HOW TO PREPARE AND DEAL WITH STUFF

Hello fellow believers. How's it going? Are you frustrated, depressed, filled with doubt, stagnant, overwhelmed, anxious (pulled in 20 different directions and not able to focus on anything)? If so...then take a quick test to examine/test yourself and see if you are still in the faith.

"Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless you fail the test." (II Corinthians 13:5)

Test your: (1) Hearing (2) Mind (3) Heart (4) Speech (5) Actions

These five interconnected areas...can be a place of breakdown in your faith...that will in turn open the door for anxiety, worry, tension, doubt, unbelief, fear, etc.

In the Ruminator Sunday School class (meets 9:00 A.M. Sunday mornings at Smyrna Assembly of God in Ruminator Central aka Fellowship Hall)...we frequently use an example of THE COFFEE CUP. We usually select a new student and clear out an area where their Bible will not get baptized in coffee. I then take their coffee cup and shake it until the liquid caffeine spills out of the cup. We then ask the question..."Why did coffee come out of the cup?" The answer is usually because you shook the cup. The true answer is...the reason coffee came out of the cup...is because that's what is in the cup. The shaking only revealed what was inside.

The same way with anxiety, worry, tension, fear, doubt, unbelief, negative words, negative actions is manifested in our lives in the middle of a shaking world. When the stock market crashes...when you lose your job...when your car falls apart...when your interpersonal relationships crumble...when your boss does not recognize your greatness...etc. These things will be manifested usually in your countenance (facial expression/body language)...your mouth...and your actions. During the shaking...we will either REACT IN THE FLESH...resulting in death (Romans 8:6)...or RESPOND IN THE SPIRIT...resulting in life and peace (Romans 8:6).

Before you get into a CRISIS situation...it is good to be checked up...and know where you need to tighten up...SO...when STUFF happens... you will be moved by FAITH...and not FEAR. Your negative coffee will not spill out of your mouth, body language and actions...but positive coffee will come spilling out during the shaking.

The main principle that ties all of these together is...UNRESTRAINED THOUGHT (what we think as a result of what we see and what we hear)...produces UNRESTRAINED WORDS (what we say)...resulting in UNRESTRAINED ACTIONS (what we do...how we act...our body language). In Proverbs it states that without a VISION...the people PERISH. The word is translated UNRESTRAINED. Without a VISION the people are UNRESTRAINED. The vision is the WORD...insight...that will help us to RESTRAIN our thoughts.

EXAMINATION POINTS

1. HEARING

Your ears are the entrance points for faith to come. "So faith comes by HEARING and HEARING by the WORD OF GOD."
(Romans 10:17) Doubt and unbelief and fear also comes by what you hear. Hear a constant barrage of negative...and it will be stored in your heart...and when the shaking comes...there will be spewing out over your lips...what you say.

2. MIND

The mind...will absorb what we hear and say. From the time you are born until the time you die...your mind is formed and shaped by what you see, hear, do, meditate upon. This can be good, bad, or ugly...all the mind knows is...here is information...store it. As believers...when we become born again...we have the option to start a new filter process called RENEWING THE MIND. For some reason...we think that we can tell our children..."be careful little ears what you ear...be careful little eyes what you see"...BUT when we become adults...we think we are too mature to BE CAREFUL with our mind. We develop MIND SETS...what we think that will either result in DEATH...or LIFE AND PEACE (Romans 8:5-9)

Paul speaks of this with an uuuuuurrrrrrrrrgency when he states...

"I urrrrrrrrrrggggggge you therefore brethren...by the mercies of God...to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice...acceptable to God...which is your spiritual/reasonable service of worship. And do not be CONFORMED to this world...but be TRANSFORMED by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND...that you may prove what the will of God is...that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1,2)

"...and that you BE RENEWED in the SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND." (Ephesians 4:23)

3. HEART

Not the blood pump...but the core...the center...the human spirit. Like the blood pump...that pumps oxygen to the parts of the body...so it is with our spiritual heart pump. If the pump is bad...parts of you will not receive what is needed to live. The heart is also know as the treasure chest...where precious things are stored.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; FOR WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS...THERE WILL BE YOUR HEART ALSO." (Matthew 6:20-21)


"The upright (honorable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart produces what is upright [honorable and intrinsically good]; and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil), FOR OUT OF THE ABUNDANCE (overflow) OF THE HEART HIS MOUTH SPEAKS." (Luke 6:45 THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE)

"How can a young man keep his way pure...by keeping it according to THY WORD...Thy Word have I HID IN MY HEART...that I might not sin against Thee." (Psalm 119:9,11)

4. SPEECH

Thoughts are manifested on your lips. Lips are the direct link to the heart and mind. God speaks to us through His Word...by His Spirit. As we renew our minds with what we hear...and store this in our treasure chest/heart...and we begin to SPEAK forth what we hear.
What we hear...we speak. We can either be the mouthpiece for the devil...OR...we can speak forth what God speaks. Whichever one you listen to...you WILL SPEAK WHAT YOU BELIEVE...especially when the pressure is on. You can mask, pretend, hide what you really believe...but when the shaking comes...what you really believe will spew out of your pie hole.

"But haveing the same spirit of faith...according to what is written...I BELIEVED...THEREFORE I SPOKE...we also BELIEVE...therefore also WE SPEAK." (II Corinthians 4:13)

Restrained thoughs will produce restrained words.

5. ACTIONS

You can talk a good talk...but can you walk a good talk? You can say you believe (even demons believe and tremble)...you can stand in a garage and call yourself a car (but you are not a car)...you can even go to an altar and cry Jimmy Swaggart size tears...BUT unless you put feet on your faith...then all you have done is believed something (and it could be the wrong thing you are believing)

"What use is it my brethren...if a man says he HAS FAITH...but he HAS NO WORKS? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and on of you says to them...Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say...you have faith and I have works show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believ that God is one...You do well...THE DEMONS ALSO BELIEVE...and shudder/tremble." (James 2:14-19)

Of course...it is never your actions that SAVES you...but your actions are an outward manifestation of an inward experience.

"He saved us NOT ON THE BASIS OF DEEDS WHICH WE HAVE DONE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS...but according to His MERCY...and the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:5)

"For BY GRACE are you saved...through FAITH...and that NOT OF YOURSELVES...it is the gift of God...NOT AS A RESULT OF WORKS that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus...FOR GOOD WORKS...which God has prepared beforehand...that we SHOULD WALK IN THEM." (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Actions follow salvation. Works don't save...but we do work. We have to work out our own salvation...live it...put our faith into actions.

"So then my beloved, just a you have always obeyed not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence...WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING...for it is God who IS AT WORK in you...bot to will and to WORK FOR HIS GOOD PLEASURE." (Philippians 2:12,13)

NOTE: This not mean that you can design your own salvation like a cafeteria plan for benefits. You do not choose and pick how you get saved. It is Death, Burial, Resurrection...nothing more...nothing less...as Jesus became the substitiute, propitiation, satisfaction...by faith not by works or Law. It ain't what you do or don't do that gets you in...it's all about Him baby...all about Him...HOWEVER once you get saved...roll up the sleeves and work it out...let it be manifested.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

Well that's it. Examine/test yourself to see if one, any, or all of these areas needs some fine tuning. Repent...have a change of heart, mind, attitude and direction...and continue on walking by faith. The next time the cup is shaken...something other than what has been coming out will come out.

Love and Examined Kisses
Rodney "Tested and Tried" Boyd