"THINK" SERIES: PART 5 - "STINKING VS BIBLICAL THINKING"

"Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5)

What is it about "Stinking Thinking" that brings so many well-adjusted folks, especially Christians these days, to a not-so-good place? 

By the way, what is "Stinking Thinking" anyway? From all reports, the late great speaker, motivator, encourager, and man of God, Zig Ziglar was responsible for coining the phrase. The Cambridge Dictionary describes it as "a bad way of thinking, that makes you believe you will fail, that bad things will happen to you, or that you are not a very good person". That is the official definition. But in real life, it can be any thought derailing right thinking, period.

There is a story told about the Great Reformer Martin Luther. He said one night, the devil showed up at the foot of his bed with a long scroll of every sin ever committed by Luther. 

As he read those off, in Luther's all-too-real vision, the serpent of old, needled Luther and said "Do you remember this sin? ...." Then Luther would respond: "Yes, I do", and so it went. After this, it went on for a long time. Luther recounted that he felt like he was about the slip into hell when the Lord Jesus showed up. The Savior told Luther to tell the devil to go all the way to the end of the scroll and read what was at the bottom of it.

Luther told him exactly those words. The devil kept reading off sins. Finally, Martin Luther said, "Devil, in the Name of Jesus, I demand that you read what is written at the bottom of your scroll". At the mention of THAT Name, the devil did as was told. At the bottom of that long list of Luther's sins was written in red "All the Sins of Martin Luther have been forgiven by the Blood of the Lamb".

The enemy, from whose clutches Jesus saved us, if we know Him as Lord and Savior and are truly born again, knows our thoughts and sins because he put most of them in there. Every thought of greed and lust for money, riches, illicit sexual pleasure, and covetousness, came from him. Every thought that leads to an ungodly action, even for the strongest believer in Jesus, came from him.

He has a habit of throwing past forgiven sins, in our faces and it is pushed in our faces by thoughts that ambush us, in the most awkward or inappropriate of moments - from quiet time in the morning, or in the middle of a meeting at work, or having lunch with a pastor or anything. If we are not careful, this can defeat people who profess to be Christians, but who are not walking in any kind of victory, or deep Faith, or who have lives guided and directed by the Spirit.

Stinking Thinking invites the weak to make blanket statements, away from Scripture, that "God does not love me....or my spouse...or my boss hates me....or I can't stand that nosey neighbor".....and the next thing we know, we are operating on feelings and emotions far outside the bounds of Biblical Thinking.

Some of this Stinking Thinking may even have to do with self-esteem. If someone from your past - an old schoolmate who knew you as a party machine from senior year in high school or college, but now he or she sees that you more than likely, "party like it's 1699 (i.e. none at all), and you let some long-buried emotion resurface, to cause you to doubt your own identity in Christ, then it's time to move to Plan B.

Plan B is the return to Plan Bible and Biblical Thinking. We will look into this more in upcoming posts, but suffice it to say, Martin Luther, at the behest and prompting of King Jesus, has demonstrated the quickest way to grab those resurgent defeatist old BC (before Christ) "replays" and send them to the dungeon of forgotten sins, which Yahweh has stated is, "as far as the east is from the west".

John 1:12 underscores our Authority to respond as Luther did to the devil. It is the quickest way to defeat EVERY form of stinking thinking; horrible thoughts and anything from the pit of hell. The Bible says in this verse "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His Name".

We take every thought captive, reminding the devil, in the most authoritative statement, that we are Children of God and all our sins - not just those from last week, but those from our past, have been forgiven by the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who defeated the accuser, on that fateful day on Calvary.

Father, in the Mighty Name of Jesus, we thank You that You sent Your Holy and Powerful Son, in that while we were yet sinners, He died for us, that we may be reconciled with You and have Eternal Life in Heaven. Thank You, for giving us the ability to not only take every evil and wicked thought captive but also, for then giving us the capacity and direction to bring these into alignment with Your Holy Word, in Jesus' Strong Name, amen.

