Category: Devotions

A summary of our series

We have looked at the 8 things that Paul commands us to think on:
1) Whatever is true: “The Word of God”
2) Whatever is honorable: “A mental consciousness that strives to harmonize with God’s truth”
3) Whatever is just: “My thoughts immediately go to the only One who is Just”
4) Whatever is pure: “We see the perfect, sinless and Holy Lamb of God dying for our sins and raising again.”
5) Whatever is lovely: “An ‘acceptable and pleasing’ part of Lovely is that we renew our minds and our thinking to what honors God.”
6) Whatever is commendable: “Let our thoughts drift to how we respond towards others when going through trials.”
7) If there is anything of excellence: “Is the thought that is in your mind an example of “excellence or merit”? Does it honor God and reflect upon His excellence?
8) If there is anything worthy of praise: “Unceasing praise to the just and gracious God. From morning till evening the grateful tongue should talk and sing, and glorify the Lord.”

Once we have an understanding of the things that Paul is wanting us to think on, what should we do and what will we see. Well in verse 9 he says “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Phil 4:9 ESV) It’s pretty clear that we are to practice these things. Practice involves 1: Dedication , Maturity, and Repetition. It takes a level of commitment that drives us to perfect the achievement we seek. It also means that we can’t do it alone! We must depend upon the work of the Spirit in our lives to direct us and allow Him to help us focus on these things. We are to “fill our minds” with these things when “stinkin’ thinkin'” raises its ugly head. One commentary aptly summarizes it like this “As the Philippians practice what they have seen Paul doing they will make progress. They will see that it is not simply the “Peace of God” that they will find, but “The God of Peace” Himself will be with them.

When I look at the 8 things that Paul is directing us to practice, I began to notice one very common theme, and that is that when temptation is causing us to have “Stinkin’ Thinkin'” we are to turn our eyes thoughts and attitudes directly to Christ. Directly to His Word and listen to His Holy Spirit. Below is lyrics from an old hymn that I think is a good way to sum up this entire series!

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Helen Howarth Lemmel (1863-1961)

O soul are you weary and troubled
No light in the darkness you see
There’s light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

Alan Jackson version of “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus“!
Music and Lyrics

I hope that you have found this study helpful to you as you come across times of Stinkin’ Thinkin’ and that you will memorize Philippians 4: 8-10 and recall it to your memory when you are troubled in your thoughts.

If there is any Excellence and Worthy of praise

The last two things that we read as Paul is instructing us in how I like to phrase “Stinkin’ Thinkin'”, is to think on things of excellence and worthy of praise!

I have taken excerpts from “Precepts Austin”, which is an online commentary source that I believe to be accurate. The link to this website is listed below for your reference as well and to be able to go into even more depth on this subject.

¹“Excellence (²703) (arete) refers to any preeminence (moral, intellectual, military). Arete is a term denoting consummate ‘excellence’ or ‘merit’ within a social context. To the Greek philosophers, it meant “the fulfillment of a thing.” Arete came to mean quality of life which made someone or something stand out as excellent. Arete never means cloistered virtue or virtue of attitude, but virtue which is demonstrated in life.”

When a thought enters your mind, you may begin to start wondering and questioning a situation. Use that opportune time to evaluate whether or not this thought is “Excellent”! Is the thought that is in your mind an example of “excellence or merit”? Does it honor God and reflect upon His excellence? If it does not, you know that you need to rebuke that thought and the devil who put it into your mind. ⁴Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you! (James 4:8)

¹“Worthy of praise (³1868) (epainos from epí = upon + aínos = praise) is literally “praise upon” and denotes commendation, praise, or approbation (an act of formally or officially approving). It means something which is worthy of being commended. The word can describe the act of expressing admiration or approval, praise, approval, recognition.”

For the believer, there is no greater call than to praise the Father, thanking Him, loving Him, and trusting Him in all circumstances. So when tempted to ponder something that is attacking your mind, think on what is praiseworthy and give the thoughts over to Him to ease the pressures that you face with those thoughts.

Charles Spurgeon noted just how important it is to praise the Father all day long. In Psalm 35:8, the psalmist uses the Hebrew word ¹ “tehillah”, which means hymn or song of praise, praise in general – all day long. Spurgeon says: “Unceasing praise is here vowed to the just and gracious God. From morning till evening the grateful tongue would talk and sing, and glorify the Lord. O for such a resolve carried out by us all!”

