Buzzard in the Tree, or Bats in the Belfry
Writer Author Jerry Lee Kay Sr.
Christian Article
:
Christian Living
- Fiction No
Two brothers, one of whom suffered a bit from IQ deficiency, started out on a building program. The older brother sent the other to the lumberyard for lumber. When he gave the order, he asked for some 4x2s. The lumberman said, "You mean 2x4s." "I'll ask my brother," he replied. So he went to the brother, who confirmed the proper order and returned with the order for 2x4s. The lumberman said: "How long do you want them?" "I'll ask my brother." So away he went. Returning he said: "We want them a long time. We are going to build a barn to last." That is what Father has in mind for you and I beloved, He wants to build us for the long haul, something that will last, something permanent... Amen!
And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee. (1Sa 10:6-7)
Poppa's translation of that is, “When my Spirit comes upon you, you shall be able to do whatever needs to be done no matter what the occasion calls for; because I Am will be with you!"
In the ninth chapter God calls Saul and in chapter ten He equips him for service. When God calls He equips for service. If God wants you to do something for Him, He will give you the ability and strength to do it. The key trait is to be willing.
In confirmation of God's call of Saul, he would be given three signs, which were God's assurance of His calling. The same principles apply to us today. First, two men would tell the whereabouts of his donkeys on the border by Rachel's tomb. When the servant of God is in the will of God, God solves the problems. God accomplished what Saul could not accomplish.
Secondly, three men at Tabor would give him two loaves of bread. God's second assurance for Saul and us is God will supply your needs. As a new king, Saul would require provisions. The God who calls you... equips you and provides.
The third sign is Saul would meet a procession of prophets. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee and you will prophesy. This was not regeneration but the empowering of God for service. Saul would be turned into another man. That is what happens when the Lord gets a hold of a person's life. Saul was to realize that the Lord was with him when he saw these signs. Gods' third assurance for Saul and us is He will supply the power we need for service...."My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus". (Phil 4:19)
John 1:12—But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Acts 1:8—But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. When God's Spirit comes into a man, it changes a man. He does become a different person. Saul could not become a new person on his own and neither can you and I.
Zechariah 4:6—Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
"Another parable set He forth before them, saying, 'The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: which indeed is less than all seeds; but when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the heaven come and lodge in the branches thereof."' (Matt.13) You note that what is in this chapter has two names. One name is "the parables of the Kingdom." Jesus called them "the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven." Whether you call them parables or mysteries, the meaning is the same. The meaning is that something is being said which has a deeper meaning than the ordinary mind of man can recognize.
Anybody can read what is said, and everybody may think that they do understand. But the very meaning of the parables and mysteries is that you may read and not understand...It is not what you read that is important...it is what you understand.
We are told that great multitudes gathered to hear what Jesus had to say. The great multitudes heard Him and went away with the story but without the meaning. Only a very few of those who heard got the meaning. We must remember that, because that is the governing thing all the way through of what I have to say.
Now before we come to the meaning and the message, let us look at these parables in a general way. We have seen that there are seven parables in this chapter, and they are divided.
Firstly, they are divided between those, which were spoken to the multitude that is from verse eleven to verse thirty-five. The parables spoken to the multitude were the parables of the sower, the darnel (the tares), the mustard seed, and the leaven. So that four parables were spoken to the multitudes. And then it says Jesus left the multitudes, and went into the house. And He gave three more parables to the disciples alone, from verse thirty-six to verse fifty-two. The parable of the treasure hid in the field, the parable of great price, and the great net let down into the sea. The first two parables were explained by Jesus. The next four were not explained.
Now it is very important for us to recognize one or two general truths. First of all, we must recognize the law of consistency. When Jesus used any symbols more than once, He always meant the same thing. If He spoke of the sower, He always meant the same person, He meant the Son of Man. If He speaks of the field more than once, He always means the same thing, which is the world. In the first place, He is not speaking of the Church; He is speaking about the world.
