"YOUR MIND!"

Romans 12:1-2                   (ESV)
"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."



The Brain Hemorrhage I experienced in July 2007 continues teaching me lessons almost ten years later.   While the entire experience was relatively easy for me, the unimaginable stress it put on my loved ones is something I would never want to duplicate.  But the life-lessons gained from the Hemorrhage are etched in my MIND like the traumatic event they were.

While I was in the almost three week drug-induced coma, I "dreamed" I was in various cities in the USA....Chicago Illinois, Arlington Texas, Little Rock Arkansas, Shreveport Louisiana, are a few of the places I was ENTIRELY convinced I had been.  It took about three to four YEARS for me to realize that, in fact, I had never left the hospital I was admitted.  The medicine that was being administered to me was probably making me THINK I had been places.  Bless my wife's heart, she kept telling me the TRUTH, and finally I just quit talking about it, FOR IN "MY MIND", I KNEW I HAD BEEN TO THOSE PLACES!!!!

"YOUR MIND" can play very convincing tricks on you!  The Apostle Paul STRONGLY SUGGESTED that we NOT BE CONFORMED (or to be in harmony or accord) with "this world", rather to be TRANSFORMED (or to change in condition, nature, orcharacter; CONVERT) by the renewal of "YOUR MIND"!  Many people allow their mind to guide them without purifying what is placed into their minds.  2 Corinthians 4:4 says "In their case the god of this world has BLINDED THE MINDS of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of CHRIST who is the image of GOD."  This is not an insignificant chore that can be minimized in "YOUR MIND"!  Recognizing that "your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour!" (1 Peter 5:8)

After seeing the movie "WAR ROOM" I developed my own PRAYER LIST that I keep on my electronic devices.  The very first thing on my PRAYER LIST is a phrase from a Bible Study I was doing at the time.  "Only by choosing NOT TO BE SLAVES to our own reasonings and emotions can we WIN THE BATTLE for OUR MINDS and begin hearing the voice of GOD within us."  We are in a BATTLE for our MINDS and the opposition is "the enemy"!  Don't allow "the enemy" to go undetected in "YOUR MIND"!  My prayer is "that by TESTING you MAY DISCERN what is the will of GOD, what is good and acceptable and perfect" and never give into the sneaky attacks of the devil!