DAY #2: The Personal Power of a Quality Decision | June 21- Day Firm Foundation Devotional, “Renewing the Mind”

Sunday, June 02, 2024 Bryan Hudson 0 Comments

June 21-Day Firm Foundation Devotional: “Renewing the Mind”

DAY #2: The Personal Power of a Quality Decision

Devotional reading from “Winning the Battle for Your Mind,” Chapter One: A Common Battle

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Today's Lesson:

The Apostle Paul recounts an inner conflict that is common to many of us:
For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. (Romans 7:15-18)

In this passage Paul gives the reader a glimpse into his (and our) mind. His words summarize the battle that sometimes rages within the complexity of our souls.

We struggle in our thoughts to know what to do. Sometimes it feels like the old cartoon where you had an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other shoulder. James wrote about the danger of being “double minded.”

James 1:7, For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

At the end of his inner struggle, we learn that Paul found his answer in MAKING UP HIS MIND to serve God regardless of how he felt. He used his personal power to make a quality decision!

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:22, 25)

We can orient our minds in two different ways:
Romans 8:5, 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. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

There is great personal power in a faith filled decision!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. What inner conflicts are you dealing with? (flesh vs. spirit)

2. What personal power decisions can you make to resolve the conflict?

3. What does setting your mind on "things of the Spirit" look like to you? (Be specific)

ACTION ITEMS (What I will do with what I have gained):

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Get Your Copy of the Book:

“Winning the Battle for Your Mind”