Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day ( Monday 11/10/08)

A Messy Mentality In A Clean Situation

Philippians 3:12-14 (Amplified Bible)
12) Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.
13) I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14) I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.

My God daughter and I have a very strong spiritual relationship and a friendship. We have an odd kinship by many people's standards because she is 18 years younger than me, and I have known her since she was about 13. She is my daughter but she is also my friend, we laugh, cry and experience life with and through each other's wisdom, challenges and experiences. This past week we made a pact to ensure our rooms got thoroughly cleaned and organized by the end of the week. I saw her today after church she told me of how she had preserved and finished her bedroom but that she had become so use to the clutter she was still operating in the old mind set, the old room's mentality. She was still maneuvering around her room as if the room was still clutter and unorganized. We both laughed and said that is a devotional.

How many times in our lives has God taken us out of or delivered us out of a particular habit, situation or circumstance, only to have us stay in it mentally. Maybe He saw fit to promote us or elevate us in ways that we found different than the norm. but we could not adjust because our mind stayed behind. For many of us we are still carrying the same spirit the same mentality, the same behaviors from the old situation right into our new blessing, or our new deliverance. When our lives are cluttered, disorganized and out of God's will we operate within our own power and our own strength trying to get around and trying to exist, but when God steps in to move us out into a brand new arena, or venue, we should take with us a new attitude, a new spirit, the spirit of an overcomer. The mentality and the attitude should lend itself to our new situation. My sister was watching a television program the other night and as I stood in her room speaking with her I heard it relaid "money doesn't buy you class." It is true that it does not automatically make you classy, but it can afford you lessons. When God is our source of deliverance we have the ultimate source to renew our minds and hearts to function in healing, heath and safety. To have a mind that is free and empowered to live an abundant life one that is no longer bound to past tragedies, or mishaps, but delivered and free to move about in God's Grace.

Today as we look at where God is taking us, or what he is changing, cleaning up or elevating us to, we need to evaluate what kind of mind set we will need to function in the comfort of God's Grace and favor. It is truly not the same lack luster behavior that kept us stepping over messes and pushing things to the side just to survive. We should have a new mind that is renewed by God's Word and His power. We should take comfort in realizing that the chore is done and God has seen us through to a new day and a new place, laced with His love, kindness and endued with His power!