2 Timothy
1:6-7 NKJV 6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you
through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
In Scripture
so far I have only found “open” listed with opened eyes ( 2 Chronicles 6:20 and
verse 40), and gates will be open continually. ( gates: Isaiah 60:11)
Being the
sound mind, is being the disciplined in the thought patterns of the Lord, making
right decisions, including the quality of self-control/self-discipline!
The Open
Mind is open to anything! But Scripture tells us perfect peace have those whose
mind is stayed or fixed on the Lord: Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trust in You.
The Lord keeps us in health,
happiness, well-being and peace who stay in His presence, residing in His
goodness and light. All started in the Lord will be of good in health, good in
happiness, that well-being of stepping outside our doorway to do for His glory
and to His praise, for His will for us is good!
Philippians
2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the
form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made
Himself of no reputations, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming
the likeness of men. 8 and being found
in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of
death, even the death of the cross.
Being humbled in the Lord is
paramount before you stand before men in either leadership or leading a family!
Having His mind, is Christ-like humility. It was manifested in the son of God,
manifested in the freedom of God’s Son to affirm the fullness of all God has
placed in Him without His need to flaunt, prove or push through to an agenda or
self-advancement. Jesus did not clutch for power. And we see many today
clutching for that power, for that self-advancement. Unless it is the Lord
rising in us, then we clutch for that human power thing and that will not work,
not today or ever. It will fail!
In that arena
of the air ( those in league with the devil), you see strange things: In Luke
6:11 you can see men filled with rage ( madness) who do not want God on any
level of their leading. They want to be rid of Jesus, when there is a healing
on the Sabbath. Salvation brought us into the kingdom of God to see and to
hear. But will we see and hear to obey His commands. Matthew 12:43-45 NKJV 43
When a n unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking
rest and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I
will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it
empty, swept and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other
spirits more wicked than himself and they enter and dwell there; and the last
state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked
generation.
We have seen that within our own
nation, where people are trying to remove God from everything mountain:
religion, the family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, and
business. And if one does not have God, then they can have demonic activity
around them or in them.
BUT, when a demon is removed, a person's mind
is cleaned of chaos and made orderly. To avoid being possessed again, he needs
to replace what was swept out with God's Spirit & truth. As of the demoniac of Gadara, the man under
that influence cannot rest. That demon removed also had the role he played in
tormenting a person. Hunger and thirst must be our heart for the Lord: to fill
our heart with the water of His word; To be cleansed Purity of Heart : Matthew
5:8 NKJV 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Purity of heart: the pure draw near to God:
James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands,
you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 2 Corinthians 7:1 therefore having these promises, beloved,
let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh & spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Psalm 15:2
He who walks uprightly & works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. 3 He who does not backbite with
his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach
against his friend; 4 In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors
those who fear the LORD. He who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5
He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against
the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.
The sound
in mind will not be moved or shaken from his steadfastness in the Lord!
The demons
in the men are uncontrollable ("neither could anyone tame him,") Mark
5:4 because he had often been bound with shackles & chains. And the chains
had been pulled apart by him, & the shackles broken in pieces; neither
could anyone tame him. 5 And always night & day, he was in the mountains
& in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.6 When he saw
Jesus from afar, he ran & worshiped Him.
Evil people
cannot control their desires, and society cannot control them, so crime rages
on. Living God's way of life as revealed
in the life of Christ is the answer. God provides the right mind to produce the
fruit of the Spirit, including self-control (Galatians 5:23). Galatians 5:22-24
NKJV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no
law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions
& desires.
Spiritual
love, that godly love, is unattainable by those driven by the spirit of this
world. This agape love—the love of God—is the kind that is "poured out in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit[which] was given to us" (Romans 5:5). Jesus
warned His church that the wickedness of the world would increase to such an extent that it
would sap the spiritual heat out of His own people, causing their love to grow
cold. Matthew 24:12 NKJV 12
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow
cold.
3 John 11
Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of
God. But he does evil has not seen God.
1 John 2:29
If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices
righteousness is born of Him.
