A lot of Christians make all sorts of efforts in order to live a blessed way of life. The approach often leads to all kinds of works and faith formulas. Yet I believe that Jesus Himself has given us the best formula for getting all our needs met and living a blessed way of life in Matthew 6:33.
Christians tend to assume that the kingdom of God and His righteousness is seeking to avoid sin with an effort of the will and to do good works, all with the aim of going to Heaven when your time on earth has come to an end. But Romans 14:17 tells us what the kingdom of God really is.
In Matthew 6:33, Jesus promise that all these things, being all the things we need in life, will be added to us – if we will seek to maintain a sense of God’s righteousness in us through faith in Christ; we are also to seek God according to His Word, so as to maintain a flow of supernatural peace and joy in our lives - supernatural because it is in the Holy Spirit.
The Concise Oxford English Dictionary provides two meanings to the word supernatural.
1. (of a manifestation or event) attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature.
2. exceptionally or extraordinarily great.
Both these meanings are true of the supernatural peace and joy to be found in the Holy Spirit. We are seeking peace and joy beyond natural means; beyond logical or even scientific explanation. When the world says we ought to be in a state of despair, anxious, sad or fearful – we are to maintain peace and joy by means other than what would seem natural to those in the world.
There has been an incredible amount of Christian teaching during recent times regarding the importance of maintaining a healthy thought life. Quite rightly too because the thoughts you think today contribute a great deal towards determining what kind of future you will have.
Most teaching puts the emphasis on the believer thinking the right thoughts. This is correct but we also need to acknowledge that no matter what thoughts we think, if we do not have the peace that only God can bring, then we are not going to win the battles in our thought life.
No amount of positive thinking or confessing scripture is going to bring you a victory if there are areas of stubbornness and selfish ambition in your attitude. Attitudes and motives are everything. If your attitudes and motives are wrong, then your desires, your thinking and your expectations will also be wrong. These wrong thoughts patterns are what lead to wrong behaviour.
There is an element of truth in that God will often hold off from blessing people when they sin. But it is not so much the wrong behaviour that wards God off, it is the thinking that goes behind it – it is the unbelief. Essentially, wrong behaviour is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sin. If we are to really get serious about tackling sin, we have to look beneath the surface and check-out our thought life.
It is love that brings us the peace that enables us to stop the continuous flow of superfluous thoughts that are not from God, but are from the soul, and therefore, form no useful purpose in our lives. When those thoughts are strong enough they spill out of our mouth in the form of murmurings and complaints.
We need the love of God so that we can bridle the tongue. But in order to get the love of God flowing within us, we have to welcome that love by coming into agreement with God.
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