Understand and Stand

UV 784/10,000 Understand and Stand For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. Isaiah 55 v 8 There is an infinite difference between the thoughts of man and the thoughts of God, between the ways of God and the ways of man. Jesus alone bridged the gulf between God and man. The thoughts and ways of God are revealed in fair detail in the Word of God. Contrary to the common saying, it is not the devil but God who is in the details of our lives. When we understand these thoughts and ways, as described in the Word, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we are elevating our thoughts to be in sync with the Lord. When we apply our understanding and knowledge of the thoughts and ways of God to our own ways, our ways become compatible or acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. Over time we would have developed a godly habit, a godly way of life. This is the reason why I say, we don’t need seven habits but just the one habit of reading, studying and applying the Word to transform our lives. This is the mother habit that breeds dozens of life-giving and life-enhancing little habits just like rabbits breed rabbits. The thoughts of the Lord are described in scripture to be as numerous as the sands of grain on the seashore. It is mind boggling to even attempt to count and enumerate these. If each day, we just focus on one thought and one way of God, we are flying in the orbit or path the Lord intends us to take in our lives. A single uni-verse or rhema verse that we remember often during the course of the day and apply it often in different areas of our lives will transport us to the heights and glory of heaven. The greatness of God is revealed in the testimonies of men. To illustrate with a practical example, the verse “ don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” It gives us an understanding of the character of God. He is slow to anger. He is quick to forgive. Once we understand that this is the character of the Lord, we should also understand that our own human nature is quick to get angry and slow to forgive or forget. We should aim to give anger a short life and not allow it to develop deep roots in our lives. Next, we should recall all the times when on different occasions, we got angry without reason or with reason and we held onto the anger. We should seek the Lord’s forgiveness, cleansing and healing. We should resolve with all our hearts and minds not to allow anger to rule over our lives again. For the rest of the day, we should then run the verse through our minds over and over again and stick to the principle that we will not carry our anger beyond the sunset or beyond the day. At the end of the day, we should review in our minds if we had stuck to this principle. For the rest of our lives, we should remain faithful or stick to this discipline or habit with the stubbornness or persistence of Balam’s donkey and ask the Lord for grace in this regard to change to the degree He desires. When we fall or fail, we should be quick to recognize it , confess it and move on. The process of allowing the Word to transform our lives is : understand His thought, stand in His way. It means learn, apply. “Stand in His way” also means stick to His way. We are standing in His grace, by His power, under His banner of victory over flesh and spirit, under His cover or protection. When we do not stand or walk in His way,He will send His angel to stand or resist us as it happened with Balam. Once the process: understand, stand; understand, stand; understand, stand…..is repeatedly reinforced, it becomes a godly habit. We are now ready for learning a new habit based on yet another thought and way of God. By adopting this method, we avoid the risk of the overload of unapplied theological or theoretical knowledge. It is application that hallows our otherwise hollow lives. It makes the ground on which we stand holy for we remove, like Moses removed his leather thongs, anything that offends the presence of the Lord. Prateep V Philip