We are to
be unpretentious and balanced in spirit. Tranquility will rule our hearts in
mind when we are instructed to the truth of God. Jesus instructs the healed man
to tell people about his deliverance, particularly those who were familiar
& intimate with him. He wants him to be an example of God's grace, first
among his own family & friends, so that they can come to repentance. Luke 8:39 Now the man from whom the demons
had departed begged Him that he might be with Him, but Jesus sent him away,
saying, 39 Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done
for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed
throughout the whole city what great
things Jesus had done for him.
The sound
mind will speak of what great things Jesus has done for him. The open mind is
open to madness of the world. The sound mind gives what is sound in ideas. The
sound mind is righteous in accepting alternatives as in medicine. Not going
about to change anything that God has created! Sound mind will not tolerate
that which is false according to God’s standards. The open mind has a way but
the ditches are wide and long. Sound is peace, with truth prevailing! The open
minded are open to the world, to things the world speaks and get a good smell
of the cesspool the world offers. It
sees parades of culture passing by and allowing you the person to decide what
parade of culture you desire, to hitch a ride or just jump on with both feet
and go with the “crowd”!
Let’s
rekindle the fire in our hearts to that sound mind. Let us have a conscience and
know what is before us. Let us understand the ways of God for life eternally. For
the open mind has that empty place and is void of God. The open mind has no
walls, if righteousness is not our breastplate. For the world hosts evil and
the Christian in his aggressive prayer warfare will assail that of demonic
strongholds. You cannot take hold of something of evil and take God’s hand to
demolish. We are to seek the lover of our souls. It is living with a gusto for
life He was so merciful to give. And it was His same mercy that sent the Son of
His love.
As the
demoniac of Gardara has revealed once
healed by Jesus, once made whole by Jesus, once saved for the Lord’s glory, his
first response to that active witness was what Jesus pointed him to. He told
him to stay and tell others of what had occurred to him. A Christian is first responsible for witnessing
to those closest to him, who will see the greatest difference in him as he
lives God's way of life.
We do that
as the demoniac saved, he dressed or clothed and in his right mind. That sound
mind or right mind, is the word: “sophroneo” a N.T. word 4998 meaning sound
mind, sane or to be sober.
Can you
imagine you making such an impact to those around you when you walk in with a
right or sound mind? Can you imagine when they see you not scared but they are
shaking in their shoes? Can you imagine when you Speak and God is with you in
that speaking? How awesome to have sound mind: one that heeds what Jesus spoke,
watches for the signs He outlined, praying regularly and earnestly as He did
staying close to the Father and to keep doing, heading toward destiny in God’s
work. In Luke's account, Jesus tells us that "when you see
these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near" (Luke
21:31). Then He warns about not letting "that Day come on you
unexpectedly" (verse 34).
Praying helps us to keep our focus. We use a sound mind to
communicate. Our prayers are meant to help us keep watch over our spiritual
condition and world events, praying for
the Kingdom of God and for all that God tells us to pray about!
Peter warns us, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your
adversary the devil walks about like a oaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour" (1 Peter 5:8). Staying aware of the powerful behind-the-scenes
role of Satan and his demons enables us to understand the atrocious evil and madness of this world. It also enables
us to "resist" them (James 4:7).
Madness
is seen today, and mayhem is to the extreme, but with a
sound mind we will stay in peace for the Prince of Peace resides in our hearts. Proverbs
14:16 A wise man fears and departs from evil, but a fool rages and is
self-confident. A wise man will never
trust in himself, the wise man fears God!.......In the N. Testament, God’s
judgment for man’s actions was placed on Jesus; believers will not suffer wrath;
But ungodly actions still bring ungodly results…It will come from a man
and from the devil!
Each of us
has to be revived in that which is in and through Jesus Christ. There is no
revival without the revival fire in each of us! Where are the sacrifices and
the burnt offerings ? Balaam was consecrated to personal gain and eternal
perdition of what we see in Numbers 22. And a donkey spoke to him in his
madness. In Jude 11 Woe to them! For
they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for
profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. Just wandering to catch up with
a “crowd” to go astray should not be the battle cry! May the doors that be open
be only those the Lord has opened for us to enter; for the Lord knows the way
of righteous, those just, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
POWER
