Soul Detox Fix your thoughts week 3

1 Peter 2:11 NLT “Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls."

The enemy wages war against our very soul the scripture says, our immortality.

Detox-removal of toxic substances from a living organism.

1.      When we begin to talk about a removal of toxic things there has to be a deposit of spiritual things, right things, and healthy things.

Philippians 4:6-9 NLT "[6] Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. [7] Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. [8] And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. [9] Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me-everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you."

1.      Vs. 6 We need to thank God for all He has done.

2.      How often do we really thank Him?

3.      Sincerely thank Him?

1.      Well I'm not sure what He done, for me!

1.      Expound here...

2.      If you can't find real things to thank God for then I'm not sure you have relationship with Him.

3.      Relationship requires knowledge of the other person!

1.      That is exactly what the enemy of our soul does, lies to tell us that God doesn't care, He's not listening, He's too busy, He's unaware of what's happening with you, that God He used to do the impossible but just doesn't operate that way any longer.

1.      The devil is a liar!

2.      That is exactly what the enemy does he deceives us into believing that being quiet, being alone, being sick is just our lot and that is all we'll ever have do, or be.

1.      I said the devil is a liar!

3.      That is exactly what the enemy does making us think believe and suggest that our barriers, our borders, our beliefs don't matter.

1.      I'm telling you today that the devil is a liar!

2.      Guard your peace because it is a defense mechanism.

1.      Peace guards your heart and mind.

2.      If you lose your peace (freedom from disturbance) the enemy can get to you because you have let your guard down.

Isaiah 26:3 NLT "[3] You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!"

3.      Vs. 6 Care and prayer are as mutually opposed as fire and water. [Bengel]

1.      Prayer, and desperate requests.

2.      "Prayer" for obtaining blessings, "desperate requests" for averting the evils we fear.

1.      Thank God, for every event, prosperity and affliction alike.

2.      Thanks gives effect to prayer and frees from anxiousness by making all God's dealings matter for praise, not merely for accepting something undesirable, much less murmuring.

1.      When trouble comes prayer should be our first thought not our last resort.

3.      Peace is the companion of thankfulness.

4.      Tell God what you need with generous, unreserved confidence; keeping nothing back, as too great, or too small, to bring before God though many shout their unbelief.

4.      Vs. 7 And--The inseparable consequence of laying everything before God in prayer with thanksgiving is the peace of God, coming from God, and resting in God.

1.      Exceeding, all man's suggestions, ideas, or understanding of peace.

2.      It is in Christ that we are kept secure and guarded continuously.

1.      Shall guard, shall keep as a well-garrisoned fortress there will be peace secure within, whatever outward troubles may besiege.

1.      Guarding our hearts and minds, the control center of our thoughts and purposes.

3.      Fix your thoughts.

1.      Fix our thoughts on God, His word, His purposes, His grace, His forgiveness.

2.      Worshipping Him, trusting Him, following Him, and being honest with Him.

3.      Vs. 8 Fix your thoughts.

4.      Unfocused thoughts are generally dangerous and destructive.

5.      Focused thoughts on the wrong things are always dangerous and destructive!

Illustrate here: secure a board to another board. Secure it, fix it to it. Need a board, screw gun, screws.

6.      Securing my thoughts upon Him.

7.      Not on every..thing...else.

8.      Thinking on.

1.      True-sincere, in words.

1.      Embracing truth.

2.      Honest-Honorable, sincere, free of deceit and untruthful ness, morally correct.

3.      Right-Just-behaving accordingly to what is morally right and fair towards your self and others.

4.      Pure-in relation to God, to ourselves, and to others.

1.      If you are pure when it comes to yourself you will be pure in your relation to others.

1.      One can not happen without the other.

Illustration: of the ballon/phone picture.

1.      This image describes it all.

2.      Remember when skydiving was dangerous and sex was safe?

1.      Yeah me neither.

5.      Lovely-lovable-denoting a sincere and true love for.

1.      Very pleasant or enjoyable. 

6.      Admirable-of good report-deserving respect and approval.

1.      When an insane gunman steps into a school and begins to shoot everyone in his path there is nothing admirable, nothing of good report, no respect is created or approval granted.

1.      Not that Christians should make man's admiration their aim but they should live so as to deserve men's admiration.

John 12:43 NLT "[43] For they loved human praise more than the praise of God."

1.      When we focus on, rely on, regard others thoughts of us more than God's, there is a serious problem and a soul needs detoxification.

7.      Think on, have a continual regard to, about things that are excellent and worthy of praise, virtue.

1.      We can be pious with our love, our face only towards God; or we can be moral with our love facing toward mankind.

8.      Vs. 9 The things you have learned...these practice, the things in words, the things by my example, support and move into practice.

1.      And then, as the necessary result the peace of God Not only "the peace of God," but "the God of peace" Himself "shall be with you."

