beliefs

I was driving my wife, April around downtown Tulsa the other day. It was her first tour of the big city. We went under a bridge and as in most urban areas, there was graffiti painted on the sides. There was also a couple of buildings with it as well. One building’s graffiti has become a little famous, but it’s nothing compared to the “Gum Wall” in Seattle, Washington.

A couple of days later, while I was having a moment with God, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper, “What kind of graffiti have you allowed to be written on the walls of your heart?” Ouch!

I began to think about the messages I see, hear, and the stuff that shows up on TV. Those messages affect us more than we realize they do. For example, we may start accepting the lifestyle as okay, or normal that some choose to live that God calls sin. We will always love the individual, but never the sin in their life. That’s God’s approach. We might chose to stay quiet instead of calling it out for what it is, “destructive lifestyles”, or accepting Satan’s substitute for what God has for us.

I realize now, I need to wash the walls of my heart from time to time. To get the, what some may call, “expressive freedom” removed and put things back to having only the words of God written there.

Proverbs 7:3, talks about writing God’s words upon the walls of your heart:

“…etch it on the chambers of your heart.”

We are also instructed to guard our hearts. Why all this care about our hearts? Because what is in our hearts is what we believe to be true, and that belief comes out of our mouths.

This is not a Thanksgiving post! You will not be a turkey because you ate turkey this coming Thursday! This is funny; I was asked if I would come over for Thanksgiving one year. When I accepted, my friend said, “Oh good. Now we have a turkey!” Some friend, right?

Anyway, what I am addressing is being what you believe, what you accept to be true, even though it may not be. Why the eating tie in? Because people will digest something, and then they become that.

For example, people will become a worrier, simply by spending time worrying about something that most likely won’t even come into existent. They are accepting lies as if they are truth and it affects them. It shapes them into who they are, because of what they believe.

I told a lady the other day, “You worry a lot, and let anxiety overcome you.” She agreed and said, “I always have, and I always will.” What a lie from hell! The devil has convinced her of this, even though it doesn’t have to be that way. It certainly is not the life God wants for her, and every time she gets hurt, or believes these lies and it hurts her, it breaks the heart of God. He loves her so much, and desires for her to be set free from this self-built prison! This is not the life He intended for her to live.

The word of God teaches how to overcome such a life:

“We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.” 2 Cor. 10:5 (TPT)

In case you missed it; we should analyze every thought and ask, “Is this true? Is it a good thought that lifts us up, or is it a negative thought that tares us down?” If the thought isn’t going to do us any good, then dismiss it. Throw it out! Quick! Get rid of it, don’t entertain it one more second, and definitely don’t believe it. If you will learn to do this, overtime you will change. You will become the person God designed you to be, and live the life He intended for you to live.

Now the truth above is something to be thankful for! Perhaps this is a Thanksgiving post after all?