REVISED on 6/ 23/ 05 

“Thoughts=Speech=Actions”

(The process for a new direction!)

(Transcript Of CD#80 

 

Today’s study is for anyone who is not satisfied with their life’s direction! Your life’s direction can be changed but you’re the one who has to make up your mind and change it! It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from you can have a life that’s full of peace of mind!

As my father-in-law say we are creatures of habit. We get in a routine, a habit of life slowly. Over time we tend to get our fill of disappointment and desire a new direction.  The only problem is we don’t know how to accomplish the change we seek so diligently. The first thing we must realize is we cannot get different results doing the same things over and over again. The definition of a fool is someone who does the same things over and over again expecting different results.

You and I have been programmed by our environment, our parents, our friends ETC…. When we come to the Lord and give ourselves wholly to Him we must learn to process information differently! We have a study; a tape study (tape #70) entitled “Renewing the mind. It goes into more detail write us for a copy.

With that being said my point is the battle is within our minds. If Satan can get our minds he can makes us ineffective and miserable. Satan will and does attack you in your mind. Understanding this attack is the first step to a new direction, to victory!

You will be doing something and Satan will introduce some kind of trial or temptation into your life. We must understand the Satan will not use the same attacks on me that he uses on you or vice versa. We are different individuals created by God Almighty with different personalities. Satan will use temptations on some and others trials. Some he will us doubt while others pride. So we see how careful we must be in the battle for our souls. Half of the battle is know the method of operation of your enemy!

Open your Bible to 2 Corinthians please:

 

• *2 Corinthians 10:3 says , “³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:”

“walk” # 4043 { per-ee-pat-eh’-o} to tread all around, that is, walk at large (especially as proof of ability); figuratively to live, deport oneself, follow.

“flesh”# 4561 { sarx} flesh (as stripped of the skin), that is, (strictly) the meat of an animal (as food), or (by extension) the body (as opposed to the soul (or spirit), or as the symbol of what is external.

“war”# 4754 s { strat-yoo’-om-ahee} to serve in a military campaign; figuratively to execute the apostolate (with its arduous duties and functions), to contend with carnal inclinations.

You and I cannot win this life’s battle thinking, warring according to our flesh! We are soldiers for Christ and besides the old person is gone we’re now a “new creation” in Christ Jesus! We must fight by faith with the equipment that God our Father has provided for us. Satan attacks and we say next time I’ll do this or that but it’s still according to our flesh. We will lose each and every time! Let’s move on to the next verse which is totally in parenthesis for a purpose:

• *2 Corinthians 10:4 says , “⁴(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds ;)”

“weapons”# 3696  { hop’-lon} Probably from the primary word fðù hepoô(to be busy about); an implement or utensil or tool (literally or figuratively, especially offensive for war.

“mighty”#  1415 { doo-nat-os’} powerful or capable (literally or figuratively); neuter possible.

“pulling down” # 2506 { kath-ah’-ee-res-is} demolition; figuratively extinction:—destruction, pulling down.

“strong holds”#  3794 { okh-oo’-ro-mah} From a remote derivative of G2192 (meaning to fortify, through the idea of holding safely); a castle (figuratively argument):—stronghold.

 

 A castle from history’s view was very strong and sure. The castle had the note of protection, the thick walls which could not be scaled nor rammed through. Take this castle to today say maybe a place like Fort Knox. To break into Fort Knox a person would need something unconventional, something beyond the norm!

Our weapons of the flesh the things of the norm or of no good to us in breaking down those strongholds of the flesh, the devil and yes of the world! We must use God’s mighty ones! We must understand that with man things or limited or even impossible but through God Almighty “all things are possible“but we must follow Christ‘s example and be busy about our Father‘s business!

 

Q. Define a stronghold:

A. We must understand that a stronghold is anything that sets itself up against God and His truth! A “stronghold” can’t be dealt with gently but forcibly!  That “stronghold” that fortified place must come to a “place of extinction” by being destroyed not by us but by God Almighty’s provision. When we do this we can and will have a “new direction”.

