DWELLING ON THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT

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“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”

Romans 8:5

The Lord placed a treasure within every one of us and that is the purity of our own heart. Solomon said, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips” (Proverbs 4:23-24). How do we guard our hearts? The correct way is not to allow any kind of impure, negative or incorrect thought to enter your mind or leave your mouth. Usually, a man confesses with his mouth what he has stored up in his heart.

When the Apostle Paul writes to the church in Philippi, he describes the sort of thoughts that are good. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8). You should always remember the times in which you have seen the power of God manifested in your life, as well as in the lives of your family. Think about the miracles that have happened to other people. Remembering these things will help fill your mind with positive thoughts. Also, the more you study the Word of God, the more your mind will begin to be filled with the thoughts of God. You will reach a place where you think like Jesus thinks, because you are receiving directly from the fountain of God where He will feed and sustain you with His words.

Thoughts of failure will lead to the destruction of your life. Such thoughts steal your faith and your hope, so that you lose the desire to do the work of God. A thought of failure or of depression never comes from God because that thought makes a person feel miserable. They think that they have failed, and imagine that everything they have done in life has had no purpose.

God’s thoughts always lead us to prosper and be blessed. The book of Proverbs says, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit” (Proverbs 21:5a). The man who sets his mind on the things of God never focuses on failure. He will always look towards success, knowing that because God is with him, he can conquer everything. This person understands that together with God, they are in the majority.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
One day, as one of our Sunday meetings was coming to an end, I received a phone call from my mother-in-law. Our third daughter Manuela, who was just nine years old at the time, had been staying at her house for the weekend. The phone call came with bad news, Manuela wasn’t feeling well at all. We went straight to the house and took her to hospital. After some tests, doctors diagnosed her as suffering from juvenile osteoarthritis. They told us that it was fairly serious and she would have to stay in the hospital. In spite of what they told me, I knew that because I was a son of God, no evil could touch my household. Holding Manuela in my arms, I said to her, “Honey, I’m going to pray for you, and I know that God will heal you.” I laid my hands on her to rebuke that spirit of disease in the name of Jesus.

After that prayer, her body was completely restored to its normal condition. The following day, nine doctors came to examine my daughter, one of whom was a national expert in this condition. None of them could understand what had happened; the results of the previous day’s tests did not match what was going on in Manuela’s body. I turned to her and said, “Manuela, I want you to know that the Lord healed you, and that an anointing of healing and miracles has been imparted to your life. He will use you in such a powerful way that you will fill even the largest stadiums. Thousands of people will come, you will minister to them and they will see miracles. The Lord will give you words of knowledge and will show you the healing that He is doing. All this will happen because the power of evil wanted to harm you, but God will manifest His power through you to break evil in the lives of many others.” Currently, Manuela is the leader of the dance ministry in our church. She has the gift of teaching the Word as well as the gift of faith. She has gone on to raise up a precious group of disciples. We have to understand that the enemy is set on bringing evil upon our lives, but the Lord intends to turn it around into something good for us.

TODAY’S DECLARATION
“Because I have submitted my mind to the thoughts of God, I live according to His Word, and the Holy Spirit guards my thoughts.”

Today’s post is an excerpt from Pastor Cesar Castellanos’ book, Declarations of Power for 365 Days of the Year: Volume Two.

TODAY’S BIBLE READING

    • Old Testament: Joshua 15-17; Psalms 78:1-39
    • New Testament: Mark 2:18-28; 1 Corinthians 6:1-11

DWELLING ON THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT