Thought + Decision = Action
- A thought is an idea that has not yet been realized.
- A decision is acting on the thought; a will and commitment to bring the idea to life.
- An action is the realization of the thought. It is following through on the commitment and bringing the thought to life; manifestation of an idea.
While the generosity of many utilize
their ideas to benefit this world in which they live, some ideas
should have never seen the light of day. The thought begins in the
heart, not the brain. The brain begins the process of bringing the
thought into an idea and rationalizing that the idea is useful and
needs to be given more attention.
Some thoughts are acted on without
ever thinking about the consequences of the action. But once acted
upon, people in general do not like to be given credit for the
fruition of their actions.
Mom: Johnny, did you take that cookie?
Johnny: No, Momma, I did not.
Officer: Sir, do you have any idea how
fast you were driving?
Mr. : No, officer, I do not. My (…..)
is broken.
The evidence of cookie theft is
usually the melting chocolate on the fingers or the face which gives
away the theft. But the evidence of doing something you are not
supposed to be doing could be the sweat on your brow, the twitching
of your eyes or the shakiness in your voice, whether you are a thief
or a liar, the evidentiary proof is in your reactions to being called
upon to take responsibility for your actions.
But where did these thoughts come
from? From the heart, where sin reigns. One of the first words a
child learns is “No”. And though children are not in the age of
understanding why, it is our responsibility as their parents to teach
them not only right from wrong, but righteousness from
unrighteousness. For though a person may reach adulthood with the
knowledge of good or bad, until you turn to God and call on Jesus'
Name; until you have Jesus in your heart; until you have God's Holy
Spirit in your life, you do not have the understanding of why the
knowledge of good or bad is necessary to bring about a change in the
way you think and act on your thoughts.
Eve knew her actions would have
consequences, but she did not have the full knowledge of the
consequences of her actions, when she touched what she should not
have in the garden of Eden: the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. And
though she had some knowledge before her actions, some knowledge
given her by eating of it, it was only the knowledge of right and
wrong, good and bad. For upon being called out by God for her
actions, she immediately denied responsibility for such actions. She
had God's Word to live by and that should have been enough, right?
Wrong. It is not enough to hear God's
Word being spoken unless one applies God's Word to one's heart, where
the thoughts begin to manifest themselves. Whether you are a member
of the congregation in your church or whether you are an elder, a
deacon or even the pastor or the preacher: you must have God's Word
applied to your heart, for you to to live by God's Word. It is not
enough even now, just as then, to hear God's Word if you aren't going
to apply God's Word to your hearts. The actions of many in the
churches who do do not do this have been brought to light in recent
years and put a black mark on the church: Blemishes and stains on the
Bride.
Our actions reveal our hearts. And our
hearts NEED to belong to Jesus Christ: “For with the heart man
believes, and confession is made with the mouth.” [Romans 10:10]
What lives in your heart is spoken with your tongue. And you and I,
all peoples, are accountable to God for not only what we say and what
we do, but also for what we think. God knows the heart and He knows
what we are thinking. For in The Scriptures of His New Testament we
read where Jesus spoke and told them of this:
- Matthew 9:4
- Matthew 15:8, 18, 19
- Mark 7:21-23
- Luke 5:22
- Romans 2:13-16
- 1 Corinthians 3:20
- Hebrews 4:12Seeing, then, that God knows what we are thinking and that God's Word divides truth from untruth, and reveals what the heart is thinking, we should be pursuing God's directive to receive Jesus Christ into our hearts, where the process of holiness may begin. We should actively take hold of God's Word and earnestly begin to pray for His Holy Spirit to lead us, guide us and transform us daily into righteous living, that sin may no longer abound, nor live, in our hearts. But that Christ may live within our hearts. For where Jesus Christ is, sin is not. For sin cannot live in the light of holiness; sin is darkness and darkness flees the light, it does not embrace it.When we light a candle or flip a switch, does the darkness of the room remain the same or change? It changes. That is fact. The darkness changes because when the light enters the room, the darkness is no longer there. Shadows take up residence in nooks, crannies and corners until the light is so strong and bold, that there is no room for even that amount of darkness to maintain its residency. So, too, the light of God's Word, once applied to the heart of the one who believes, lives in that heart. As the new thoughts work on the heart of faith, the Word of God chases away the words of sin.It is akin to weeding a garden. Sin is referred to in Scriptures as 'tares', or weeds. Once the sin has taken root in the heart, through constant thinking on sin, then it is much harder to dig up the roots of sin and fully remove it from the heart. It is why no one is perfect. Though the heart of faith lives in the saved, or born-again, person, some sins have taken up residence in the shadows: the nooks, the crannies of the heart. Those places in which the light needs to be applied regularly to not only chase away sin from the heart, but to fully remove it and sanctify the believer.If you only trim the weed tops, you have not removed the weeds. If you only pull up part of the root, but the rest remains in the ground, you have not removed the weeds. Sin will begin to grow again. When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we accept Jesus into our hearts by believing that He died on the cross to pay for our sins and that He rose from the grave that we too would not be overcome by death and the grave. By Faith we believe. And this belief, this idea, begins in the heart of the one who believes.
