Matthew 6:34 – “Do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

I’ve been working on a schedule to keep track of everyone’s comings and goings at our house. With two daughters in college, a son in high school (playing soccer, too), my husband working, me working, and a grandson that needs to be taken care of, our lives seem to speed right by. I can’t believe that it’s already September!

The seemingly hardest part of our busy lives is fitting everything that needs done into each day. It is very easy to forget or leave out the most necessary part of the day-time alone with God. As a mother and wife (and now grandmother), it is very easy to neglect myself, but I try to remember to feed myself each day. Somehow, I am having and always have had trouble setting aside time with God, which is the most important meal of the day. If I don’t feed my soul, my life dissolves into a chaotic scramble to find enough time.

I have found that I cannot love God with all my mind if my mind is too busy to include Him in each day. I start off each day worrying about getting everything done that is scheduled for that day and I finish my day worrying about what is scheduled for the next day. I sometimes find it hard to be thankful for the gift of each day: “This is the day that the Lord hath made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24.

This whole worry cycle is what started me searching for a better way to keep track of our days. I have found great help in the book I’ve been reading by Elizabeth George - Loving God with All Your Mind. She has some great guidelines for managing time and mastering worry.

• Guideline #1: Prepare. Prepare in the evening. Do certain tasks the night before. Prepare some of tomorrows tasks tonight. She suggests making as much of the next day’s evening meal as possible (brown the chicken, wash and tear the lettuce, chop the vegetables-you get the picture). Do a quick tidy job of the house just before bed. Lay out your clothes for tomorrow. Prepare in the morning. Take a few minutes to spend with God. I have found that I can read a devotion from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers while I drink a cup of coffee or tea. Then I can pray over the words I receive and my mind can mull the message all day long. Mark 1:35 tells us that Jesus knew the value of meeting early with God. “…in the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there.”

• Guideline #2: Plan Ahead. Planning ahead helps us be more effective during the course of our day, and our planning needs to be both long-range and short-range. Long-range planning helps us keep up with birthdays (one of my greatest challenges), parties, vacations, holidays, remodeling, moving, retirement. We break these large tasks into bite-size pieces with long-range planning. Short-range planning helps us meet the days demands: Who’s watching the baby while Heather is in class? What’s for supper? Wednesday Bible study starts at 7 PM. Whatever is important for your day falls under short-range planning…we incorporate the big tasks into these plans as well.

• Guideline #3: Pray. British preacher and writer F.B. Meyer had seven rules to live by every day. Number one on his list was “Make a daily, definite, audible consecration of yourself to God. Say it out loud: Lord, today I give myself anew to you.” Elizabeth George says “Giving God everything means giving Him myself, my things, and the people I care about as well as the physical, the practical, and the emotional concerns of my life. All these are His to do with as He likes. This complete commitment to God of all that I am and all that I have is another way I respond to God’s love and try to love Him with all my mind-and making this commitment daily is key.”

• Guideline #4: Proceed. Now we must put into practice all the guidelines each day. Our day has been prepared for, plans are made, and lifted up to God in prayer. Now we are to live this day joyfully as unto the Lord. The focus becomes the task at hand and not the worries for tomorrow. We can obey Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:34.

And we can better calm our mind and heart and put into practice our most important goal: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30

First printed September 2005 in The Freedom Reader, a publication of Spring Valley Freedom Bapist Church, Huntington, WV.

2 Corinthians 10:5 – “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

We have a society that spends a great deal of time and money on ourselves, everything from the diet, exercise, and plastic surgery craze to outcome-based education in our schools that emphasizes “self-esteem” over basic learning. Women, in particular, are targeted daily by advertising on TV and magazines…even ‘news’ stories that focus on what society has been deemed the ideal woman. I have to think that the basis of this focus on self is a scheme of Satan to direct our thoughts away from our Creator and Savior. The sad fact is that most people are completely unaware of the spiritual battle that goes on around us and we become unknowing participants for the enemy when we live in this unawareness.

I myself have spent a good portion of my life worrying over what I thought others must be thinking of me. I have a tendency to talk very fast when I am nervous or uncomfortable in a situation. I suppose the reason for this is if I fill a person’s mind with a barrage of words, then he or she doesn’t have time to form negative thoughts of me.

Now, is this sin or just the natural response of a person with low self-worth? I have come to believe that they are one and the same for the following reasons:

The Bible is full of the evidence of God’s love for us. It is our responsibility to find that evidence by daily reading His word.

Elizabeth George gives these tips for training our thoughts:
“Step 1: Recognize the command – Philippians 4:8 is God’s command to us to focus our thoughts on the truth of His Word and the things in life that are real.

Step 2: Respond in obedience – By definition, thoughts that are not true or real are mere “speculations.” The are “lofty things raised up against the knowledge of God,” and they have to be taken “captive to the obedience of Christ.”