• 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “⁵Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

“Casting”#

“down”#

 

So with back to back words from the Greek we see how important it is to demolish our imaginations. Imaginations are translated from the Greek word log-is-mos’ meaning computation, our reasoning or thoughts. So we see how just important our thoughts, our thought pattern is concerning our future. If we have anything whatsoever in our lives that exalts itself against the Lord God Almighty then we have a strong hold. What ever that might be it must be completely destroyed, made extinct by the weapons of God Almighty?

Just a little “high thought” here and there and before we know it we’re in bondage. We can not let our minds go idle and take in the things of the world. Each and every “thought” we have must be in “accordance”  with the Lord Jesus Christ. When we get the world and ourselves under subjection then we have a “new direction“!

 

Q. Okay, Greg, we must use the weapons the Lord has provided, but what are they?

 A. Let’s look at the verses of scripture that show our weapons of war from our Father, turn with me to the great book of Ephesians please:

 

• *Ephesians 6:10-18 says, “¹⁰Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. ¹¹Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹²For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.    ¹³Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.  ¹⁴Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; ¹⁵And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: ¹⁸Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”

 

So we see that we have “armor of God”, weapon’s of the Lord but we must put them on along with prayer. Notice there in verse 18 that we are to “always pray“. Prayer is what opens up the instructions as to how to use the armor, the weapons of the soldier of the Lord God Almighty!

 

Q. Do you get up on Sunday morning and go to church with your family?

Q. Do you then leave church refreshed and excited about the Word but then comes Monday?

A. Before you know it your arguing with your spouse, your children. Thoughts go raging through your mind, thoughts that don’t represent Christ’s love and truth! Satan knows just what buttons to push to keep us acting and reacting the same OLE way. We can’t let Satan make fools out of us. We serve a Lord of all wisdom who wants to impart knowledge of-success to His children!

 

It’s time to apply a new process; it’s time to go a new direction. When we leave church we must leave in the digestive mode. We must digest God’s Word and then it becomes a part of us. When we do this we start this change of new direction we have been speaking. Let’s document that we are to eat the Word of God we must do for ourselves what no on else can do it:

 

• Revelation 10:8-11 says, “ ⁸And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. ⁹And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. ¹⁰And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. ¹¹And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.”

I am not trying to pull this verse out of context here. But this is an example where a servant of God must take the book, the Word and eat it up. When we are in church the Word sounds so good, it tastes so good. But when we leave that protected environment and start digesting the Word it turns bitter. All that means is that the world and Satan will come against us and make “living” the Word hard. When we start this digestion process we will have peace of mind even when trouble comes, praise the Lord!

 

Let’s follow the Lord’s Jesus Christ’s example of teaching. He taught the things of the spiritual from natural so we could better understand. Look at our flesh! Pinch it! Touch it! Our flesh is made up from the organic materials we eat each and everyday of our lives going all the way back to your mother. That organic material was digested and it ultimately becomes you, your flesh body.

 

We are exactly what we eat as the old adage says. To many times we eat for quick energy instead for the long haul. Garbs will give us quick energy and then leave us exhausted. We are running this race of life with patience (Hebrews 12:1-2) for the long haul and we need protein. The truth of God’s Word is the protein that will take us all the way to the finish line! If we do not eat healthy we will slowly get weak, get sick until we finally die. We must change our intake to change what our bodies consist thereof. In like matter you and I must change what we take into our minds, our hearts if we want different results. We have a spiritual body that feeds from our minds, our hearts. This is why we must have a renewing of the mind to become Christ-like! Our old man is sinful and we must keep him nailed on the Cross so we can live pleasing to our Father.

 

• *Colossians 3:9-11 says, “⁹Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; ¹⁰And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: ¹¹Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.”

 

If you and I want to put on the new man (no gender intended) and his deeds, then we must have God’s knowledge working, shaping our very lives. This renewing can only take place when we do more than just “hear” the Word. As we have already shown we must digest it. When we digest the Word we start doing the Word and become the express image of Jesus Christ! Then our nature becomes like Christ’s who always done the Word and works of the Father. Turn to the Gospel of Matthew:

• *Matthew 12:33 says, “³³Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.”

            We know there is no good in us unless we have accepted Christ and are living our lives for Him. People around us can tell who we really are by the fruit on our tree.

 

• *Matthew 12:34 says, “³⁴O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

 

This is another leading verse for our study here. We see that Christ states out of the abundance of the heart a person will speak. So we see that our thoughts produce our words. A little later on we will see that our words will produce our destiny our future.