Image Courtesy FREEBIBLE IMAGES (Thank you)

ARE YOU FRIEND OF GOD?

Who am I that you are mindful of me?
Who am I that you hear me when I call?
Who am I that the King would bleed and die for?
Who am I ...just who am I and...who do I think I am anyway?

One thing I know is the Biblically-based self-esteem is a lot different from that of the world.  Another thing I know, all those "Who am I...” phrases above would make some good Christian songs! The Holy Scriptures tell us that Abraham, the father of the Hebrews and Christianity - was a friend of God. (James 2:23 ...and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God.")

The great prophet Daniel was well thought of by the God of Heaven and Jesus Christ Who sent him as a messenger. He was just doing what he was called to when God sent an angel to tell the Prophet how important he was to the Kingdom of Heaven....we pick up the account here:

(Daniel10:10-12) Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said to me, "O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you." And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words..."

These two powerful men of God have similar traits - the Lord Himself thought the world of them...yet in different ways. We see above how much Daniel was respected in Heaven, even more so than Abraham, for God did not say those same things to anyone else in history! Daniel was a humble, lowly, sold out, committed servant of the Great God of Heaven.

Jesus did appear to Abraham right before He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and the Messiah said in Matthew 8:11 that ""I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven". The pre-Resurrection "heaven" or paradise was known as the "Bosom of Abraham".

So where do we, in the 21st century fall into, in these two categories? Well, there is absolutely no reason why we cannot have the traits of both these Bible heroes!

The Book of James tells us what being a friend of God IS NOT! James is the half-brother of the Lord Jesus and was the head of the Church in Jerusalem before the high priests murdered him. He said in James 4:1-4 “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this that your passions are at war within you?  You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

So, you want to be a friend of God like Abraham? Well, Mary’s son (and the son of Joseph), James gave you the steps here in James 4:7-10 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you”.

Here are these same steps in bullet points:

1. Submit yourself to God. That is – surrender your entire life to Christ and His leading, through the Holy Ghost. Don’t follow any man, philosophy, thing or even yourself. But follow God.

2. Resist the devil. That is – turn against everything James said above in James 4:1-4…adultery, gossip, backstabbing, ungodly passions, longing for things that you can’t have, can’t afford.

When the devil tempts you to look at that bad stuff in movies or the internet, say NO.

When he tempts you to go out and get drunk with the boys and girls, say NO.

When he tempts you to date that married man or woman, say NO….say NO NO NO and tell him to get lost. Rebuke him and tell him to back to the hell he came from and is going permanently.

Then call on Jesus. The devil can’t stand any of this standing on the Rock of Christ!

3. Draw near to God. This is Daniel –like.  Abraham did what he was told…sometimes to a fault as we found out when he agreed to sleep with Hagar and gave us the current Middle East problem. Daniel prayed and prayed and prayed and obeyed. Among all the Bible heroes, in the face of persecution, Daniel is the humblest and most loved by people like us. So be like Daniel – and pray!

4. Do NOT be double-minded. You and I cannot indulge in watching things like the Satanic performances of Katy Perry or Beyonce at the 2014 Grammy awards and the abomination which took place during that program, give our affirmation to it by even viewing it and then switch back to a mind full of the Spirit of Christ.  This is double-mindedness. When this happens, immediately seek purification, cleansing and repent of that, while staying away from any future things like that. There are so many other worldly things we can be double-minded about, but if we follow the Word of God about the Seven Things He hates as well as ANYTHING which the Holy Spirit checks us on, we can avoid a whole lot of regret.

These are the four basic things to being a complete friend of God – like Abraham and having real significance in Life, like Daniel had.  There is absolutely no reason why you and I cannot be a friend of God and a person whom God favors. This is something which nothing and nobody in this corrupt world can take away from us. This defines both our humanity and our spiritual condition, because such a person walks with the Fragrance of Christ that few possess.

So, now…who am I that You – oh My God in Heaven, would even consider?
Answer – GRACE….GREAT GRACE!