God's Message Today
1 Peter 1:13

"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Keeping our minds in top gear isn't the easiest.

We aren't accustomed to hearing the phrase "gird up" today.  But in biblical times both men and women wore long, skirt-like outfits.  If they tried to run in those  clothes, there was a good chance that they could get tangled up in the long fabrics and stumble. When they needed to move quickly, they gathered the material of their garments and pulled it up so they could walk or run freely.  They would "gird up" their clothing.

When the Bible tells us to "gird up the loins" of our minds, it means to get our minds off everything that would cause us to stumble as we run the race God has set before us.  I think it may also refer to concentrating on the thing at hand rather than allowing our thoughts to wander all over the place.  God has a good plan for each of us, but we must walk the path that leads us to it.  

Focus and concentration are both real challenges in our world today.  We have a great deal of information coming at us all the time, and to keep our minds on what our purpose is requires great determination, and even training. 

You might get up on Monday and fully intend to start your day by spending time with God in prayer and Bible study.  Then you intend to get three specific projects finished that day.  You need to go to the grocery store, get some maintenance done on your car, and finish cleaning out a closet that you started working on last week,. Your intention is good, but if you don't focus on those projects you will surely be pulled away by other things or people.  Girding up your mind is another way of saying "stay focused on what you need to do."  

This Week's Meditation:

Teach me to "gird up my mind."

Pray:

Help me to meditate each day: "Show me how to keep focused"
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Teach me to be patient and know you will mentor me. Remind me that prayer motivates me.

Meditate on this for several minutes a day. Allow various thoughts to come into your mind.  And realize God has you in his arms always.

​The third Sunday in June is observed each year in the United States as Father's Day. The origins of this national event are not clear. Some records suggest that it was first celebrated as a church service some 100 years ago in Fairmont, West Virginia, at Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, now known as Central United Methodist Church. Whether this is true or not, the impulse to honor fathers is a worthy one and it comes with the biblical admonition to honor our fathers and mothers.
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In the Bible it is Abraham who is counted as the father of faith and he is revered in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The word "faith" is an important component to remember because it means trust in God--being able to rely on that which is dependable. Abraham trusted God's assurance that his children would become a great nation. The promise came at a point when he and his wife, Sarah, were elderly and childless. And yet Abraham believed that God could do what was foretold to him. He went forward in confidence that God could accomplish, through him, a benefit for all of the world.
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Joseph of Galilee is an exemplary father in the Bible. He married Mary, despite the unusual circumstances of her pregnancy. He dared to be unconventional because he trusted that God was working through her and him. He was a righteous man who dared to take on the roles of husband and foster father. And as refugees from danger, after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, it is clear that he protected his family by going beyond what was familiar to find a safe haven. We can learn much about fatherhood from Joseph.

Another father that captures the imagination is a man called Jairus. We read about him in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke. He was a man of importance whose daughter was dying and he came to Jesus, fell at his feet and begged Jesus to help his child. The actions of Jairus revealed his character. He trusted that God could help and it didn't matter that he had wealth and prestige. He humbled himself for the sake of his daughter.

A final father from the Bible that is impressive is the one who had two sons, one of whom went astray. This is, of course, the story told by Jesus of the prodigal son. The father in the parable teaches his two sons powerful lessons of love: the one who went astray who discovered that his father's care came to him even when he had run away from it and the other who struggled to understand such extravagant love in the face of his brother's failures and his own fidelity. The father in the story, like God, never gave up on either of his children.
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On Father's Day let us remember that we have been given a heritage of dedication and faithfulness from the fathers we encounter in the Bible and from those fathers who exemplify the best qualities of parenting.

God's Message Today
Romans 12:2

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect."

Keep your mind on the positive, straight, and narrow path is harder than you think.

Renewing your mind is not easy.  We renew insurance in our lives and it takes one phone call.  A driver's license, one visit to the online DMV. And we don't have to do it again for a year or a bit longer.  Renewing your mind is more like undertaking the job of renewing and refurbishing an old house. It doesn't happen quickly; it takes time, energy and effort, and there is always something that needs attention.  

Don't get hung up on thinking you can pray, and it will just fall in your lap without much effort.  To get the mind renewed, you have to think right thoughts over and over again, until they become rooted in your thinking - until right thoughts come to you more easily and naturally than wrong thoughts.

