GOD-SHOT (what are you allowing in?)

ROMANS 12:2 – “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.“

• Guarding your heart involves actively rejecting worldly patters and choosing God’s perspective instead
• “Self-centered indulgence, pride, and lack of shame over sin are new emblems of the American lifestyle” -Billy Graham

What are we allowing into our minds?

• We need to Purify ourselves.

ROMANS 8:5-6 – “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

I believe what we put into our minds plays a role in what consumes our minds. I personally found myself listening to certain types of music that flooded my mind in other ways. For weeks, day after day I found my self writing smut novels in my mind. When I say novels, I mean from start to finish, every word, every scene of the book was being written. It flooded my brain, I pull a scene edit and revise it until it was perfect in my head. Then I set down for hours and wrote them. They were full of lust, want, and need. When I realized whaat was happening I stopped listening. I deleted the playlist, changed what I was feeding my brain. I even stopped reading smut novels.

• Lots of people say, “oh it’s just a movie, a book, music!” But have you ever noticed it changing the way you think? How it impacts your emotions, your mind?
• “Just a little,” can destroy and poison the whole thing.
• Don’t give a foothold to the devil
  • Foothold = place/opportunity

EPHESIANS 4:27 – “And give no opportunity to the devil.”

• Our body is the sanctuary, not the church, God lives in us!

1 CORINTHIANS 6:19 – “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own…”

• Your body belongs to God
• Salvation is when you give your life fully over to Christ

MATTHEW 6:22-23 – “The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

• Your eye is a Gateway
  • What you see fills your mind and soul, leading to either light or darkness
• I would argue that your ears are too!

Protect your mind, soul, and heart!

PROVERBS 4:23 – “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life.”

• Guard your heart
• Choose what is pure
  • Focus on wholesome, God-honoring content and turn away from anything that degrades Christ and promotes evil.

PHILIPPIANS 4:8 – “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is commendable, whatever is lovely, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think of these things.”

• Be mindful of what you put in your mind because it will get in your heart and pour out your mouth.
• What you think about you’ll speak about and your words are powerfully.
• And rather you like it or not your words are shaping those around you.