Last night I finished listening to a sermon that I had listened to way back in August. It was preached a week after I had come back from my mission trip to Bangladesh. I remember the sermon set me free in so many different ways but these kinds of sermons are also ones that you need to listen to every week.
Pastor Erin ends the sermon with saying something that hit me like a bomb. What you allow your mind to believe is what you give authority to. More often than we like we give authority to our emotions, to our circumstances, to our body and everything else but the Word; the Word that is living and active, the Word that breathes live and the Word that sets us free.
We tend to wait for our circumstances to get better, for our relationships to change, for our health to improve BEFORE we shift our minds to the Spirit. I entertain the thoughts of the flesh much more than the truth from above.
I'm an escapist. If I don't like something I get away from it rather than stick it through. I'm known to giving up and being very nomadic. I can't stay in one place for more than 3 months so I'm already feeling antsy being here in Waterloo without anything fulfilling to do.
Since things were getting boring and the excitement of being back home died off very quickly, reality hit me pretty hard. I wake up, babysit, eat, go home, sit on the computer, chat with a few friends and then sleep. Every so often I'll go for a walk, discover a new part of this city, chat with a friend over coffee, watch a movie or hangout at the park. I'm not saying my life is bad, but I guess all I could see was how uneventful it was. I was becoming really restless and wanted to run away and hide on some mountain.
After listening to this sermon and another one called All is Well I realized I had set my mind on the petty things. I could only see the bad in my life and felt pretty hopeless. My mind needed to shift to the things of heaven, to the joy set before me, to the love the is overflowing from my Father above and to the people God has blessed me with.
What has authority over you? What is your mind set to? In order to experience the power of God in our lives we have to shift our minds first.
Romans 8:5b
but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
oh, hannah. i am increasingly convinced that we are kindred spirits haha. thanks for sharing this girl!
ReplyDeleteheheh i think so too! i'm glad we've found each other through this blogging world!
DeleteThis is amazing. Just what I need to hear because I'm an escaper, too. I like to take the loooong way around problems insteading of weathering them. I don't like to put my faith into something unless everything in my life is in order. The "I've got this, I'm completely capable on my own" syndrome. It's not a pretty thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you're feeling so restless in your little town! Sometimes it's so easy to be blinded by so much negativity we don't see the good and the beauty and the gifts God has laid out for us. Thank you SO much for sharing this. =]
hehe larissa.. I realize these sermons are shared because most of the struggle with the same thing! i'm so glad this blessed you!
Deletetruth
ReplyDeleteuh huh!
DeleteOh, I so needed this. Thank you for the reminder. ;)
ReplyDelete