As we come to the last of these 8 things, Paul reminds us to “Think on these things”! What does the bible refer to when we read “Think”? According to Strong’s Concordance, (G3049) defines the word used here as follows:
A thing is reckoned as or to be something, i.e. as availing for or equivalent to something, as having the like force and weight:

1) To reckon inward, count up or weigh the reasons
2) To deliberate by reckoning up all the reasons
3) To gather or infer
4) To consider, take into account, weigh, meditate on
5) To suppose, deem, judge
6) To determine, purpose, decide

So my fellow believer, when we are called to think on these things, we see the true remedy of “Stinkin’ Thinkin'” defined clearly in God’s word, right here! Determine to make the change in your (my) thinking today to use these definitions as we ponder “..whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent or worthy of praise”! The good news is that there is a promise after this teaching, and I’ll cover that in our last post in this series!

References:
¹ Precept Austin Commentary
² Blue Letter Bible (Definition of arete)
³ Blue Letter Bible (Definition of epainos)
⁴ James 4:8

“Things that are lovely and
things that are commendable.”

True, Honorable, Just and Pure are the first four things that we are to think on in our study of Philippians 4:8-9. When trouble comes and the schemes of the devil are all around and we find ourselves in a battle with spiritual forces, turn to God to change your Stinkin’ Thinkin’! This next section calls us to think on things that are Lovely and things that are Commendable. As we start to examine these characteristics, ask God to let your mind ponder what those could be for you!

Lovely (Acceptable and Pleasing)

We are next told to think on things that are “Lovely”. What does the Bible say regarding “Lovely”? How is it used and how do we think on it? Well, Strong’s Concordance defines Lovely (G4375) as “Acceptable and Pleasing”. We can certainly gain a lot of insight from what the Bible teaches us about what is acceptable and pleasing. An “acceptable and pleasing” part of Lovely is that we renew our minds and our thinking to what honors God. By asking ourselves that, we test what is from God to know that it is Lovely. (Romans 12:2) We continue to ask “Is what we are thinking about honoring Him, does it bring Him glory or does it focus on ourselves?” If it is God centered, it’s pleasing and Lovely. If it is not, we know to immediately reject that thinking and go directly to God for direction.

Questions that help us know if our Thinkin’ is Stinkin’ !
Ask yourself 3 questions:
1) Are my prayers “God-Centered”? (Psalm 62) (Psalm 16:1-2)
2) Is there un-confessed sin in my life that is allowing this thinking? (Psalm 66:18) (Bible.org Commentary) (1 John 1:9)
3) Am I hearing and responding to the Word of God in my life? (John 10:27)

As I’ve read and prayed through Psalms, it has helped me know God’s will better and has always provided the comfort and direction I’ve needed.

Eugene Peterson wrote about the Psalms in his book “Answering God”. I felt that the quote below was very helpful in my understanding the right perspective in my prayers to God. It is applicable today as it helps us relate to the questions we ask ourselves when seeking the right way to think on the things commanded by Phil 4:8.

Commendable / Good Report

We are also to think on things that are “commendable or of good report”! What does that really mean we may wonder? Used in this context in Philippians, (Strongs G2163) we see that the concordance defines the word or phrase as  “things spoken in a kindly spirit, with good-will to others”. Interestingly, Commendable only appears in this context once in the Bible. Perhaps that characteristic could have a meaning we can use to apply to our thinking.

To focus on this one word “Commendable”, we can let our thoughts drift to how we respond towards others when going through trials. We must be careful to avoid the temptation to look for ways to get even or “one up” in our trials. We should know immediately that it is Stinkin’ Thinkin’. Jesus is our perfect example in how to respond to those who wish us trouble. Even as He was beaten, crucified, humiliated and was suffering a horrible death, He never lashed out towards those who were cruel to Him. Let’s follow HIS example and remember that it is God who will judge. Remember, we are called to think on how we should love those who cause us enough pain to have anger, animosity or harshness in our thinking. Read below where we see Peter pointing out what Christ did as He suffered for us.