If He speaks about the birds of the air, and in the parable of the sower, He says the birds of the air were the evil one; then, when He says that the birds of the air find a place in the great tree, He means the same thing. The same words mean the same thing every time. As a student of the word I have come to believe what is known as the "Law of First Mention".
Perhaps you wonder why I say that. It does not sound very interesting or very important, but it is very important, because these parables have been misinterpreted. You will see what I mean as we go along. Jesus never did confuse people's minds by using the same thing for two opposite purposes. If He spoke of birds, He always meant something evil. In one parable, He speaks of the birds and He says that is evil. In another parable, He speaks of the birds, but He does not say they are not evil, but He means the same. So the law of consistency is important, and you have to notice that through these parables.
Now let us look at some of the overall facts. The first overall fact is what He calls the "Kingdom of Heaven," and we know the meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven is the Sovereign Rule of Heaven over all things. It does not mean that the Kingdom of Heaven has a lot of wicked things in it - the Kingdom of Heaven has a lot of evil birds in it - the Kingdom of Heaven has the darnel (the tares) in it. It simply means that over all these things are the Sovereign Rule of Heaven, and all these things come under that Rule. Good things and bad things come under the Rule of Heaven. That is one of the great truths in these parables. Consider the story of Job.
The second general thing is this: These parables are intended to show what will come into this world under the Rule of Heaven. What the Rule of Heaven will allow and what the Rule of Heaven will do with it. I hope that is clear to you!
There are a lot of things here that have got to be dealt with in judgment by the Rule of Heaven. And there are a lot of things here that would come under the blessing of the Rule of Heaven. So the great overall truth is that the Rule of Heaven takes account of everything. And the Rule of Heaven deals with every thing according to what it is, whether good or bad. Jesus is doing two things with these parables. As you notice, first of all, He is speaking to the unbelieving nation. He says of that nation that they are blind. Their blindness is due to their unbelief. They had not believed the prophets, and as Isaiah said, "blindness came upon them because of unbelief."
Now Jesus in the first place is speaking to this unbelieving nation in order to find out whether there are any people there who want to believe. Do they want to see, or do they not want to see? Will any of these people forsake the ground of their blindness and take the ground of faith?
You will remember that on several occasions, Jesus gave sight to blind people, but He only gave sight to blind people who came to Him to have their sight. They cried out, "Jesus, Master," and He said, 'What do you want me to do?' They said, 'Lord, that we may receive our sight,' and He gave sight to those people. So, He is testing the unbelieving nation to see if there are any people in it who want to see. All these people heard the parables, most of them went away. They only heard the words, but there were a few who said, 'Now we do not understand what He means, but we are going to find out.' They were not satisfied with the parable, they wanted the meaning. He was testing the faith of these people by speaking mysteries to them.
You remember that is always a principle of teaching. You have a lot of teaching, what are you going to do with it? Are you going to say, 'Well, I do not understand what he is talking about, and that is the end of it.
Will you go with the multitude, or are you going to say, 'I believe that he has something that I do not see. He has seen something that I do not see, but I am going to find out what he has seen.' It is always a law of teaching. It is a test as to what our reaction will be. If you go back to the parable of the sower, that is exactly what Jesus meant by the ground, He meant an honest and good heart. The honest and good heart ground brought forth thirty, sixty, and hundredfold. All the others said, 'Well, we do not understand so we are going away.' It is just a matter of whether you really want to see. So the Lord Jesus was testing these people as to whether they had an honest and good heart; and, as to whether if they did not understand, they would not give up until they did understand.
Now Jesus was doing a second thing. He was instructing and warning and preparing His own disciples for what was going to come into Christianity. He was preparing them for what they might expect in the future. It is always a very good thing for us to be able to say, 'Well, it is exactly what He said would come.' You see, quite a lot of people just forget what He has said.
Jesus said, "Through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom, or in the world you shall have tribulation." Well, the tribulation came; they knew the tribulation in the world. They were able to say, "This is just exactly what Jesus told us would happen." So they were prepared and fortified. They were not surprised. And that is exactly what Jesus was doing with His disciples; He was preparing them for what was coming.
