Raise the Volume

Sometimes a mind change is made quietly as you contemplate Scripture or as you pray or maybe even as you work or drive your car. You confront your circumstances, take note of your faulty thinking and decide to lock your mind on to God’s thoughts instead.

But sometimes I find that the only way to make a mind change is to be loud and passionate.

This week I went to a place to pray and as I began, I was constantly distracted. I know we have all had that experience. We want to connect with God, but there are all kinds of things going on in our minds. As I paid attention to those distracting thoughts, one thing was clear: It is hard to admit, but they were all about me. They were about how hard something is for me. They were about how unfair some things seemed for me. They were all about how others could not understand me.

Now I suppose I could have quietly said, “Tom this is not good. You need to adjust your thinking.” But these thoughts seemed not only wicked but insistent and determined. It seemed no quiet response would do. Thinking immediately of Jesus’ rebuke of Peter, I blurted out with considerable force:  “Out of my sight, Satan! These are not the thoughts of God but the thoughts of men!”

My explosive response seemed to be just what was needed. The “what about me?” demons ran for the hills. I was freed up to focus on God, his calling and his provision. Some of the things that try to lodge in our minds can only be expelled with force, power and maybe even considerable volume. When this is needed don’t hold back.

Focus Scriptures

Matthew 4:1-11

Matthew 16:23

Conflict

[This "moment" first was published three years ago]

My wife, Sheila, and I recently confronted a mild but persistent pattern of conflict in our marriage. At first we tried to think our way out of the problem, but then we saw it as a call to rely more on God in prayer. The conflict has now led us to come together in prayer more often which means our marriage has grown that much stronger.

Pinhead Faith

 I heard a man talk about faith. He asked how many of us have pinhead faith. The fact that he even asked the question most likely didn't give anyone a good feeling--especially since he asked it of people who are supposed be known for their faith.  It is embarrassing for most of us to admit that our faith is so infantile.

But then the speaker helped us change our minds. He pointed us to a surprising and amazing truth taught by Jesus. He said, "If you have faith as small as mustard seed--the smallest of all the seeds--you will be able to move mountains."

As you contemplate Jesus' words, you realize he was saying the problem for us is not that we don't have magnificent and impressive faith. He was saying that humble, struggling pinhead faith, mustard seed faith is quite enough. And so when there is a problem, it is not found in the diameter of our faith but in the disuse of our faith-whatever its size.

Some of us are tempted to look at some situation in our lives--like something we need to change or something we need to overcome--and think "I just don't think I have enough faith."

But do you have pinhead faith? "Sure," you say, "that pretty well describes what I do have."

Well, Jesus says you have enough-enough to move a mountain. And surely the issue in your life is not bigger than that.

Luke 17:3-6

Mark 9:20-24

James 5:13-18

True Colors

Some years ago Aderonke moved from her home in Nigeria to the United Kingdom. In Manchester, England, she met Christians who taught her the message of Jesus. In 1998 she shared in Jesus’ death and resurrection in baptism, becoming his disciple. 

Some Mornings

Some mornings I wake up with a mind full of ideas. I can hardly wait to get to the computer to start putting them down.

And then there are mornings like this one when all I seem to think of are how many things there are to do and how little energy I seem to have to get them done.

Some mornings I wake up with a gleam in my eye. Other mornings I feel a burden is on my back.  Can any of you relate?

When the latter happens in a mind like I have, such thoughts can start me on a downward spiral. It doesn’t take me very long to start feeling like a sorry fellow who wonders “How in the world did I ever write a book, and why in the world did I ever commit to doing a podcast that I think someone might actually listen to?”

But the truth is that it was in the middle of muddled and negative thinking just like this that God helped me understand the whole idea of a mind change.  I tried to learn to set my mind like a thermostat before I went to bed so it would be at a certain place when I woke up. Unfortunately that never worked.

But what I did learn was that the thoughts I have when morning breaks don’t have to dominate and determine the outcome of my day.

No, the God who gives a new day can also give us a changed mind.

The Beekeeper

Reuben Shubaugh’s story was recently featured on a Wichita TV station. He is known in his neighborhood as the beekeeper or the “bee man,” a title he has proudly worn for more than 50 years. His neighbors see him outside going from hive to hive collecting beeswax and honey, continuing an acitivity that may have been practiced first in ancient Egypt.

Independence Day

On this Independence Day in the United States let me give you a few mind-changing thoughts from Jesus. Given the nature of Jesus' teaching, we should not be surprised to find that these are for the most part counter-cultural.