. First off, the Scriptures reveal that we are to give our whole heart, soul and mind to the Lord. This gives way to the many reasons that we see so many Christians falling short of the fullness of life that Christ came to give all of us that believe on Him. What often happens is that most Christians fail to recognize that though their spirit is born again unto a new creature when they accept Jesus as Lord of their life; that they must influence their mind and soul with the Word of God if they want to grow into the full stature of a son or daughter of God. In other words, we must renew our thought life to the ways of God's principles. If we leave this area of our lives vacant of spiritual guidance then we will simply live way beneath our privileges in God. We will remain dealing with life and its many circumstances based on worldly views and concepts. That my friend, is a sure way to live way beneath all that Christ has accomplished for us; He did this so we could live in this life as a true overcomer in every area of our lives. Someone uninformed of what the Scriptures teach may say something like this, "Well I gave the Lord my heart over ten years ago! And we all have to suffer for Jesus' sake while we are here in this world. Suffering is how we learn obedience, the same as Jesus had to suffer to learn obedience!" Well, let's you and I read something from the Word of God along these lines.

 

1 Corinthians 2:16 (KJV)
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 

According to the Word of God we are to have the same mind as Christ had. However, without the transformation of your carnal mind to His, then it will be impossible to emulate to that image or model. The Word of God and Jesus are synonymous and we cannot separate the two or we defile and change its true meaning. Therefore, for us to develop the mind of Christ we must go to the right Source, the Word of God. Now look at what the apostle Paul goes on to say further.

 

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 (KJV)
1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 

Paul is showing us that the title to this weeks devotion is a very real problem today. That problem would mean being born again but not allowing your salvation to influence the rest of you; your heart, soul and mind. The fact is that when we are born again we receive the incorruptible seed of Christ in our hearts that produces a spirit exactly like unto Him. This is why the Scriptures teach us that we are seated in heavenly places with Christ right now and that we are righteous. This means that our spirit man is perfect because a perfect Savior birthed us through His own perfect ability to create something afresh and new. Nevertheless, we have to allow our salvation to influence every other part of our being. How do we do that? Through studying God's Word and letting it be written in your heart and mind. You must also do something else. Be a doer of it! In other words, you must exercise your senses by reason of using His Words in your daily life. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

 

Paul was writing to these that were obviously very immature and speaking to them as unto babes, because they were just earth dwellers in their minds they could not percieve the deeper mysteries of God. There are too many believer's that are simply waiting around to get out of this horrible world by their definition, and enter heaven to escape all of the troubles in the here and now. My friend, God wants us to be alive and full of His mind here on this earth! Why? Well consider this. Don't the devil need people to write his literature to get his ideas into this world? Does he not also need the drug pusher; the pornography movie producer to name a few of the devils puppets? Well, just as the devil needs his agents to promote his agendas, God needs our spiritual minds to influence this world with the Good News of Christ! The Scriptures tell us that we are to be co-workers together with Christ. Let's look at this misunderstood idea of suffering mentioned aboved before I close this teaching today.

 

Hebrews 5:7-9 (KJV)
7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 

There are too many folks that believe suffering is the design of God the Father. Because of this idea it becomes easy to misread the Scriptures due to the wrong belief system by which Christians have not been renewed properly in God's Word. Look closely at this Scripture above and if you are a promoter of suffering is God's design for us, then you can make this say just what you believe. However, if you will be teachable you might see something else here that changes that wrong perspective. Now verse eight seems to imply that Jesus learned obedience by the things that He suffered. Ok! That is what it reads out to say in this translation. But think about this for a moment. The real interpretation of this passage is that Jesus through doing the will of the Father, suffered at the hands of the ones who despised God's purposes and His divine will. In other words, when we stand on the Word of God or any number of its promises; the devil will come to try and steal the seed from our hearts. He will use what ever means physically, mentally, or spiritually to frustrate you from proceeding forward in the things of God.

 

This is what he does. He is a thief, murderer and destroyer of those who do not know the truths written in God's Word. That is what makes a Christian vulnerable to his tactics. I was awaken one morning a week ago around 2:30 am, and the Lord had me write something down. What he spoke to me was exactly what I am teaching you today. These are the words He gave me. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. The progressions of steal, kill and destroy that your adversary promotes is this. He is first a thief that comes to steal the seed of God's Word from you; if he succeeds, then he kills that persons spiritual authority [authority is knowing from the Word of God who you are]; if that is accomplished then he destroys all ability of that persons influence to do the works of Christ here on the earth.

 

Anytime we add God's Word to our life, the enemy will bring great opposition to it in order that he may extinguish its potency to perform. If we just remain babes in Christ, and we are simply satisfied with just knowing we are going to heaven when we die; then we are not entering into the spiritual dynamics of the Holy Spirit that affords us the ability to achieve great things for God here and now. Friends, I am glad for everyone who has surrendered their heart to Christ. To be born again is necessary if we are to see God and live with Him forever. Nevertheless, it is a terrible shame to hold back the rest of you [heart, soul and mind] that God could use so wonderfully here and now for His glory and the benefit of others who do not know Him as of yet. I pray that your eyes of understanding will be enlightened as you look into the mirror of God's Word and discover who you really are. The devil truly dreads the day you discover it!