Did you notice that in the first four parables, He shows the things which are against the Kingdom of Heaven? Here are many antagonistic elements to the Kingdom of Heaven. Go back to the first parable again, the parable of the sower. A sower goes forth to sow, and the first three parts of his work falls by the way side, on the stony ground, and amongst thorns. Well, the apostles had to go out with the seed of the Word of God. Jesus had already taught them that a lot of their work would be in vain. There were the birds of the air that would be carrying away the seed. There will be evil things against their work, and a lot of their work would be destroyed by the devil. It is well to note that He was warning them that it would be like that.
Then the parable of the darnel (the tares): The Lord has sown His true children in the world, but the enemy comes in and sows false children. The Lord says that would go on right to the end of the age. Do not be surprised if many of those who professed to be Christians turn out not to be true Christians. A lot of them will take the name of Christian and prove to be false. The apostles met that sort of thing later on. The Lord had already warned them that it would be like that.
Well, He is saying on the one side, there are a lot of evil things that you have to meet which are against the Kingdom of Heaven. That brings us to our present parable, the parable of the mustard seed. Another parable is just like this: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a seed, which a man sows." It is like the mustard seed, and the mustard seed is amongst the smallest of all seeds. But the mustard seed can grow, and it can be cultivated until it becomes something very big, and the birds of the air lodge in it.
All right, what are you going to make of that? Now this is where the parable has been wrongly interpreted; and this is where our law of consistency comes in.
This parable has been interpreted as meaning the Kingdom has a small beginning, but it grows and grows until you can find anything and everything in the Kingdom. It is going to become so big that it will contain everything...THAT IS A FALSE INTERPRETATION OF THE PARABLE.
Jesus was not meaning that. He is not using birds here as good things when He called birds bad things before. The birds mentioned by Him, are always bad things. It is true that the beginnings were small. It is true that things grow and spread over the world. The Church did expand and it has become something big. But not this: The mustard seed does not naturally become a tree. Naturally it is not a tree. It only becomes a tree when men take hold of it and cultivate and develop it themselves. So the mustard seed was developed for commercial purposes. If you really want to get money for your fruit, you must grow the biggest fruit you can get. The very commercial element in it must make it as big as possible. So by all kinds of artificial means you make it big, but that is not its true nature. You have done something with it! You have put your hands on it! And now it represents the work of man, rather than the true work of its own nature. In other words it is no longer organic!
Now Jesus is saying that is what is going to happen between the time that I am speaking to you, and the time which is the end of the age. Men will take hold of the things of the Kingdom of Heaven, and make them something bigger than they are by nature. There will be an artificial and abnormal developing of Christianity. And because men do that with Christianity, Christianity becomes like a tree with every kind of bird lodging in it. Can you count all the birds that are in Christianity now? Do you know all the kinds of birds that call themselves Christians now? Christianity, as we know it, can just cover anything; and Jesus is saying that is not good. He says that is bad, this is evil work. And it has come about in history, just as Jesus said it would. This thing would be developed by man's hands until it would cover anything you like. I am not going to try to name all the things that are embraced by the word, "Christianity"; but there are many many things, which go by the name of Christianity, which are not Christianity at all.
Now do we have anything in the Word which proves that we are right in this interpretation? Well, let us look at this matter of the birds. We can go back in the Old Testament. God came to Abraham once, and God was going to make a covenant with Abraham about His seed. He was going to tell Abraham that his seed would become a nation, and that nation would go into bondage and be in bondage for four hundred years. Then God would deliver those people, and bring them into the land of promise. God said, 'I make a covenant about this and these are the terms of the covenant. You take a sacrifice, and you divide it in two, you put one part there, and you put the other part here. That part is you; this part is Me. We are going to be joined in a covenant.' So Abraham took the sacrifice. He divided it down the middle. He put one half there, and the other half here, then he waited.
