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How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!<\/p>\n
\u2013Psalm 1:1<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Our thoughts control our actions, and our actions control our destiny. So how do we strengthen our minds to obey God? Let me share some practical principles for strengthening our minds.<\/p>\n
Principle number one:\u00a0avoid ungodly input<\/em>. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus said, \u201cThe mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart\u201d\u2014that is, what fills the mind. Your brain is like a supercomputer, storing for future use all the sights, sounds, tastes, and experiences you input into it. That\u2019s why advertisers spend billions of dollars every year\u2014they know that what you store in your mind eventually affects your actions. If you\u2019re serious about obeying God, you won\u2019t fill your mind with things that lessen your resolve to follow Him.<\/p>\n
Principle number two:\u00a0avoid ungodly people<\/em>. Psalm 1 is a great passage to memorize if you want your life to be characterized by productivity and stability. The psalmist began, \u201cHow blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!\u201d (v.1). Notice the three things that a person blessed by God refuses to do:<\/p>\n
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- \u201cWalk in the counsel of the wicked.\u201d In Hebrew, the word translated as \u201cwicked\u201d literally means to loosen oneself. A wicked person has loosened himself from God to do whatever he wants to do. If you want to be blessed by God, you won\u2019t allow your value system to be shaped by those who have loosened themselves from God.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- \u201cStand in the path of sinners.\u201d Jesus taught in Matthew 7:13\u201314 that there are two paths in this life: a broad path that leads to destruction and a narrow path that leads to eternal life. If you want to be blessed by God, you won\u2019t go in the same direction as the people on the broad path. Your actions should never be confused with those of ungodly people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- \u201cSit in the seat of scoffers.\u201d A scoffer is somebody who ridicules the things of God. It doesn\u2019t have to be an unbeliever\u2014there are some Christians who have become so cynical about the church or the things of God that everything is a big joke to them. If you hang around people like that, their cynicism will rub off on you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The Bible says if you want to remain strong in your faith, you\u2019ll avoid ungodly input and ungodly people.<\/p>\n
Principle number three:\u00a0read God\u2019s Word regularly<\/em>. Psalm 1:1\u20132 says, \u201cHow blessed is the man . . . \u00a0[whose] delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.\u201d One reason Christians fall into sin is they are so spiritually malnourished that they don\u2019t have the strength to say no to temptation. If you\u2019re suffering from spiritual starvation, don\u2019t try to gorge yourself with God\u2019s Word; start small. Read a single psalm or a paragraph from a practical book such as James or Philippians. You\u2019ll discover that the more you read God\u2019s Word, the more you\u2019ll develop a hunger for it.<\/p>\n
Principle number four:\u00a0make regular deposits in your spiritual bank account<\/em>. Not long ago, I found my first bank book from an account I opened when I was seven years old. All the deposits I made to that account are gone now. I don\u2019t have a clue where that money went. But I\u2019ve made another kind of deposit through the years that continues to pay dividends: depositing God\u2019s Word in my heart. It\u2019s amazing how sections of Scripture I memorized years ago have come to mind at the right time. I encourage you to make Scripture memorization part of your routine as well. And if you\u2019re a parent, teach your children to memorize God\u2019s Word. Psalm 119:9, 11 says, \u201cHow can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. . . . Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.\u201d<\/p>\n
Principle number five:\u00a0confront wrong thoughts with the truth of God\u2019s Word<\/em>. You can\u2019t control all the thoughts that come into your mind, but you can control what you do with those thoughts. You can allow them to linger in your mind until they metastasize into sin, or you can confront them with the truth of God\u2019s Word. In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul said, \u201cWe are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.\u201d God\u2019s Word is like a spiritual lasso that allows us to capture wrong thoughts, subdue them, and dismiss them.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the reason we read and memorize Scripture. We are in a struggle against evil that is being played out on the battlefield of our minds, and the only way to win is by strengthening our minds with God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! \u2013Psalm 1:1 Our thoughts control our actions, and our actions control our destiny. So how do we strengthen our minds to obey God? Let … Continue reading “Pathway to victory Devotion”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189611"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189793,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189611\/revisions\/189793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}