1 Peter 2:20-23 (NKJV)

20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

22 “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;

23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously..

When thinking on whatever is Lovely and whatever is Commendable, we will be filling our minds with things that inspire the worship of God Almighty. If we are in anguish, think about how we can best serve others, all to bring the praise and glory to Him. Worship Him in God-Centered prayers confessing our sin and responding to His call on our lives. Pray through the Psalms and lift Him up in your praises. Keep our thoughts on what He has done for us, not lashing out at others but praying for them and seeking ways to minister to them as Christ leads.

Thank you for sharing part of your day with me as we think together on ways to change our “Stinkin’ Thinkin'”! In our next study, we will examine what it means to think on “things of excellence” and “things that are worthy of praise”.

..Whatever is just, whatever is pure,..

In our first study of the characteristics of things we are instructed to think on, the first two were: “things that are true and honorable“. We became aware of the need to start finding those things in our lives through scripture and apply them in our thoughts. We remember that truths such as Scripture, Salvation and our eternity with God came as some of the first thoughts to meditate upon. We know that honorable things are such that we change our thinking to align with Christ and what He wants for our lives and to think thoughtfully on how we can go about doing that. In this second of five parts we begin to think on whatever is just and whatever is pure.

Our second characteristics study: Just and Pure

Just / Righteous

We look closer now on those words right before Just and Pure, which are: “Whatever is..”. “Whatever is”, is a pretty big phrase and could encompass a very broad area of thought. So what does he mean when he says “Whatever is Just“? A word study finds that the Greek word is “dikaios” (Strong’s Concordance G1342) and is used 33 times in the bible. It also means Righteous and that definition is: “One who is upright, virtuous, keeping the commands of God. One who is used of Him and whose way of thinking, feeling, and acting is wholly conformed to the will of God.” I would say that this is a very broad explanation as to “Whatever is”!

So when we ask ourselves to think on Whatever is Just and Righteous, where does scripture point us? Perhaps it’s not just Whatever, but more aptly “Whomever”, is where our thoughts should be! My thoughts immediately go to the only One who is Righteous and Just: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit!

I might phrase it this way: “Think on whatever are characteristics of the Just and Righteous God. Meditate on who He is and what He has done, is doing and will do in our lives. Think on the ways that we should honor, worship and praise Him.”

Here are some references we can reflect upon when thinking on Him:
God the Father: John 17:25, 1 John 1:9, Rev. 16:5
God the Son: Matthew 3:16-17, 1 John 2:1, 29, 3:7
God the Holy Spirit: Romans 8:10, 14-17

What are some other ways to think on what is Just? I’d like to hear your thoughts as well.

Pure

Beginning our search on what is “Pure”, we see the word in Greek as “hagnos“. (Strong’s Concordance G53). When I think of “Pure”, I think about what it means to be innocent, modest, perfect, chaste, clean, and holy. I have listed a few scriptures below that help me in forming thoughts as to what is “hagnos” when temptation comes my way.

References to apply to the meaning of Pure:
Wisdom from Him: James 3:17
Our hope in Him: 1 John 3:3
Our conduct in Him: 1 Peter 3:2

Here are my tips when thinking of “Pure”:
• I try and focus on things like the innocent baby Jesus in the arms of Mary and why He came. (Innocent)
• I remember how Jesus lived a pure life having never sinned. He lived modestly and worked as a carpenter in a small village. Certainly not how the world would view a savior or King! He did this and set the example for all of us. (Perfect, Innocent)
• I think most importantly I see the perfect, sinless and Holy Lamb of God dying for my sins and raising again. He paid the price for me so that I can be with him forever. He offered salvation to any who would simply receive it and all I had to do was repent, believe and confess.(Holy)

Thinking on the purity of the Son of God and what He did for me is the quickest way to thwart an attack of the devil. It changes my perspective immediately and I’m sure that when you are confronted with the temptation of Stinkin’ Thinkin’ that you too will see a remarkable difference when you think on the purity of Christ.

There are many more examples that I could site here, but I think it important to allow our minds to ponder what examples we see in scripture on what is “Just and Pure”. We should cling to those things when the battle for our minds begins.

Part three of our study builds on the first two parts as we begin to think on “Whatever is lovely and whatever is commendable”. Be in prayer over this next part and ask God to open your eyes to what He is saying.