Why the heart and not the head? The
heart believes what the mind cannot comprehend. If only the ears hear
God's Word spoken, but the heart does not believe, then nothing has
changed. If the eyes see what Gods' Word can do, but the heart does
not believe, then nothing has changed. The skeptic sees and hears,
but does not believe. The heart believes, the mind reasons. When the
mind reasons in and of itself, without reasoning in God's Word as He
directs us to in Isaiah 1:18 “Come
now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”,
then we are not fully
rationalizing the righteousness which is available to us if we only
believe.We are fools and only fooling ourselves when we reason God out of the picture.- Psalm 14:1
- Psalm 107:17
- Proverbs 1:7
- Proverbs 8:5
- Proverbs 10:8
- Proverbs 12:15
- Proverbs 14:33
- Proverbs 15:14
- Proverbs 18:2
- Matthew 7:26
- 1 Corinthians 2:14
It is the heart that changes the course of the world. God's heart is that all be saved. Satan's heart, if he has one, is that all be lost. Salvation comes through Jesus Christ and Him only. Upon belief, we are separated unto God for the sanctification process, which is done through the work of The Holy Spirit of God in our hearts, our minds and our spirits, that we may be purified and refined: made holy that we may be able to stand and live in the presence of God. “For without holiness no one can see God.” “Be holy, for I am holy.” Holiness begins in the heart. It is more than a thought or idea, though.
It is the actions taken in the spiritual realm by The Holy Spirit to weed out sin in our hearts, where the light of Christ may shine upon it and remove that sin from our hearts, each time making us a little more holy within in our hearts.
And while we are known to each other by our actions and our words, it is more important to be known to God, who knows our thoughts, whether righteous or unrighteous; who knows our hearts, whether His Son lives there or not. For it is God who is our Judge and not we ourselves. We always measure up to our expectations; but how much more could be accomplished if we measured up to God's expectations? For His way is better than our ways.
- His Love is Greater: John 3:16; Psalm 103:11.
- His Truth is Greater: John 8.
- His Thoughts and His Ways are Higher: Isaiah 55:9.
- His Faithfulness is Greater: Lamentations 3:22, 23.
- God is Great. AND Greatly to be praised: Psalm 48:1.
There is no other god like our God:- Jeremiah 10:6;
- 1 Corinthians 8:6;
- Exodus 15:11;
- Deuteronomy 33:26;
- Psalm 86:8;
- Psalm 96:4;
- Isaiah 12:6.“Believe on The Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved; you and all your house.” Acts 16:31.“If you confess (declare, speak) with your mouth The Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” Romans 10:9. “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is The Son of God, God dwells (lives) in them and they live in God.” 1 John 4:15.
I do hereby state and declare:Once I was lost but now I am found. I was lost in the darkness of sin until the light of God's love: Jesus Christ, shined into my heart and I believed. So say I now to you: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God, that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, and that God raised Him from the dead, that Jesus walked out of the tomb. I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. No longer does sin reign in my heart, but it is Christ who sits on that throne now. It is His righteousness which is in me, and on me, that makes me righteous; I have none of my own. For my righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God. It is God's Holy Spirit which fills my heart and my thoughts and draws me closer and closer to God. And though I may stumble and at times nearly fall from the snares of sin, it is God who catches me, Christ who strengthens me and The Holy Spirit who sets me up anew to take another step of faith in obedience to God's Word.No longer do I just hear God's Word being spoken, now I act upon what I have heard and continue to hear. I believe that God Is and that Jesus Christ is Lord of All.