Step 3: Reap the benefits – When we acknowledge God’s command and take steps to obey it, we will find ourselves enjoying greater energy and spending less time in melancholy introspection. Thinking thoughts that are true and real frees up our energy for positive and constructive uses.” From LOVING GOD WITH ALL YOUR MIND, Harvest House Publishers © 1994.

Here are some verses to memorize to help you focus on the truth:

• I John 1:9 – God is faithful.
• I Corinthians 6:20, I Peter 1:18-19 – You were bought by Christ’s blood.
• I Peter 5:7 – God cares for you.
• John 1:12 – You are a child of God.
• Romans 5:8 – God loved you first.
• Ephesians 2:10 – You are His workmanship.
• Romans 8:35 – God has always loved you.
• 2 Timothy 1:9 – God has a plan and purpose for you.
• Psalm 139:14 – God made you unique.
• 1 Corinthians 12:7 – God has gifted you with spiritual gifts.

When we understand our image in God’s eyes-through the covering of the precious, holy blood of Christ that washes us and makes us pure-what right do we have to fret over what humans might be thinking about us? We have a direct command to “take captive every thought” in obedience to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He deserves no less than our full obedience and complete attention. There is a beautiful chorus that states just what benefit we will get from focusing on Him: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

Our Most Important Goal: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30.

First printed August 2005 in The Freedom Reader, a publication of Spring Valley Freedom Bapist Church, Huntington, WV.

I wanted to share some of the insights I’m gaining from delving into the Biblical principal of Mark 12:30. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your heart.”

So the question is: How do I do that? Humans are not naturally God-lovers. We are disgustingly in love with ourselves. Just think of how often your speech or others includes the words I, me, mine…

Elizabeth George, in her book LOVING GOD WITH ALL YOUR MIND, points readers to Philippians 4:8 as the starting point: “Whatever is true , whatever is honorable, what ever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.“

The word “dwell“ is translated “think“ in the KJV. The literal translation is “ponder on these things.“ Ponder means to consider, think about, wonder about, brood over, contemplate. It gives the idea of spending time in thought…but thoughts of what? The first thing Philippians 4:8 tells us to think about is “whatever is true.” We find absolute truth only in God’s word. It is His love letter to us. Now what can I do to dwell on God’s truth? Elizabeth George states, “one key to loving God with all our mind is not dwelling on the past or on unpleasant memories.” She gives three specific practices to cultivate that will help us dwell on truth:

1. Memorize Scripture-tape Bible verses to your fridge, above your sink, on your mirror.
2. Meditate on Scripture-turn the verses over in your mind, this is deliberate concentration.
3. Master Obedience-as we are committing the verses to our mind, it is of utmost importance that we do what these verses tell us. The ultimate evidence of love is obedience. We should not just know what God’s word says, we should do what it says.

We should never allow our thoughts or feelings to override the truths of Scripture.

” Disciplining our thought life by focusing on God’s true and reliable Word is a giant step toward truly experiencing the love of God so that we can love Him with all our mind.“

Next time, “taking every thought captive“, 2 Corinthians 10:5. Meanwhile, how about using Philippians 4:8 as your memory verse goal?

First printed July 2005 in The Freedom Reader, a publication of Spring Valley Freedom Baptist Church, Huntington, WV.

For 40 years the people of Israel wandered the wilderness waiting for the last of the unbelieving, faithless generation to die before they could enter the land promised to Abraham. Finally the glorious day came and they approached the wild and raging Jordan River where God told the people to cross. The priests carrying the ark of the Lord stepped into the flood-swollen waters – in faith they plunged in and got their feet wet… The waters on the upriver side rose up and stood in one heap a great distance away. Then the priests crossed to the middle and stood on dry ground while all Israel crossed on dry land.

After they all had crossed and while the priests still stood in the middle, God directed Joshua to send 12 men – one from each tribe – to go back and pick up a big stone from the middle of the river. They stacked them up as God told them to. He told them this was to be a memorial so that when their children saw them and asked about them, they could tell the children of how God stopped the flow of the Jordan River so the people could cross on dry, solid ground. (Full story – Joshua 3-4.)

Just one generation later – the children of the generation that received that grand entry into the Promised Land – we are told in Judges 2:10 “All that generation also were gathered to their fathers and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work He had done for Israel.”

Why didn’t they know??? How could their parents, and grandparents (and adult church leaders) have forgotten to include God’s wonderful works for them in telling the old family stories?

But wait……… When you start a story that begins with “Back when I was younger…” do you include what God has done for you? Do you just tell the “I walked three miles to school in the snow” stories?

Or do you tell about the times you walked in the “wilderness” lonely and fearful, and God parted a “river” so you could safely cross on dry ground, protected by His own hand? Do you tell them how you met Jesus and how much you love Him?

Is your life story a memorial to the God of wonders or a history lesson on plain life “back in the day?”

There is great danger in the plain old stories without including God in them… Look what happened to Israel’s children – Judges 2:11 says “Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals (false gods).”

Testimony or History? What story are you telling?

I want to thank Russ Chambers for his message on the evening of March 25, 2007 at 20th Street Baptist Kenova that inspired this article.