"1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of GOD, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to GOD, which is your spiritual worship.
2 Do not BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD, but be transformed by the "RENEWAL OF YOUR MIND", that by testing you may discern what is the will of GOD, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Memories of my childhood are some of the most influential in my "database". Remembering the lessons learned from my formative years demonstrates vividly Proverbs 22:6 which says "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." One of the "lessons" I learned while growing up was in my grandfathers garden, hoeing weeds from the plants. Now hoeing weeds was one of the most unpleasant chores I was assigned. It seemed I was never as good at hoeing as my grandfather and was frequently being corrected on my technique! The thing I realized later in life, if I didn't hoe the weeds out of the plants, they would "choke out" the plants and limit the productivity of the garden!
Our lives reflect similar principles. If we just allow whatever "springs up" to grow, our life will be grown up with whatever the enemy can do to occupy OUR MINDS! THIS WORLD that we are journeying through is has an evil influence upon it (John 12:31), and we must "weed out" the weeds and unwanted plants that spring up in our minds! Evil thoughts and intentions can be identified and replaced with GODLY thoughts (3 John 1:11). If anything is NOT from GOD it is from the enemy and must be removed from "our garden" or our crops will not grow adequately.
The "RENEWING OF YOUR MIND" is just like hoeing a garden. If we do not allow every evil thought and intention from the enemy to mature and flourish in our minds, our garden will become strong and beneficial to The LORD! The enemy will not be happy with GOD getting glory, to us NOT conforming to this world, and will flood our MINDS with evil thoughts to drag us down! It is IMPERATIVE that we DAILY have a "RENEWAL OF YOUR MIND" to overcome the enemy in his attempt to derail our Spiritual growth!
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