How do we keep our mind? Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Set means to direct our mind to. Another way to say it would be to commit our thoughts to align with Scripture.

Our thoughts come from our heart which is our belief center. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” 

Keeping our mind is a lot like housekeeping. I just vacuumed the baseboards in my bedroom, then the floor. Guess what I found when I lifted up my mini trampoline? A whole host of dust bunnies! 

What hides in our mind is not always evident on the surface. Personally, I discovered in 1993, that not all thoughts were of my own origin. In Ephesians 6:16, Paul disclosed a truth that we need to heed. The wicked one shoots fiery darts. They are ‘thoughts’ not of our own origin ~ lies designed to control us.

If we are not keeping our mind, they will slip past us, penetrate, and set up an inner stronghold. All demonic shaped strongholds oppose God’s ways and His will. They are strategically buried so that we don’t realize that we are being controlled from our thoughts.

How do we recognize a hidden lie? The Holy Spirit will finger them as we read through our Bible. In Acts 20:27 Amplified it says of Paul, “For I never shrank or kept back or fell short from declaring to you the whole purpose and plan and counsel of God.”

We must be careful to not use Scripture as a cliche. God’s word is alive and active at the moment it is read or spoken. His word is eternal. It never loses its power to heal, console, or bring course correction.

What happened when Job’s three friends showed up and saw him grieving? They remained silent. Ecclesiastes 3:7 says that there is, “…a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.”

Jude verse 21 Amplified says, “Guard and keep yourselves in the love of God…”

Isaiah 50:4 was written about the Lord. We are His ambassadors that need to keep our ears open, so we can apply this to our own lives. It says, “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned.”

Proverbs 16:23-24 says, “The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds learning to his lips. Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.” Psalm 16:7 says, “I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons.”

Our last thoughts before we go to sleep are crucial. Following the truth trail is key to wholesome thoughts. The Holy Spirit has given me many of these devotional titles the moment I wake up. Bring truth into your heart, and truth will be in your words to encourage and strengthen others.

Here is a great verse that aptly fits the title to this devotional. Psalm 85:13 says, “Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway.” Psalm 23:3 says, “…He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

Here is something that blocks us from walking in righteousness. James 1:19-20 says, “So then, my beloved brethren…” Note that James was addressing professing believers. “…let every man be swift to hear; slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

Let me review a definition for righteousness from Hebrews 12:11 Amplified. It says, “…in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action…” This verse is in the context of God’s discipline to His children. He uses our hardships, trials, and adversities as His tools of conformity.

Anger grieves and quenches the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:31 Amplified says, “Let all bitterness and indignations and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite) ill will, or baseness of any kind).” What a great description that leaves no loopholes!

The Holy Spirit was given to us to teach us how to navigate through our journey of progressive sanctification. He is the Spirit of Truth that will always lead us into experiential truth that will set us free and keep us free. We don’t want to quench His work.

How will the life of one born again end? Jude verse 24 says, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”

Hosea 6:3 says, “Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord…” 2 Peter 1:3 says, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him…”

Our progressive sanctification is a journey ~ not a destination. Psalm 16:5 says, “O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot.” Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Our journey is totally one of becoming more and more deeply intimate with the Lord. Job 22:21 Amplified says, “Acquaint now yourself with Him (agree with God and show yourself to be conformed to His will) and be at peace; by that (you shall prosper and great) good shall come to you.”

Isaiah 55:3 says, “Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live…” Skipping down to verses 8-9, we know that His ways and thoughts are far higher than ours ~ there is no comparison. 

Our inner being is transformed as we spend time basking in His love for us, delighting in Him, delighting in us, and drinking deep of His pleasures. 2 Corinthians 3:18 uses the word gaze. May our hearts be captured and enraptured, by the magnitude of Who He is at all times.

Job 42:2 says, “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.” God had planned to have Moses lead the children of Israel into the promised land. Moses forfeited his part, but God continued in His part. 

Think of our nation. The foundation for this great nation was laid through His divine orchestration. All through history man has sought to overthrow what God has begun. God’s plan will continue, because no man can thwart it.

Acts 17:26 says, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.” We are living where He wants us to in this time of history.

Philippians 1:6 is a great promise for us. It says, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” When He formed Adam out of the dust of the ground, Adam was a fully functioning man. 

Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” I believe that when each of us was conceived, He set every nuance of our lives into that seed. All things are known by Him, and He orchestrates every detail of our lives. Our progressive sanctification started the moment we accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior. 

Moses spent time in the Lord’s Presence. Exodus 33:7 says that Moses made his dwelling place a place where he met with the Lord away from the camp. You can read verse 11 for yourself.

God spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to a friend. No wonder verse 15 says, “…If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” Do you remember when the Lord revealed Himself to Moses in the cleft of the rock? I encourage you to read verses 19-23.

What about the times that Moses got angry? Anger is often rooted in pent up emotions. In anger Moses threw down the stone tablets when he saw that Aaron had fashioned a gold calf. Exodus 32:1-4. Moses exploded in anger when he struck the rock instead of speaking to it. He forfeited his privilege of entering into the promised land. Numbers 20:8-12.

We live in troubled times. Yet, we do not have to allow the stresses of our day to negatively affect our health. Many diseases have spiritual roots. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 says that what the Lord has called us to do, He will do it through us.

Here is a verse that I would like you to consider. I have turned it into one of my daily prayers. Proverbs 3:2 in the Amplified says, “For length of days and years of a life (worth living) and tranquility (inward and outward and continuing through old age till death), these shall they add to you.” Let us live out our days so that our thoughts, purpose, and actions glorify the Lord.

Each time I finish reading Exodus through Deuteronomy, I give pause to the end of Moses’ life. I reflect on the fact that he lived in constant stress. Think about how he led the children of Israel when they were rebelling against his authority. He heard their murmurs and complaints. 

The last chapter of Deuteronomy is a brilliant display of God’s man who served him with quality of life to his last breath. In Deuteronomy 34:1-4 the Lord showed Moses what he had forfeited through his disobedience. 

Verse 5 leaves me breathless. It says, “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.” It was the Lord who buried him. Read verse 7 carefully. Visually see in your mind the quality of his life. It says, “Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.”

How did Moses’ body not break down through all the stresses? In our day, many diseases are rooted in unmanaged stress. I want to take you back to God’s gallery to capture some pictures of Moses’ and the Lord’s relationship.

If you remember, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses’ leadership. In Numbers 12:2 it says that the Lord heard it. Then He called the three of them into the tent of meetings. It would be equivalent to an old saying of being taken out to the woodshed. He highlighted His relationship in 8. It says, “…I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings…”

1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Romans 6:5 says, “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.”

The Gospel was clearly stated in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. It says, “…Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” 

Colossians 2:15 says of the cross, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” Jesus created them in order to display His power to them.

Colossians 1:16 says, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

Verse 17 says, “And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” In these two verses alone the word ‘all’ is used four times. All means no exception. Many in the world system speak of how we evolved. 

We can quickly refute that demonic ideology through Scripture. Let me just jot down a few references. Genesis 1:26. Genesis 2:7. Jeremiah 1:5. Psalm 119:73. Psalm 139:13-16.

Reviewing how He made everything for His use. Ephesians 3:10 is a God orchestrated dynamic reason. It says, “To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.” Folks, we are on display for His glory!

Paul told the Corinthians that he didn’t come to them with persuasive words. 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 was the reason. It says, “…but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Every born again believer has that power. Ephesians 1:19-20 says that it is the same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead ~ within us! Verse 19 says, “And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.”

Ephesians 3:20 was an expression of His resurrection power at work in us. It says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” Note that He is doing a hidden work through His ability ~ certainly not ours.

I like to think about the word ‘work’ as illustrated in wheel pottery. The potter has to work water into the dry clay before it can be molded into the desired vessel. So the Holy Spirit works God’s word into the fabric of our being, to help us bear His image before others. 

Isaiah 32:17 expressed it another way. It says, “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.” Righteousness, according to Hebrews 12:11 Amplified is, “…in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God).”

Francis Schaeffer wrote a book called “How Should We Then Live?” I often ask myself that question when the Holy Spirit fingers a verse and causes me to ponder it. How do I live this out? What is my practical application?

Living out the Gospel helps us conform our thoughts, purpose, and actions to God’s will and ways. We died with Him, and were raised up into newness of life. Romans 6:12 says, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you would obey it in its lusts.” Walking in righteousness is His way for us to emulate His character. 

Consider the Gospel as His sculptor’s chisel and hammer. Each verse we take into our heart, chips away the debris that hides what He has designed us to be. The debris are the sinful patterns we lived in without any thought of God. Salvation sets us free, but it will take His experiential truth to keep us free. Read John 8:31-32.

Nothing from our past’s thought patterns changed the moment we were saved. That is why we are instructed in Romans 12:2 to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. The J. B. Phillips says, “…but let God re-mould your minds from within…” Ephesians 4:23 Amplified says, “And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind (having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude).”

Hebrews 4:12 says that God’s word penetrates, and discerns our thoughts and intentions. As we read His word, observing how to apply it in our lives, old patterns of thoughts are exposed. At that point we have a choice. We can ignore the prompting of the Holy Spirit, or we can stop and consider what He has fingered.