And when the fowls—?haayit, birds of prey, came down upon the carcasses to devour them, Abram, who stood by his sacrifice waiting for the manifestation of GOD, who had ordered him to prepare for the ratification of the covenant, drove them away, that they might neither pollute nor devour what had been thus consecrated to God. (Gen.15:11)
What happened? The fowls of the air came down, and tried to devour the sacrifice before the covenant could be completed. But Abraham drove off the fowls of the air, and he kept on doing that until the sun went down. Then when the sun went down, a light appeared. The natural light had gone, a Heavenly Light came in; and God completed the covenant. Beloved that man had his mind made up! He didn't sit around and snivel and whine about how bad things are, he didn't say it looks as if the evil has won the war. Bless God dear neighbor!, it says he drove the evil off of the sacrifice!
We know the story that Israel went into captivity for four hundred years, and then God delivered them and took them into the land of promise. But the point is this: Those fowls of the air represented the evil powers who want to destroy the covenant. I say this to show that these birds of the air are evil things. Now we come over to the parable of the sower, and Jesus says that the birds of the air are the devil, who comes to snatch away the seed in order to destroy the work of Christ.
However, we can go on further in the New Testament. In Ephesians, chapter two, the apostle says to these Ephesians, "We all had our conduct according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air." He says, 'Our former life, before we came to the Lord, was according to the prince of the power of the air.' That is only another way of saying, according to the evil power that is all around. Notice that this is the beginning of the Letter of the Ephesians.
Now when we come to the end of that letter, in chapter six, we have this: "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of the wicked spirits" (ASV). Now I want you to notice something. At the beginning of that letter, Paul speaks about the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ. You would remember the words: "The exceeding greatness of God's power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His Own right hand, far above all rule, and authority, and principality, and power." JESUS IS ENTHRONED OVER ALL THE FORCES IN HEAVEN AND IN HELL AND ON THE EARTH. But although that is true, and the apostle has said that, he goes on to say, our warfare is with principalities and powers and hosts of the wicked spirits.
The fact that Jesus is Exalted far above all, does not mean that our warfare is at an end. In this world, we are still wrestling with principalities and powers, with hosts of the wicked spirits, in other words, the birds of the air, the prince of the power of the air. And this big tree called "Christianity" is the place in which we meet many of those evil powers.
Now this is a very difficult thing to say, but it is quite true that many Christians find their real enemies amongst Christians. The world does not treat you as badly as Christians do sometimes. That is a terrible thing to say, but it is true, oh it is so true. It is within this big tree called "Christianity" that we find so much that is not of the Lord. In this parable of the mustard seed becoming a great tree, that is what Jesus is saying to His disciples. You will find the evil powers working in the world. They will turn the world against you. You will be persecuted by the world, but always remember that you will also find a great many of your difficulties in Christianity.
I overheard my grandson talking on the telephone. "Hello, sir, I was calling to see if you needed a lawn boy. Oh, you have one. Well, is he adequate? Oh, he is! Thank you, I was just checking," I then said to the boy, "Sorry you didn't get the job, son." My grandson said "Oh, no sir,”. "I've got the job. I was just calling to check up on myself." Sometimes we need to check up on ourselves, to be sure we are still in the faith, and haven't become a stumbling block to others. Amen?
I think I need not dwell on that. Some of us have to say the greatest sorrows and sufferings that we have met have been amongst Christians. The most disappointing and discouraging things that we have met are inside of Christianity. Yes, those birds of the air have gotten into this tree. Jesus said to His disciples, in effect, do not be surprised if it is like that. I am preparing you for that. When it comes, do not be perplexed; I have told you that is how it will be.
