Romans 8:5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
Our thought life is one of those last strings that keep us from totally giving our life over to the leadership of the Holy Spirit! We can discount the need to clean up our thoughts, but then we can never get "over the hump" in our walk with Jesus. That next step is a very important one because it changes our motives in life and those are to be controlled by God in very circumstance. I am amazed at the things I think and I can always gauge my growth in my spiritual walk by how carnal those thoughts may be. I used to call it "garbage in garbage out." Whatever we allow into this great hole called a brain influences our growth in our walk with God.
Of course our enemy, Satan, knows this full well and so the constant barrage of evil visuals thrown our way have a purpose for evil. The purpose is to distract us from staying in touch with the Holy Spirit, but the great thing about the Holy Spirit is He is with us at all times because He lives within our heart and life. Satan may try to convince us that we are poor examples of what a Christian should be, but the Holy Spirit is our "helper" and He really helps. The Holy Spirit reminds us that we are forgiven and we can move on in our walk when tempted or when we fail. The Holy Spirit also helps us pray and keep in touch with Abba Father. The Holy Spirit draws us to the Word of God and gives us insights and wisdom in living our life.
If you ever get to feeling that you are far away from God, remember He is in you in the person of the Holy Spirit and He is very near and ready to help you. Just call out to Him and Jesus will be more real than ever before. Also, only put in your mind what is pleasing to God because you are a child of God and He loves you and wants to help you realize more of who He is and what is the best direction for your life. The better way to handle the "garbage in garbage out" is to live your life with "Spirit in Spirit out!" Be filled with Spirit and keep getting filled more and more every day as you grow in your relationship with Him.
Whatcha Thinkin? Make sure those thoughts are controlled by the Holy Spirit.
The Pilgrimage Continues
David Warren