January 11 through January 17, 2010

Day One, be renewed in your mental attitude, Ephesians 4:22,23 (Berkeley Version); One of the greatest lessons we need to learn about life is that who we are isn’t nearly as important as who we think we can become. That is the thrust of our scripture lesson today, you can become a new person but you must put forth the effort to do some renovations. Paul realized that while we are saved through Christ work, we have a personal responsibility as people created with free choices to move forward toward becoming more like Christ, so he tells us to be “renewed in the spirit of our mind.” The Greek word we translate “renew” means to renovate or remodel our way of thinking. The key to spiritual growth and victory (as well as every endeavor we undertake) is to renovate our attitude and remodel our thinking!

Day Two, As a man thinketh, so is he, Proverbs 23:7 (KJV); The Good Lord gave human beings the capacity to think. The thoughts we think are the gatekeepers of our soul because they determine how we view ourselves, our problems and our opportunities. The way we habitually think forms the convictions we have and our actions are based on them. In order to renovate our minds and fully experience the joy of being a child of God, we must daily fill our minds with big, powerful thoughts of faith and hope.

Day Three, The kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. I Corinthians 4:20, Several years ago, I knew a man who had a vast knowledge of personal evangelism. He had attended seminars and training classes, he was even called upon by various churches to teach classes in “soul winning”. Imagine how surprised people were when they found out that he had never put any of his knowledge to practical use, he had never attempted personal evangelism except during training courses! Our text for today states that the kingdom of God depends on power, not on talk. It is easy to talk about lofty ideals and high and noble aspirations but unless we develop and use our mental and spiritual powers to make them into realities, we are failing to fully realize the kingdom of God in our lives.

Day Four, The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1; Fear is one of the most debilitating problems people face. Fear of the future, fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of starting over, fear of attempting something bigger than themselves. Fear can paralyze our thoughts and our actions. Fear can cancel out faith and keep us from following what we believe deep down to be God’s plan for our lives. In cases such as this, fear is nothing more than normal caution that has been exaggerated by the mind as it magnifies the possible negative consequences. Negativity is in itself a form of darkness and Psalm 27:1 reminds us that Christ provides us with not only light to shine in the darkness, but the deliverance and place of security we need to move ahead boldly by faith.

Day Five, Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets, Luke 5:4,5; The difference between the success or failure of any endeavor often rests on which part of Peter’s response we choose to follow. How many times have we been discouraged by apparent lack of progress in some area of our lives (career, spiritual growth, personal improvement, family, etc) when we get an idea to try something a little different and we’ve elected to dismiss it rather than explore the possibilities? But we’ve also had experiences where we were discouraged, got an idea that gave us a new approach, decided to try it and had success. As we go through the day, God often leads us through insights and ideas. Naturally, we must be sure they conform to Christian standards, but once we’ve done that we need to be willing to say, “I’ve tried everything, but if you say so, I’ll give it one more try.” The results will amaze you.

Day Six, Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually, First Chronicles 16:11; This is a spiritual prescription for endless power, insight and peace. If taken as directed the user be able to offset the feelings of helplessness and fear that accompany so many of life’s problems and perturbing situations. When we continually have the strength of the Lord and his wonderful presence with us then nothing can get us down for extended periods. But we have a responsibility, we must seek for the Lord’s strength and presence, and we must continually seek it. We do this by living constantly in awareness of his presence and seeking his guidance in everything we do.

Day Seven, See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse…Deuteronomy 11:26; One of the most wonderful truths about God is that he ultimately has confidence in us to make right decisions. After the events around a certain tree in the Garden of Eden, God could have elected to turn human beings into robots who were incapable of making wrong choices. But he didn’t! God had enough confidence in our ability to think and reason that he left humankind with a free will. Yes, we often make bad choices, some of them lead us into trouble or even sin, yet we are capable of making good decisions and God believes that if we take the time to weigh our options we will see that just about every decision has within it a blessing and a curse. In order to make good choices we need to be aware of the blessing and curse contained in our every decision.