Examine Your Thoughts

"These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far
from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew
15:8-9).

Jesus said that out of the abundance of our heart, our mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34). Of course this is
true, but we also see from Matthew 15:8 that it is possible to say something that's not in our heart. Of
course, ultimately, our heart will be shown through our words.

Words and observations enter through the realm of the soul. When words come into the mind, a
decision must be made. You must decide whether to keep or reject the words that have just entered. If
you accept them, they will eventually enter the heart and either strengthen the fear or strengthen the
faith. Every thought you have either complements or contends with faith.

When Jesus was talking to His disciples about leaving, He said, "Because I have said these things to you,
sorrow has filled your heart" (John 16:6). Your heart can be sad or it can be happy. A great
determination of whether you have a sad or happy heart is by whether you accept words of victory or
words of defeat, words of light or words of darkness that enter into the realm of the soul.

When I was in high school, some of my friends and I would randomly pick out a student and throughout
the day, while passing in the hall, each of us would tell him he looked like he didn't feel well. At first, the
"victim" would reject it and say something like, "I don't feel bad." But after a few hours of several
different people saying the same thing, the chosen student would be in the school clinic asking if they
could go home because they didn't feel good.

What we did was mean and I don't recommend for any young person to do what I did. However, it does
prove a principle. If you listen to a lie and allow it to enter your heart, you will eventually speak the lie
yourself and act on it.

We may say things we don't believe, but if we continue to repeat the lies of the devil, these lies will
embed themselves in our hearts. Then we will speak them and they will become reality.

As words enter your thought realm, keep the good and reject the bad. Examine every thought and
determine its source. Anything that is not of God should be rejected.

"Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are
pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is
anything praiseworthy-meditate [think] on these things" (Philippians 4:8, explanation mine).

"Christians are to have nothing to do with offense. We are not to give it and we are not to take it.
Having to do with offense is what makes life miserable and unproductive. I wish every believer would
read and put into practice what is so clearly presented in Dr. Larry Ollison's book, 'Breaking the Cycle of
Offense.' The body of Christ would make giant leaps of spiritual progress into the higher things of God."
- Dr. Billye Brim