You actually have to discipline yourself to think properly, and you will have to guard against falling into old thought patterns, which can happen very easily.  When it does, don't feel bad - just start thinking rightly again.  You will eventually come to the place where wrong thoughts make you feel uncomfortable and they just don't fit into your thinking process any longer.

I know you've been practicing this for the last couple of weeks, and you've gotten a tinge of how difficult this can be. 

Don't feel condemned if you are struggling with your thoughts at this moment.  Don't worry if it takes effort for many days to come.  Condemnation only weakens you; it never helps the process.  Anytime we recognize that we are allowing wrong thoughts into our minds, we should ask God to forgive us and continue pressing on towards our goal.

Celebrate EVERY victory because it helps you to not feel overwhelmed by what still remains to be conquered, and remember that God is very patient and long suffering.  He is understanding and will continually help you down this path.  

That takes lots of practice. 

God's Message Today
Colossians 3:2

"And set your mind and keep time set on what is above, not on the things that are on the earth."

How quickly our mind changes thought even if we try to stay on the right path.

Wet concrete can be moved with ease as it is malleable before it dries or sets.  Once set, it is in place for good. You can not remold it or change it.  The same principle applies to setting your mind.

To set your mind is to determine decisively what you will think, what you believe, and what you will and will not do. It is to set it in such a way that you cannot be easily swayed or persuaded otherwise.  Once you set you mind according to the truth of God's principles for a good life, you need to keep it set and not allow outside forces to reshape your thinking.  To set your mind on Godly things means to be firm in your decision to agree with God's way of living no matter who may try to convince you that you are wrong. 

The reason setting your mind and keeping it set is so important is that there's really not much hope of being able to resist temptation if you don't make up your mind ahead of time concerning what you will do when you are tempted.  You will be tempted; that's  just a fact of life.  So, you need to think ahead of time about the situations that can pose problems for you. If you wait until you are in the midst of as situation to decide whether to or not you will stand firm, then you are sure to give up. 

Make up your mind ahead of time that you are going to go all the way through with God.  Some people spend their entire lives stating and quitting.  They never follow through.  They may set their minds, but when temptation comes, when things get difficult, they don't keep it set.  I strongly encourage you to be one of the ones who finishes what you start by keeping your mind set in the right direction all the way through the victory.

This Week's Meditation:

Teach me to "Keep my mind set."

Pray:

Help me to meditate each day: "Show me how to stay strong"
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Teach me to be patient and know you will mentor me. Remind me that prayer motivates me.

Meditate on this for several minutes a day. Allow various thoughts to come into your mind.  And realize God has you in his arms always.

God's Message Today
Matthew 9:4

"But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why do you think evil and harbor malice in your hearts?"

Take note throughout the day how many negative thoughts you have!

It is amazing how quickly and completely our thoughts can change our moods.  Negative thinking of any kind quickly steals my joy and causes a variety of bad moods.  When we are negative and gloomy, other people don't enjoy being with us: when our thoughts are down, everything else goes down with them. Our moods, countenance, conversation, and even our body can begin to droop in a downward position.  Hands hang down, shoulders slump, and we tend to look down instead of up.  People who tend to be negative in their thoughts and conversations are usually unhappy and rarely content with anything for very long.

Even if something exciting does happen, they soon find something wrong with it.  As soon as they see one thing wrong, they tend to fix their minds on it; any enjoyment they might have is blocked by concentrating on the one negative. They may occasionally experience momentary enthusiasm, but it quickly evaporates and gloom once again fills their entire demeanor.  They probably do not realize that they could be happy, if they would simply change the way thing think.  We must stop merely waiting for something good to happen and take action to ensure that something good will happen.

I am truly amazed when I consider the fact that we have the ability to make ourselves happy or sad by what we choose to think about.  The Bible says we must be satisfied with the consequences of our words, whether the are good or evil (Prov. 18:20).

Our words begin with our thoughts, so the same principal that applies to our mouths also applies to our minds.  We need to be satisfied with the consequences of our thoughts because they hold the power of life and death.  I would add that they hold the power of contentment and discontent, of joy and sadness.

This Week's Meditation:

Teach me to "think happy."

Pray:

Help me to meditate each day: "Think only positive thoughts"
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Teach me to be patient and know you will mentor me. Remind me that prayer motivates me.

Meditate on this for several minutes a day. Allow various thoughts to come into your mind.  And realize God has you in his arms always.