Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 18:12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart .   How sad! The people of God chose to walk according to their own devices. They decided to do that which they imagined in an evil heart. This is a serious decision which God says was a …very   horrible thing . (Jeremiah 18:13)  Becaus

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 16:12   And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me :   ‘Syntactic Theory of Visual Communication’ is what it is called, meaning “There can be no words without images” (Aristotle). This is the imagination at work. For example, when someone hears the phrase “red roses fo

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 13:10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.   Imagination is a part of everyday life. Without an imagination it would be impossible to imagine not having an imagination. Without imagination art wou

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 11:8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them  to do; but they did them  not.   Jeremiah wrote more about the imagination than any other writer of the Bible, but these were not the prophet’s words, they were the words of

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 9:14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them :   Upon reading the verses surrounding today’s it is clear that no good comes to those who walk after the imagination of their own heart. However this is the climate in which we seem to live. People make outrageous and unprovable claims as authoritative and ge

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 7:24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels  and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward .   Consider what the Lord says:   But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be we

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Jeremiah 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart .   This is how the believers in the Lord today should be. We should not walk any more after the imagination of an evil heart. In order for this

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   December 17 Proverbs 6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief ,   Proverbs 6: 16–19 lists six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him. One of these things is An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations…   The importance of the state of the heart cannot be overstated. The heart greatly influences the thought

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   December 16 1 Chronicles 29:18 O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee :   King David is asking the Lord God to do an amazing thing. He is asking the Lord to keep something in the imagination of the thoughts of the hearts of His people. In this pray

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   December 15 1 Chronicles 28:9 And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever .   “You don’t understand.”  Probably not,

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   December 14 Deuteronomy 31:21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware .   To better understand today’s verse consi

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Deuteronomy 29:19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst :   The above verse is a portion of a sermon by Moses instructing the Hebrews about the Law of God. Evidently, there were those in the Old Testament times that ha

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.   How sobering. God says that … the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth . I thought I was the onl

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was  great in the earth, and that  every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually . Notice the words “ every imagination ,” such an indictment seems impossible. That every imagination was evil continually is unbelievable. Yet, God’s Word says it is so, before the flood this was the case. Based upon the ti

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Philippians 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more :   Paul goes on to say, Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness whi

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   1 Corinthians 13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil ;   The word “evil” is used 569 times in the Bible. Love is only used 281 times, charity only 24 times, even the word peace is used 169 times less than the word evil. However, the word “good” is used 655 times. Surely Romans 12:21 is true, Be not overcome of evil, but

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   1 Corinthians 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall .   I once read a story of a woman who was teaching her daughter to cook. They were preparing a roast for a big Sunday lunch. The mom cut off about two or three inches of meat from the end of the roast and threw it away. The daughter, who was always full of questions, asked why she cut the end

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so  is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart  is not with thee .   That which a person thinks in their mind, and what they think in their heart are not necessarily the same thing. The man spoken of in this verse has a thought in his heart, yet he communicates something else altogether with his words. By reading the verses

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Psalms 40:17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art  my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God .   This was written by a king. King David. Of all the people in the world the Lord God would certainly think upon a king; especially the king of His people, the nation of Israel. However, David did not write this from the perspective of a king. He w

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   December 5 2 Samuel 18:27 And the watchman said, Me thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings .   The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:13, … I believed, and therefore have I spoken :… We speak of that which we think. The watchman thought that that the man he saw runn

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   2 Samuel 5:6 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither.     But he did! The very next verse says Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David . 2 Samuel

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   December 3 2 Samuel 4:10 When one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought  that I would have given him a reward for his tidings :   It’s always astonishing to find out that your thinking was wrong. Two brothers thought that they would win favor if they killed the King’s enemy. They were w

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   December 2 James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your  hands,  ye  sinners; and purify your  hearts, ye double minded .   It is one thing to be double minded concerning who is going to win the Super Bowl this year. It is one thing to be double minded concerning the best stock in which to invest, or the part of town to live, or the best vehicle to drive.

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life James 1:8 A double minded man  is unstable in all his ways .                                        I like to fish and go as often as I can. However, I haven’t been on the water in quite a while. I think I hear the fish calling my name; they want me to come out and play. I’ve been fortunate to fish all over Texas, but my favorite place to fish is on Lake Texoma. For many years now,

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life Titus 2:6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded .   Strongs Concordance defines the term “ sober minded ” as:   1) To be of sound mind             1a) to be in one’s right mind             1b) to exercise self-control                         1b1) to put a moderate estimate upon one’s self, think of one’s self soberly                         1b2) to curb one’s pass

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life Philippians 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.   What does “ Thus minded ” mean? The verse before today’s verse says, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The verse following today’s verse states Nevertheless, whereto we have alrea

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life Philippians 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.   Reading the Bible is the best antidote for being “ otherwise minded ” concerning the things of God. “The Bible is not a book that men read; it is a book that reads men.”  No one knows who said that originally, but it sure is a g

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   Galatians 5:10  I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be .   “ Otherwise minded ,”  this is the battleground for many. When tempted to become “ Otherwise minded ” remember the squirrel that tried to cross the road.   In our neighborhood there are numerous trees. The streets

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   2 Corinthians 1:17 When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?   The Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth about his mindedness to visit them again. The second part of this verse describes conflict that arises in the minds of many. On a singul

Minding Your Thoughts A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life   2 Corinthians 1:15  And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit ;   Monday is my day off. A few weeks ago on Monday I was very tired, and I decided to stay at home all day. In the morning after my personal devotion time I turned on the television and decided to watch The Price is Right . It so happened that it was “dream car” we