1.      Spirit, Soul and Body

1.      When you become a Christ Follower, your spirit is instantly transformed into the image of God.

2.      The spirit is that part of you which takes on the nature of God.

3.      According to the Word, once that happens you should immediately start the process of changing your soul.

1.      The Bible calls it "renewing the mind."

4.      Your soul is your mind, your will and your emotions.

1.      Spiritual growth is determined by how much your soul has been changed by the Word of God.

1.      You are in dwelt by the Holy Spirit.

2.      But you are hindered from living a spiritual life by a soul (mind) that thinks like the world instead of like God.

3.      This is true because your soul (will) also determines your actions.

1.      The mind.

1.      Mindsets that will ALWAYS clash:

1.      Wilderness and Promised Land.

2.      Lack and Overflow.

3.      Existence and Abundant Life.

4.      Faith and Fear.

5.      Maintain and Progress.

6.      Purity and Self Indulgence.

2.      The will.

1.      The will has to be shaped continuously.

2.      The will is the faculty by which one decides on and initiates action.

1.      When I discipline my children I am shaping the will.

2.      When God disciplines me He is shaping the will.

3.      The emotions.

1.      A natural instinctive state of mind deriving from ones circumstances, moods, or relationships with others.

1.      Oh how we allow our emotions to run us moment by moment.

2.      Relationships have been lost, destroyed, and severed because of emotion.

3.      Opportunities ruined because of emotions.

2.      Our emotions must be harnessed.

1.      We must learn to control them and use them wisely.

2.      Christianity is not just another religion.

1.      It is the life of God dwelling within and flowing out of the believer.

2.      Religion leaves you the same as you were before.

3.      The wonderful thing about the Christian life is that it will completely transform you.

3.      Your body is just your earth suit.

1.      Once you become a Christian, the Bible instructs us:

Ephesians 4:24 NLT "[24] Put on your new nature, created to be like God-truly righteous and holy."

2.      This means your soul and body are to take on the same image as your spirit.

3.      This happens through the process of changing your mind, your will and your emotions to understand and walk in the ways of God.

4.      To live in God's perfect will you must renew your mind.

1.      You must learn to live from the inside out.

2.      There is no other way to live victoriously.

1.      We are to detox the soul so as to conform to the image of God's Son.

2.      You and I ought to act just like Jesus.

3.      The only thing that stands in the way is our soul.

1.      Our souls are changed, transformed, transfigured when we spend time observing Christ in the Word and in prayer.

2.      His every action, word, and deed inspires soul change, soul detox.

3.      The Spirit of the Lord is in us so that we can walk with God and please Him.

5.      The battle is in the Soul.

1.      The more you know of the Word, the more you conform to the image of Jesus.

2.      The world would have you think that God is a liar.

3.      Yet God tells you that Satan is the liar and the father of them.

1.      In between stands your soul, where the spiritual battle is fought.

2.      Therefore, your soul must be anchored.

1.      Anchored to what?

1.      To hope.

2.      To eternal things.

3.      If it is attached to this world, you will never walk in victory or in the power of God.

4.      If your soul is not fixed on eternal things, it will not hold steady in the time of crisis.

Hebrews 4:12-13 NLT "[12] For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. [13] Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the one to whom we are accountable."

4.      God's Word divides (distinguishes between) the soul and the spirit.

1.      Nothing else can cause you to recognize whether you are being led by your soul and natural thinking or whether you are following your spirit which is led by the Holy Spirit.

2.      Every problem, weakness or difficulty you have could be solved immediately if you knew the mind of God.

3.      But it takes effort, dedication and faithfulness to detox your mind, will, and emotions.

1.      It is a process and doesn't come overnight.

2.      Though your spirit is transformed, your soul must be constantly renewed by the washing of the Word in order to function in harmony with your reborn spirit and God's Spirit.

Ephesians 5:26-27 NLT "[26] to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word."

3.      The Word says we are what we think we are.

1.      Again, this is a process.

1.      You never do something that you haven't already thought about.

2.      Thinking about something eventually leads to making a decision, which determines your actions.

3.      If you're not happy with your life or the things you find yourself doing, examine what you are spending the majority of your time thinking about, what's influencing your thought life.

4.      As you meditate on the Word of God, your thoughts, your will and your emotions will align themselves with the Word, changing worldly decisions into Word-based actions.

1.      The Scripture says that God energizes and creates in us the power to do what pleases Him.

Philippians 2:13 NLT "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him."

2.      He works from the inside out, not from the outside in.

3.      He takes the image of the Word that is in our spirit and surgically implants it into our soul as we know Him.

1.      Only then can we outwardly express the image of Jesus that we inwardly possess.

2.      But this takes conscious effort.

3.      If you are just going to give God a couple of hours a week, your mind will not be renewed.

4.      The Word won't be implanted in you.

5.      You might know some of it with your head, but it's the Word in your soul, coming out of your mouth that changes you.

6.      It's the Word of God that controls your thinking and transforms your life.

5.      So, take the time to get away from the world, and study God's Word, and it will detox the soul.  

1.      Meditate on it, apply it to your life, to your relationships, to your finances, to your career, to raising your children to forgiving others, and allow God's word to change you from the inside out.