Now we come right back to where we started when we began this parable. The great need is that we have to be able to discern between the good and the bad, not only in the world, but in Christianity. This Christianity has become such a big tree, and there are so many kinds of birds in it. Very often, we just do not know what to make of this or that. What kind of a bird is this? Is this a good one or is it a bad one? How we need spiritual understanding in Christianity, that we may be able to discern what is of the Lord, and what is not of the Lord, even in Christianity. You notice how the Lord concludes all this. He says, at the end of the age He would send forth His angels, and note this - be very careful to note this.... and He will take out of His Kingdom all things that offend.... So within this Sovereign Rule of Heaven, there are a lot of things that offend...a lot of things, to use His Own words, "which make people stumble." Within that range of the Sovereign Rule of Heaven, there are many things like that. But in the end, He will send His angels, and He will take out everything that offends.
Do not be surprised, therefore, if you find things in Christianity and amongst Christians that are not good. If you realize that the Lord Jesus said it would be like that, it will save you from some trouble. I have met some Christians, and some young Christians, who have gone away from the Lord. They are no longer walking with the Lord. And when I asked them why, they have said... 'Oh, I saw a certain Christian who was so bad that I just do not want anything to do with Christianity. Or a certain Christian treated me so badly that I am giving up Christianity.' That sometimes, of course, is an excuse. But sometimes they are made to stumble by Christians. If they realized that Jesus said it would be like that, they would not be surprised. Then they would say, 'Well, Jesus told me that it would be like this, and they would be saved'... That is the message of the parable: Within Christianity there is a great mixture. There is good and bad in the branches of the tree. It has become something so big. Almost anything can get into it.
When folks do not vote in elections they lose their vote and have no right to complain about the results, the same goes for leaving the church. If you do not take part and only stay outside the church and criticize Her, you have become a part of the problem not the answer. Makes no difference what your station in life is, no matter how many degrees from man you have behind your name, or what exclusive group you may hang with, or how many books you may have written. If you are not taking part and doing as Abram did (Driving the fowls of prey away) you are a part of the problem and have lost your vote. Someday there will be a payday and you will give an account to Jesus for your actions.
Beloved, Jesus knows what is the right and what is the wrong. And the Holy Spirit in us will teach us what is the right, and what is the wrong. I leave it there for the time being, I may have something more to say on this at another time.
There is an old football adage that is as old as football itself that every football coach knows is the first truth you better learn about winning. That is, the team that controls the line of scrimmage usually wins the game. Now I want you to get this down into your heart. The mind is the line of scrimmage in your life, and whoever controls the line of scrimmage controls your life.
"For we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 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."
As you read this passage of Scripture certain terms almost leap out of the page; terms such as "war," "weapons," "warfare," and "strongholds." It is as if Paul has transported us to the front lines of a battlefield. You can almost hear the guns firing, the bombs exploding, and smell the smoke all around you.
The reason for that is, there is a battle for your mind-taking place at this very moment. Paul compares the mind here to a fortress. He says your mind is like a castle; it's like a stronghold. It is constantly under attack. There is a battle raging within your mind in which the only prisoner that can be taken is you. The devil wants to make your mind his spiritual headquarters. You are the target and your mind is the bull's-eye.
Now why would the devil be so interested in your mind? The answer is very simple: If he can control your mind he can control you, because the mind is the control center of who we are. That's what the Bible means when it says, "For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he." (Prov. 23:7) You are not what you eat, but you are what you think.
I heard about a lady who went to see a psychiatrist and she said, "Doctor, you've got to help my husband." The doctor said, "What's wrong with him?" She said, "He thinks he's a race horse."
The doctor said, "How do you know?" She said, "Well, he wants to live in a stable, he walks around on all fours, and he even eats hay." The doctor said, "Well, I'm sure I can cure him, but it will take a long time and it will cost a tremendous amount of money." The lady said, "Well, money is no object, he's already won two races."
You really are what you think. Yogi Berra once said about the game of baseball: "90% of this game is half mental." Well the fact is, when it comes to spiritual warfare, 100% of the game is all mental.
An old proverb has put it this way: "You sow a thought you reap an act; you sow an act you reap a habit; you sow a habit you reap a character; you sow a character you reap a destiny." But notice that the beginning link of the chain is the thought. In other words, it's all in the mind.
