Wednesday, January 31, 2018

The Implanted Word

Last night while I was waiting for my man child to get done at the meeting he had to attend, I did my version of verse mapping. I don't know if I did it the way other people describe it or teach it, but essentially, I wrote a verse in the middle of a page, drew a lot of arrows to other verses, boxed in words I want to look up in the Greek, wrote a few comments, and looked for an overarching theme. Honestly, it was quite fun. And while my paper might look like a bunch of rabbit trails to most people, it makes perfect sense to me.

As I kept hopping along through the process, I ended up in James 1. Verse 21 says Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevelant, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

For the girl who's been writing about, thinking about, and starting to understand what her mind is about, this was a really big deal. Why? Because if we have the ability to work in conjunction with the Holy Spirit to cultivate the fruits, if we know that this happens by allowing the word of God to change our minds, then we must humbly receive the implanted word that God gives us through His living, active, perfect for teaching, encouraging, and correcting word, because it is able to save (y)our souls. 

Now this may seem pretty logical but what hit me in the gut came just a few seconds later.

One of the things I love about God's Word is that it can do whatever He wants it to. He can take any word that is written and use it to give us a message so personal it knocks our socks off. It doesn't negate what was originally intended, it just goes to prove how limitless He truly is. He can not be boxed in to one thing. He is entirely too creative for that.

So after I read verse 21 and understand how desperately I need the mind wipe C3PO got, I continued reading with fresh eyes. 


By this point, I have more verses whizzing around my brain than I can handle. The first three that came to mind were: 





In context, we read verse 22 and think about what we are called to do for others. Feeding, clothing, caring for, and rightfully so. But God isn't limited to just one thing and last night, He reminded me very clearly, that I do in fact know what I am supposed to do, but I am not super great at following through and doing it, particularly when it comes to getting my mind renewed INTENTIONALLY, setting my thoughts above ON PURPOSE, or taking my thoughts captive EVERY TIME.

I am convinced, more and more, that if we could do this, with the excellence that we are called to work with in the first place (Colossians 3:17, 3:23-24, 1 Corinthians 10:31), the overflow of our hearts and minds would impact everything we do, particularly what we do for others. If we would just humbly receive the word planted in us that is able to save our souls, we would infuse everything around us with the love of Christ. It would spill out and make one heck of a beautiful mess.

I don't know who else out there struggles with negative thoughts and the lies they have beleived for far too long, but as God as my witness, I can tell you that the process of dismantling them is hard, but so worth it. And telling someone about the lies you have believed so that they can speak truth over you is an important part of the process.

For far too long we have given our minds over. We might not have realized we were doing it, and we probably agreed with the enemy enough times that he knew his job was done and we'd just take over where he left off, but it's time to stop. God has given us His Word, His Spirit, and His peace for a reason. It's time to submit and let it all work together the way He intended, to give us victory.

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