“I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.”  (Romans 7)

“Casting 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.”                                                                                                                               (2 Corinthians 10)

 

I remember asking another believer, long ago and after a really, really bad day, if they ever swear or have a temper tantrum in their head.  This person told me, “Naw, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Methinks this person doesn’t know what this person is talking about. Temptation, we are told is common to man.  Christ-ian reader, you are not the only one with bad thoughts, you are not the only one who slips and swears every now and again.  You are not the only one that has bad thoughts sneak up on you when you are in prayer.  These things are common and if anyone tells you differently, find out what medication they are on because I want some. Why would 2 Corinthians 10 be there if our minds and thoughts were not vulnerable to attack???

When we confess our sins to our Heavenly Father, what is the ratio?  Are you confessing murder? theft? adultery? or are you confessing sins of the mind?  That battlefield is in the mind, Joyce Meyer is spot on.  The battle is not over souls…the battle is over our own spirit. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his own spirit [is better] than he that taketh a city (Proverbs 16).  That is high praise from the Holy Spirit is it not?  We have more encouragement for you.

If you turn your Bibles to Galatians 6, you will find the fruit of the Spirit.  The last fruit is called temperance or self control.  Self control, whether in spirit (mind), soul, or body is the hardest to produce and that is why, thinks me, it it mentioned last.

Having written all of that; we must always keep in mind, as hard as it can be at times to be temperate, modest, and under control, it is what a Christ-ian does with the aid and support of the Holy Spirit. This is one of those things that separate us from them.  We are not to indulge ourselves with whatever world there is in our heads. Not saying that one should not use the imagination, the imagination is from God and it is to be used properly.  [SideNote:  I do not get bogged down with evolution debates. However, there is one question that I wd ask, “How did the imagination evolve?” Really, at what point would a, for the lack of a better word, this nebulous thing we have called the imagination? When did it begin to evolve?]

I’m reminded of something C.S. Lewis said or wrote: A fish does not have big dreams of flying in the sky.  That is because the fish is where the fish should be. BUT, We have an imagination, we can picture things in our head, we can rumble through the files of our brain in order to recall something or someone, we can see the faces of our most beloveds in the eye of our mind. “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23)

The Lord Jesus said, “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery in his heart.”

If we make that a principle, then all the good we would want to do we have done so in our hearts.  Methinks this is how one lays up treasures in Heaven.