If you are going to win the mind games that the devil and the world will try to play with you, you must realize that you not only learn with your mind, you've got to learn about your mind.
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh." Paul clues us in on the fact that even though there is a war going on, it is an invisible war. It is not a military war, it is a mental war. It is a war that is in the mind, it is of the mind, and it is for the mind.
From the time that Satan entered into this world he has always had only one strategy to attack this world. He wants to capture, control, and corrupt the minds of men. The reason is very simple. He knows if he can get us to think wrongly he can push us to live wrongly.
Now don't be surprised that the devil is so interested in your mind. The most powerful force in the world today is the human mind. Did you know that if you could build a computer that could do everything that one human mind could do, this computer would have to be the size of the Empire State Building, and would be a city-block wide and a city-block deep?
As a Christian you need to understand that your mind was originally enemy-held territory. Before you became a Christian, Col. 1:21 tells us that "You once were alienated and enemies in your mind" But when you give your heart to Christ He storms the citadel of your mind, breaks down the walls, casts out the devil, and He takes over.
But the devil never gives in and he never gives up. He wants to take your mind back because he considers it occupied territory and he will not give it up without a fight. You know it is easy to be a soldier in a parade; the weapons aren't loaded, there are no enemies firing back; all you have to do is just keep in step. But when you're in a war your weapons better be loaded. The enemy is always near, and you better do everything you can to stay alive and win the battle.
I'm convinced the problem with a lot of Christians is they think they are in a parade instead of a war. They don't mind coming to a nice comfortable church, singing a few songs, hearing a nice little message, and then spending the rest of their week doing what they want to do. But they are not interested in knowing how to go to war. That's why we have so many casualties on the spiritual battlefield. You better listen to what I'm about to tell you. Satan has aimed hell's heaviest artillery at your mind. He storms your fortress everyday with all of the strength you can muster and you will never win this war until you realize it is going on. So learn this: Satan wants to capture your mind, because if he captures your mind he captures you.
"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds." Now we know what the devil wants to do. He wants to lift up every barrier he can to keep you from the knowledge of God. How does he do this?
Well first of all, he darkens the mind of the unsaved. "Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them." (2 Cor. 4:4) Here is the reason why this world rejects the knowledge of God, and does not love God, and cares not to obey God. It is because the world is literally "flying blind."
You see, this world does not see spiritual truth for two reasons: First of all, it cannot see spiritual truth. Paul said earlier in this book, "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. 2:14) But the greater problem is this world will not see spiritual truth. You remember what Jesus said in Jn. 3:19-20: "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed." This world is in darkness not because there is no light, but because the world loves darkness rather than light.
Larry King asked Chuck Colson not long ago to go to dinner. He told Chuck Colson the invitation was for one purpose. He said, "I'm going to give you two hours to convince me that Jesus Christ is Savior, Lord, and King." At the end of the two-hour conversation Larry King said, "I am not convinced." Chuck Colson said, "I don't believe you want to be convinced," to which Larry King replied, "You are right."
That is exactly why once a person hears the gospel and rejects Jesus, his number one problem is not that he cannot be saved; his number one problem is he will not be saved.
But the other thing the devil does is he defiles the mind of the saved. In 2 Cor. 11:3, Paul warns against the danger of our minds "being corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." You see, Satan will use anything he can to pollute the river of your mind. I believe he has more tools at his disposal to poison the rivers of our minds than ever before. We better learn that the devil is working overtime to corrupt our minds, and he's got plenty of tools available to do it. One of his tactics is to get us off of the main course down some jackrabbit trail doctrine that is not conducive to what we are instructed to follow that we may live the life that Jesus promised us. Life and that more abundantly.
Now I hope you see why this war that we are fighting and this battle that we are in is one we cannot afford to lose. Because the only way you can control you is to control your mind, for your mind controls you. Woodrow Wilson rightly said, "He that will not command his thoughts will soon lose command of his actions."