So far in our series we have seen many ways to help us know that we are saved if we are true believers in Jesus Christ! We have studied the following clues given to us: “Spiritual Warfare, Scriptural Assurance, The Holy Spirit’s Ministry, Answered Prayer, Obeying and Loving God’s Word, and Knowing the Truth”. Today, we look at two more ways to know that we are saved: “Hating sin and doing it less, and Loving other Christians”.

Hating sin and doing it less

As believers, we know that sin separates us from God and on our own we have no way to be with God. We know that Jesus’ sacrifice for us paid the penalty for our sins so that we may be saved, just by believing and asking Him to save us. But we still have a “sin nature” in us that is constantly at war with our saved spirit. Occasionally, we stumble and fall, committing sin against others and God. We know that God hates sin and it has a condemning result (Romans 6:23). We know we are to hate evil (Psalm 97:10) and love the Lord. Our hating sin is an indication of our salvation.

As a believer we relate in a new way! “ ¹Because we abide in Him (Romans 6:6), we are no longer slaves to sin, but have an option to do good (Romans 6:14, 17-18). We will always be acutely sensitive to sin (John 1:7).” If we are growing in our faith we will begin to hate the sin that we commit and will abhor doing it. ¹“A believer should see a decreasing pattern of sin in their lives, it means that his faith is genuine”. We will immediately confess our sins and He will forgive us (1 John 1:9). We have not lost our salvation, but our fellowship with Christ is broken. Confession restores our fellowship with Him and we learn from that not to do it again.

“A decreasing pattern of sin in a believers’ life, means that his faith is genuine“ Dr. John MacArthur

If you are not seeing a decrease in sin or don’t think it’s that bad, reconsider if you have genuinely given your life to Christ. However, if we sin less and less, we know that our faith is real and that shows as a further indication of our assuredness of salvation.

Loving other Christians

As I have grown in my relationship with Jesus, I have seen a deeper love for my fellow believers. In 1 Peter 1:22, Peter says as we obey the truth that we have a “sincere love of the brethren and that we are to fervently love one another from the heart..” As we continue on in this passage we see that we are born again not of the seed which is perishable but imperishable through the living and enduring word of God. He gives us our strong desire to love, fellowship and care for each other.

“He gives us the strong desire to love, fellowship, and care for each other”

We also learn through scripture that the world will know we are Jesus’ disciples if we love one another ( John 13:35 ). Our lives should be the very example of love for each other as Christ loved us. The world sees our desire to love God and each other and they know whose we are. We are always being watched by unbelievers and they are looking for ways to discredit us. But if they see us caring for each other by the kindnesses we show each other and how we are unified in Christ, some may be persuaded to want to come and join us.

So ask yourself several ¹questions to see if some of these describe you in any way.

1. Do you care about other believers, or are you cold towards them?
2. Do you respond positively to opportunities to give yourself to ministries?
3. Do you look forward to having fellowship with other Christians?
4. Do you look forward to times when you can study God’s word and spend time in prayer with other believers?
5. When you see a need in another believer at your church, are you willing to provide money, time, prayer, resources, service, or even just to listen to them?

If you can honestly say YES to these questions, you can know you are His child and are saved. You see HE put those desires in your heart, not the world! Know that you are blessed beyond measure and thank Him for revealing to you that you are His. If you can’t say yes to any of these, perhaps you are not saved yet, but don’t be discouraged, you now can see that He is calling you to Himself even as you read this post. Why not ask Him to save you right now today?

Ref: ¹Dr John MacArthur, “Strength for today – Assuredness of Faith”.

In this series on assurance we have seen how the bible defines salvation. We found the first of several ways to understand how insecurity can creep into our relationship with Christ and attack our security. We’ve learned that “Spiritual Warfare” and “Scriptural Assurance” are two ways that we can know we are in fact God’s children. We have seen, using many scriptures, how those interact and again point to the sovereignty of God and His great love for us. Today, I’d like to dig into the next couple of ways that we can know that we are saved. “The Holy Spirit’s Ministry” and “Answered Prayer”, are distinct and clear ways of knowing without a doubt whose we are!

