Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
(Psalms 19:14)
Read: Genesis 46-47, Matthew 15:1-28, Psalm 19, Proverbs 4:14-19
Listen:
Relate: I’m working my way through a 21 day partial fast with my church back in NY right now and one of the things I personally cannot eat at the moment is apple pie. Fortunately, that isn’t something very easy to buy here in Turkey but I can actually make a pretty mean pie all on my own. To avoid the urge to do so, no matter what happens I am not going to think about apple pie. You shouldn’t either. Don’t think about apple pie. Don’t even imagine the apples being picked straight off the tree and then cored, cut and peeled. Whatever you do, don’t think about them being cooked to a crisp softness in an apple cinnamon glaze. Don’t think of the smell that would be wafting through the closed door of the oven as that apple pie is baked to perfection. Whatever you do, keep from imagining yourself sitting on a stool next to the oven waiting for the timer to ring as a means of letting you know that your hot apple pie is finished. Pretend you are not thinking about the way the aroma of cooked apples has permeated every nook and cranny of the house as that apple pie now sits on top of the oven cooling. Don’t even think about what it would be like to break your fork into that first piece and, as it is still steaming, raise it to your lips. Don’t think about apple pie.
React: So how did you do? What were you thinking about? If I were to really want to stop thinking about apple pie, I would have to think about something else. Or better, if I didn’t want to eat it I would grab something else to eat instead. Perhaps a nice juicy mid rare steak lightly seasoned with… well, you get the idea. (Problem is, I can’t eat that right now either.)
All too often we deal with temptation the same way we try to avoid eating apple pie. We know that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil but we are constantly thinking about money and finances, even if only to tell ourselves how bad it is. We know we shouldn’t snap at our spouse, but were dwelling on their faults all day long. Instead of thinking about all the reasons why we shouldn’t think about certain things, why not instead dwell on something better? Before the psalmist asks God to help him think and speak on the right things, he gives us a great list of better things we can fill our minds and conversation with. The law of the Lord is perfect. The testimony of the Lord is sure. The statutes of the Lord are right…
Respond:
Dear God,
Help me to hunger for You more than the things I have stuffed my life with that have made me sick, fat, and lazy. Help me to fill my mind and life with things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Saturate me with You.
Amen
THE RIVER WALK 
Ha, I see what you did there. Very clever! You are blessed and am glad to be following
Absolutely right. Transformed by the renewing of our minds doesn’t work so well when we keep going back to the unrenewed and wallowing.
Reblogged this on ChristianBlessings and commented:
Purge us of desires that keep us or draw us from You O Lord and renew our minds, drawing us close to Thee.
Very beautiful music. Are they singing in Nepali? Hindi? Clever post. I am also just beginning 21 days of a partial fast so I will remember your great advice!!
Honestly, I don’t know. I did when I first flagged it for possible use, but I don’t remember now.
If I could snap my fingers and learn a language, it would be Hindi. And then I would have to do it with Korean. My son has ben teaching himself Korean for the last four years, so in support, I would like to learn that one too. I guess I’ll just have to learn the old fashion way. I have one lesson under my belt for learning Korean, my son being the teacher. I have learned a few words/phrases of Hindi by listening to/watching Hindi Christian songs on YT giving the transliteration and English subtitles. I know some Spanish, but not fluently, by taking three years of Spanish in high school. I have taken a short sign language class too, so know a little ASL. So at this rate, I would need to snap my fingers four times. Oh well, Rosetta Stone here I come – lol.
There is a huge need for Hindi. Voice of the Martyrs has just changed the status of India from “hostile” to “restricted” to reflect the ever increasing amount of persecution Christians face in this country with the highest population in the world. We need more missionaries in India!
Hmmm, good to know. I will bring this up to our Father and listen to what He says to me. Just stopped and viewed the VOM prayer guide. What is the difference between hostile (just the people being the persecutors?) & restricted (the judicial system also persecuting – going to jail, being put to death judicially, etc.?)? Am I getting that right?
This wasn’t making sense to me as I thought India was an ally of the USA. So I looked it up. They are riding both sides of the fence? What? UM, ok, I’m not up on the politics of every country, but I do try to be informed in/on what I can. Its so much, its very hard for me to keep up with it all. With 195 countries on the planet, you know, that’s alot of politics. Anyway, I don’t know how much of my stuff you read. I don’t keep track of all that. I know I can be silly and down right immature in a teenagerish way, but I do try to step up to the plate and be an adult when matters like this are concerned.
So, maybe a blog, if its that much info., would be good on any perspective you have. It sounds like you have first hand experience. Or, at least a broader perspective than me at this time. Thanks for your time.
Being an ally with the USA does not automatically equate to being a Christian nation or even open to Christians. Saudi Arabia is one of the best Middle Eastern allies of the US outside Israel (although that doesn’t say much), but few countries in the world have harsher restrictions against Christianity than they do.
From the best I have been able to understand, in India the moving from hostile to restricted reflects that the government has gone from turning a blind eye on private persecution against Christians to actively encouraging it and “unoficially” promoting/financing it.
Amen and amen