Now the good news is we do not fight this war empty-handed. We have been given weapons. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 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."...Think about that.... God wants every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
But I remind you that this is a spiritual war, and it will only be won by spiritual weapons. You cannot fight cancer with aspirin, and you cannot fight this war in the flesh. One writer recently put it this way: You've got to admit some of our hearts and minds are trashed out. Let any rift raft knock on the door and we throw it open. Anger shows up and we let him in. Revenge needs a place to stay so we have him pull up a chair. Pity wants to have a party, so we show him the kitchen. Lust rings the bell and we change the sheets on the bed. Well, How do we win this battle for the mind? How do we learn to say no with the mind to the wrong things and yes to the right things?
First of all, we need to refocus the mind. Col. 3:2 says, "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." It is a wonderful thing to realize that we can indeed determine the direction of our minds. Rom. 8:6 says, "to be spiritually minded is life and peace." What does it mean to be spiritually minded? It simply means that the Holy Spirit of God is always pushing thoughts of God to the forefront of your thinking. No matter which way you turn a compass its needle will always point to the North. Similarly when you are spiritually minded no matter what you think about your mind will always turn to God.
Secondly, we need to refill the mind. We need to fill our minds with good godly thoughts. You may think that is impossible, but think about this: Is it possible to get all of the air out of a glass? Absolutely, all you have to do is just fill the glass with water. Is it possible to remove dirtiness, distortion, and deception from our mind? Absolutely, by filling our mind with thoughts from God.
Paul put it perfectly when he said in Phil. 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things." You see, the key to controlling your mind is not in trying not to think bad thoughts, but in constantly thinking good thoughts.
May I tell you the greatest way to do that...saturate your mind with the Word of God. The psalmist said, "Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you." (Ps. 119:11) The word "hidden" literally means "to store up" or "to load." I'm still trying, even after several years, to become computer literate. One thing I have learned about a computer is, it only has so much memory. After you have fully loaded the memory of a computer it cannot carry any more information. The psalmist says your mind is to be so loaded with the truth of the word of God; there is no room for the lies of the devil.
Finally, we are to renew the mind. The Bible clearly teaches that any mind, no matter how dirty, distorted, deceived, or damaged, can be renewed. Eph. 4:22 says, "Be renewed in the Spirit of your mind." Rom. 12:2 tells us we ought to be continuously "transformed by the renewing of our mind." It can be done. Listen carefully. The devil is just like that. If we give a place to the devil, and he comes in and gets some stronghold in your heart and in your mind and in your life, and you ask him to leave, but he won't leave. You command him to leave, but he won't leave. You beg him to leave, but he won't leave. Well I will tell you this... if you will go to heaven's court, and in the power of attorney command him to leave in the name of Jesus, he will not play mind games with you anymore. So remember we do have weapons. They're not carnal, but they are powerful and they can tear down any stronghold: they can cast down any argument; and they can bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. When you have victory in your mind you will have victory in your body and in your soul.
A little boy wanted a model sailboat. So he began saving his money until finally he had enough. He went to the toyshop and picked out his kit, making his selection with great care. He spent weeks perfecting that boat, and finally when it was finished, he took it down to the lake. It sailed beautifully right across the lake and out of sight. Naturally the young boy was distressed and began a frantic search. But despite his efforts he was unable to find his boat. Several weeks later he was walking past a store window and to his amazement saw his boat with a sizable price tag attached to it. He went in and told the owner, "Sir, I would like to have my boat back." The owner said, "Well, I'm sorry, but I paid good money for it. You will have to pay for it." That poor boy worked and worked until he finally got enough money together, again, and bought his boat back. As he walked out of the store, he said, "Now you are twice mine—once because I made you and once because I bought you." Jesus created us, and he purchased us by his death on the cross, and now we can be twice his. Even If we wander off into a distraction, whether it be caused by "Buzzards in the Tree, or we temporarily got Bats in the Belfry” How wonderful is the love of Jesus!
God Bless You
Poppa
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