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry

As a believer, you know who the Holy Spirit is and many things about Him. You know that He was given to us as believers (1 John 4:13). As we look together into how He works in our lives, we will see how evidences of His ministry assures us of our salvation.

So let’s look at a few of His ministries towards us.
• Intimate fellowship with God (Galatians 4:6): As believers, His Spirit draws us to Himself and comforts us as His dear children. Think of your dearest and closest friend here on this earth. That person who knows you best and cares for you no matter what happens. As close as that relationship is, a Christian’s relationship with God can be even deeper. Find comfort in knowing He has you and you are secure in Him.
• Compelled to praise! (Ephesians 5:19): Do you feel the need to just cry out in praise to the Father? The filling of the Spirit produces that praise in you. In my life I find that I can’t help but shout to the Lord and glorify Him! There’s a song by Chris Tomlin called “You and I were made to worship“. I’d suggest that you listen to that song and know that if everything cries out from you – that is another sign of your salvation. Those who don’t love Him, can’t do that, nor do they want to.
• Showing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23): (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) Are you seeing these in your life? If you look at the previous points here in this section, you can see other fruits as well. Do you feel compelled to pray and meditate on His words or sing out in praise? Those too are ways to draw nearer to Him in fellowship. These are more ways that He shows you that you are His!
• Gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-13): A partial quote is here: “⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. ⁶ There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. ⁷ But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” As a new or older Christian you may not yet have discovered your gift from the Spirit. If you don’t see the gifts above, remember that there are a “variety of gifts, but the same Spirit”. If you are saved, you have a desire to know what God has equipped you with and you can easily find it. I would suggest that you start out by asking God to reveal it to you. He WILL! There are several websites that will guide you through the process. Here is one suggestion: Spiritual Gifts Test (It is free and confidential. At the end they will give you a detailed report based upon your answers. They will also ask you to create a login; go ahead as I believe that it is well worth it.)
• Only through His Spirit you can say “Jesus is [my] Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:3 AMP): If you believe in your heart – and have confessed Him as Lord of your life, you are saved. Trust in Him and trust in the decision you made to follow Him! You will never regret it if you are saved!

“Let the Holy Spirit’s work in your life dispel the dark shadows of doubt¹.”

Answered Prayer

It has been answered by evangelists and pastors for years when asked if God answered prayers, that He answers either “yes”, “no”, or “not now”. Whatever the answer to your prayer is, you got an answer to your prayer! So as we ponder answers to our prayers, let’s start with where our heart is when first approaching God with our request. Remembering at all times that God is faithful to His word. He says that if we are righteous before Him, our prayer to Him can accomplish much (James 5:16).

Inward or Outward?

When you begin to pray for a certain situation or event that is upcoming in your life, ask yourself what is the motivation? Are we asking things that are pleasing to Him (1 John 3:22), or are your motives driven by your own desires? I would encourage you to read 1 John 5:14-15. Here we are reminded that if we believe in the name of the Son of God, we are saved. Since we are saved we can come before Him confidently if we ask according to His will.

Let’s ask some more questions!

As we’ve now focused on what God’s will is in our prayer life, let’s look a little deeper and see where he has answered us! If we reflect on several questions, we can see just how God does answer prayer. ²For example: “Have you prayed for someones difficult situation and seen God turn it around to one of joy and blessing? Have you seen an unsaved person you’ve prayed for come to Christ? Has God filled a void in your life that you prayed that He would? Have you prayed for boldness in proclaiming the gospel and seen God working through you? Have you known forgiveness and a clear conscience after you’ve prayed to that end?”

How about other areas in your life? If you think on those things, you will see where God answered your prayers. Have you thanked Him for saying “no” when you came to realize what a horrible mistake it could have been if yes was the answer? Have you seen where only God could have accomplished something in your life? Have you ever stopped and said “Wow, that’s definitely a God Thing”? If you can truly answer “YES” to any of those questions, you most certainly are saved! Have confidence dear brother or sister.

In this section of our study, we have learned that the Holy Spirit’s Ministry and Answered Prayers in our lives will help us gain confidence in our salvation. We see again where the scriptures point us to security in Christ. The next attributes of assurance will be: “Obeying and Loving Gods Word” and “Knowing the Truth”!

References: ^1,2From “Strength For Today” by Dr John MacArthur