Holy Spirit

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As a therapist I like to use a Cognitive-Behavioral approach to work with my clients. This is because as a Christian, I know that the battle is for the mind and if we can be deceived in our minds, we will believe whatever comes at us. Satan knows this and if he can keep our minds deluded we can be rendered ineffective for the sake of Christ.

How we think (T) affects how we we feel (F) and our behavior (B). Also how we feel (F) affects what we think (T) and how we behave (B). How we behave (B) can affect what we think (T) and how we feel (F) and finally, how we behave (B) affects how we feel (F) and what we think (T). Its a cyclical effect no matter how you lay it out. Just imagine a circle with all 3 of these interacting a cause and effect between them.

As human beings we feel. You can’t get rid of your feelings. You can change how you think about them or how you behave with them, but otherwise, they just “are” and it is important to validate them. But feelings can’t be trusted, because they have potential to lead us astray. So it is always important to check your feelings. To not make rash decisions during times of intense emotions. The two places where we have power in Christ is through our thoughts and our behavior. But the thoughts truly trump everything.

This is why it is so important to remember, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ” 2 Cor 10:3-5 (NIV)

So, take captive your thoughts. You have the Holy Spirit within you as a believer to help you in this. Are they godly thoughts or are they thoughts that are destructive or have potential to be destructive? Could they lead you astray? Read your Bible and pray. Take your thoughts to the word of God and see if there is any truth that would refute that thought. Ask God to show you those scriptures. Memorize that scripture that tells you what is true and say it out loud whenever those wrong thoughts come to mind.Write that scripture out and put it on a 3 x 5 card to put on your bathroom mirror or wherever you need to see it. In prayer time, ask Jesus to help you to be mindful of your thinking and to help you correct it towards the truth of His word. This is how we can hold our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ and demolish the places where there are strongholds in our mind. It is the truth that will set us free!

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After Jesus prayed in Gethsemane for Himself and then the disciples, He prayed for those who would believe in Him through the message of His disciples. That would be us: Those of us who choose to believe in Him by His testimony through His Word that He gave through the letters of the disciples. We are so fortunate to have all of God’s word available to us today. Everything has been put together for us into one place: 66 books, 40 authors in one story that transcends all time, which we call The Bible.

Jesus asked the Father to make us all one. Just as He was one with the Father He wanted us to be one in Him and the Father so that the world would believe that God the Father had sent God the Son. He asked the Father for us to be brought to complete unity and He testified that He loved us just as the Father has loved Him. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”  (See John 17:20-26)

Why do we find it so hard to be in unity with each other as believers? Will we let love cover a multitude of sins? Will we do what we can to keep the peace with each other or do we have to prove that we are right or we have been wronged and we must be justified at any cost? We live in such a selfish world, I can’t help but wonder if we have let it infiltrate the church and our own hearts as believers? Certainly there is a place, time and way to address error. But does it violate love or will it prove that love is present?

When we live with envy and strife with one another as Christians we show disunity in the body of Christ and it wreaks havoc on our hearts and minds as believers and we become poor examples to those around us in the world who are watching us. Hopefully our souls trouble us at this point so that we take the time to take account and ask God to search and know our hearts; to try us and know our anxious thoughts and if there is any offensive way within us and to lead us in the way of everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24, NIV) Also see  2 Timothy 2:23-24 We have the help of the Holy Spirit to bring us into unity with each other, let’s draw on that and not major in the minors!

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