• *Matthew 12:35 says, “³⁵A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”

 

                Our hearts, our minds is the ground and what we take into it is the seed. This is why we must keep our thoughts under the obedience of Christ in order to produce His fruit!

 

• *Matthew 12:36-37 says, “³⁶But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment. ³⁷For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

Please don’t read over these verse brothers and sisters let it sink down deep into your hearts! From this we see how powerful our words are concerning our future. “Justification and condemnation” are in the power of our mouth. Lord helps us have a new thought process and let our
speech be joyful to you. Now let’s turn to the book of James and we will see our direction from our speech out of our hearts:

• *James 3:2 says, “²For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.”

There are many things we do that cause offense to others. God gave us two ears and one mouth so we would listen more than we speak. If we learn to control our tongue then we are a perfect man. This word gS^Hpsrfc from the Greek simply means complete of labor, growth, and character. We start out, as babes when we accept Christ as Lord and we must grow like our flesh bodies. We are going to make mistakes and sin but praise God for His grace that abounds to us. As we grow we should start to let Him tame our tongue for us so our body can be held under subjection. Show me a person who can’t control their speech and I’ll show you a person who can’t control their actions.

Christ commanded us to be “perfect” so we need not say this is impossible. Let’s look at:

• *Matthew 5:48 says , “⁴⁸Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

 

Back to the book of James:

• *James 3:3 says, “ ³Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.”

 

Think of the horse’s size compared to its tongue! • James 3:4 says Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small li|lfi|, whithersoever the governor listeth.

That ship is turned wherever the captain desires by that little rudder. Just hold your minds to the comparison of your tongue please:

• *James 3:5-6 says, “ ⁵Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!  ⁶And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”

So there we have the full thought presented to us: thoughts = speech = direction! Our tongue is so very little but it will condemn or justify us. Our tongue will determine our course for this life and the next! Let’s document that; turn to the book of Proverbs please:

• *Proverbs 13:2-3 says, “ ²A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence. ³He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.”

We need to wise up and understand why certain things are happening to us. Our speech will determine wither we eat good or bad out of this life. It’s not just this life it’s the one to come after we have put off this flesh. Just because it seems all right to speak a certain way doesn’t make it right. 

• *Proverbs 14:12 says , “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

 

• *Proverbs 16:25 says, “here is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

Just because everyone else is doing it or saying something doesn’t mean God Almighty approves! Back to James please: We cannot control the tongue without the Word of God dwelling inside of with the Holy Spirit directing us.

 

• *James 3:7 says , “⁷For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:”

 

We have dominion of the animals only because God gave dominion to us, see Genesis 1:28.

• *James 3:8 says, “ ⁸But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

We need the Lord’s help and His direction from His Word settled in our hearts in order for our tongue to be tamed. The world will tell us one thing while God tells us the truth. Our speech will tell on us, so here is the solution to our quandary: 

• James 4:7 says , “⁷Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

               

 We must go to where God is in faith and He will bless that effort.

 

Q. What do we do with our “hands”?

A. We work with our “hands”. This simply means our actions or our direction of travel. Remember our speech comes from our hearts, our minds this is why we must purify them. Double minded here means to be two-spirited, in other words trying to listen to the flesh and the Holy Spirit. God will not even hear our pleas if we do not come to Him in faith. Hold that two-spirited man in your minds as see the need for wisdom in our hearts:

 

• *James 1:5-8 says, “⁵ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. ⁶But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. ⁷For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. ⁸A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

We must come to our Lord in faith  and seek wisdom for our hearts. We can’t listen to the flesh one-minute and the Holy Spirit the next and live a pleasing life for our Lord. We need His direction every nano second so we can keep every thought under the obedience of Christ.

• *Colossians 3:16 says, “ ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

We’re supposed to have the Word “dwelling and inhabiting” us! When that is the case look at the speech that comes forth. We are able to teach others and sing because of the joy flowing out of our hearts instead of the yuck of the world!  There you have it a study to show us we need a new direction. Please prayerfully consider these verses and know that thoughts = speech = direction or eternity!

GAP Ministries

 

“REMEMBER GOD’S WORD WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!”

7/30/01 5:06:25 PM Revised on 6 /23 /05

©2001