'Spirit of...' (3)

God is very serious about us having good and clear thinking: 'Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think' (Romans 12:2 TLB). In 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV), Paul reminds Timothy that God helps us process things properly using a 'sound mind', to help us figure out the most godly way of living. Things like discernment, self-control and peace.

We're all created with an in-built, natural sense of what's good for us, and what isn't, and what behaviour is decent or not. Godly discernment, part of this 'sound mind' from him, goes a step further. God gives us the gift of sensing what is wise - from the mundane (maybe I shouldn't be on Facebook when I have 43 deadlines for tomorrow), right up to the harder-to-work-out stuff. Like when we sense that a situation isn't quite right, spiritually. Or when we sense the need to pray for and support someone.

The important thing to bear in mind is: we don't need to work for a sound mind. We need to ask for one. Good and evil, effective and ineffective, worthwhile and worthless - when faced with choices, God will give us a deep-down sense of what to step in to, and what to step away from.



So what now? Go on... ask for God to share his discernment with you. Ask for the spirit of a sound mind that you are promised.





— SCRIPTURE —

'God has not given us a spirit of fear.' 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
— SOULFOOD —

Lev 23:26-25:55, Luke 2:34-40, Ps 74:1-11, Pro 2:6